Communicating in Week Two

Before coming to Spain, I learned some basic words and phrases in Spanish before I left through a language app called Duolingo. I did not know much Spanish at all beforehand because I took French in high school, but I noticed that some of the words were somewhat similar when using the app. Even though the two languages had some similarity, Spanish is a whole different language and it is hard learning a language regardless.

When I first arrived in Spain, it was an awakening to know that English would not be the primary language spoken. Luckily my roommate, Rebecca, knows some Spanish and was able to talk to the employees in the airport when we had a question. After meeting my host mother and her daughter, it was clear that I could not verbally communicate all that much because they did not speak any English. Having that barrier was quite frustrating because I wanted to talk to them and introduce myself but unfortunately could not.

Dinner time has been the hardest part when it comes to verbally communicating because I want to talk about my day or talk about my life but cannot because it is hard trying to form sentences with the little that I do know. Humans underestimate the importance of nonverbal communication is because nonverbal communication can go far when interacting. Gestures have helped immensely with my host mom by both of us playing it out of what we are trying to say. Rebecca even serves as a translator at times between my host mom and I which has also been working at dinnertime.

Now I am trying to pick up more phrases and words in Spanish. All of the employees in the restaurants and stores seem to know English, but I still want to try to immerse myself in the language to be able to communicate better with my host family and daughter as well as other people around Barcelona. I sometimes find myself wanting to speak French if I do not know how to say something in Spanish. I try to catch myself before speaking it, but it actually has helped in some cases.

I have gotten the hang of saying ‘hola’ and ‘gracias’ to everyone around Spain now. This past weekend I traveled to Amsterdam with four of the girls in the program and we all had times where we would say ‘hola’ and ‘gracias’ to people just because we had gotten so used to the hang of it. Even though we laughed it off, it is quite amazing of how much you can become so used to saying some words in a language in just two weeks. After this program I hope to learn even more Spanish just because my dad’s side is Spanish, hence my last name Pino.

Tips on communicating with someone outside of your own culture:

• Try. It can be frightening to try to talk to someone when you are fully aware that what you are going to say is going to be incorrect, but the person will try to understand you and pick up on what you are trying to communicate. The person can recognize that you are at least trying and respect that.
• Use your resources. Google translate is always a good resource to look up words or phrases in the moment. Other language websites online can help too by providing a list of common phrases that you can use. Even asking a friend who knows some of the language helps as well.
• Pay attention to nonverbal communication. Nonverbal communication has definitely helped me when expressing myself to my host family, and it is through gestures, body movements, tone of voice etc. that the communication has been successful. It goes a long way.