Larry J. Pitman from www.livinginperu.com
The other day I was talking to our veterinarian. She mentioned that her sister is married to an American, and that they had moved to Lima a year ago. She shook her head sadly and said: “I predict that they will soon go back to the U.S. The husband is not going to make it here.” After hearing this, the first thing I said was, “Is it the language?” She nodded in agreement. Although the husband had started a one month course in Spanish, he soon became frustrated and abandoned his studies. Now he is isolated and completely dependent on his wife. Every day he is more depressed.
I can understand how he feels. This situation illustrates the importance of learning Spanish for a successful stay in a country like Peru. When we decided to move to Peru almost four years ago, I set several goals for myself: to learn Spanish as well as I could and to learn as much as possible about Peru through reading and talking to people. I had a head start in Spanish because some forty years ago I lived in Bolivia as a Peace Corps Volunteer and had to use Spanish there on a daily basis. Nevertheless, I was surprised at how rusty I was. I quickly became aware that my ability in Spanish was far below what I had expected. For example, whenever my wife’s family got together, I was silent. Sometimes I could understand the conversation and begin to formulate a comment, but by the time I figured out the correct verb tense, they were on to another topic. So I remained out of it. I was mute, but with so many things that I wanted to say. Of course, I felt like a dummy. The telephone held a particular terror for me. Anything beyond a basic conversation led me to hand the phone to my wife and ask her to do the talking. After a year of this, she handed the phone back to me and told me that it was time that I did my own business on the telephone. It was the best thing she could have done. Although it was difficult for me, slowly I began to understand what was being said. In turn I realized that they now understood me.
The other day I was talking to our veterinarian. She mentioned that her sister is married to an American, and that they had moved to Lima a year ago. She shook her head sadly and said: “I predict that they will soon go back to the U.S. The husband is not going to make it here.” After hearing this, the first thing I said was, “Is it the language?” She nodded in agreement. Although the husband had started a one month course in Spanish, he soon became frustrated and abandoned his studies. Now he is isolated and completely dependent on his wife. Every day he is more depressed.I can understand how he feels. This situation illustrates the importance of learning Spanish for a successful stay in a country like Peru. When we decided to move to Peru almost four years ago, I set several goals for myself: to learn Spanish as well as I could and to learn as much as possible about Peru through reading and talking to people. I had a head start in Spanish because some forty years ago I lived in Bolivia as a Peace Corps Volunteer and had to use Spanish there on a daily basis. Nevertheless, I was surprised at how rusty I was. I quickly became aware that my ability in Spanish was far below what I had expected. For example, whenever my wife’s family got together, I was silent. Sometimes I could understand the conversation and begin to formulate a comment, but by the time I figured out the correct verb tense, they were on to another topic. So I remained out of it. I was mute, but with so many things that I wanted to say. Of course, I felt like a dummy. The telephone held a particular terror for me. Anything beyond a basic conversation led me to hand the phone to my wife and ask her to do the talking. After a year of this, she handed the phone back to me and told me that it was time that I did my own business on the telephone. It was the best thing she could have done. Although it was difficult for me, slowly I began to understand what was being said. In turn I realized that they now understood me.
Now I am much more confident and make my own telephone calls. It helped to take a six week refresher course at a Spanish language program here in Lima. That gave me a review of grammar that I needed. What helped even more was the realization that the only way to really learn the language is to use it. In addition, I realized that even if I made mistakes, no one was going to laugh at me. So I resolved to use the language as much as possible. Therefore, aside from using the telephone, I read the newspaper in Spanish every day, I listen to the news broadcasts every day and I look for all sorts of opportunities to talk with people. For example, I have a group of friends who speak only Spanish, and we go out to have a beer every once in a while. This really helps. I know that I will never speak Spanish like a native. And that is ok. More important is that I communicate and understand. It is a big effort but, I believe, it’s the key to making it in Peru.
October 20, 2008
Larry J. Pitman is a Californian living in Peru for the past four years. He is a professor at the Universidad del Pacifico in Lima.
Note from the blogger: red printing shows past perfect sentences.
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