languages

the peace corps goes to 28 countries in sub-saharan africa.  and there are over 2,000 languages spoken in africa.  chances are that if i end up there, i will end up needing to learn one of the very local languages that is spoken nowhere else.  and i won’t know ahead of time, so there’s nothing i can do in advance. 

funnily enough (and i say that with a hint of sarcasm), most of the countries have either english or french as one of their official languages.  sarcastic, because if they send me to francophone africa, i will be very displeased.  the unadvertised rule of peace corps placement is that for french- or spanish-speaking countries – since so many people take those in school – you must be fluent enough (or have had advanced enough classes recently enough) to be sent to a country that speaks that language.  thus my problem with getting assigned somewhere in latin america.  so if they send me to someplace in francophone africa…

don’t let that fool you, though.  it is pretty guaranteed that there won’t be english or french speaking going on.  most of the countries have two or three or even more “official” languages and hundreds of them in actual practice.

so spanish.  a week or two ago i was ready to give up.  i listened to the cds that came with my CLEP study book, and i understood very little.  CLEP is College Level Examination Program.  the exam is 40% listening and answering, where you get ONE listen, at normal speaking speed, and 60% written questions concerning grammar and vocabulary.  at least i don’t have to speak it.  nevertheless, when i look at the grammar in the book and listen to those cds, i feel overwhelmed and fairly certain i can’t do it.  sometimes it feels so pointless and impossible, and i wonder whether it’s really worth even trying.  i don’t even know if i can possibly learn enough in time.  and with the initial timing they’ve given me (leaving in october?!!?)…  plus i had been having trouble connecting with my prospective tutor and my self-study fell by the wayside for several weeks now.

i’m ok with going to africa.  i’d rather go to latin america, but i’ve gotten my arms around the idea of africa now.  so maybe this spanish thing is stupid.  when i think about how much there is to learn… i just shake my head.

but on monday, i finally hooked up with the tutor, Maria.  i like her.  in a short period of time, she assessed where i am and was productive right away.  she clearly knows what she’s doing.  she’s going to get that same CLEP book from the library (i did offer her mine to look at) and go through it to see what’s involved.  she’s going to transcribe the two cds that come with it (!) so that after i’ve listened to the passages a few times, i’ll be able to see the words and understand the audio better.  she’s totally flexible about adjusting the lessons to more listening or whatever is required (instead of focusing primarily on speaking, which of course i need but not as desperately).  she gave me a bunch of great resources to use online, including the direction to listen to as many news videos from spanish-speaking countries as i can.  there’s another website from a guy she used to work with that has videos for many cultural situations in different countries, and you can turn on or off the written text, both in spanish and in english.  there’s also a site with interactive exercises that she uses in the classes she teaches.  we’re going to meet weekly and she’s going to bring things for me to read to her and discuss.  she’ll give me homework each time, including a topic for discussion the next time so that i can look up vocabulary and be prepared, and of course i need to continue the grammar study on my own.  i was able to have a halting conversation with her which was VERY rudimentary and frequently with german words thrown in by accident, but i understood pretty much everything she said to me.  and best of all, she thinks i can do it in time!

i was quite surprised at how much work she is willing to put into this, especially on her own time.  and the assessment and interest in knowing details about the CLEP is exactly what i had hoped for.  looks like it’s going to be worth the price.  and my motivation is back.  just maybe I can do this afterall.

another tidbit:  the swearing-in ceremony, after your three months of training, requires you to give a SPEECH in your new language.  holy linguistics, batman!