Exploring Culture

I come from a Salvadoran family. My mother and everyone on her side of the family all speak Spanish as their first language. As the first generation born in the United States, my mother made sure I learned English as my primary language so that I would be successful. To get back to my roots, I have spent as much time as possible talking to my family in our native tongue. I spend a lot of time with my mother going to the local Spanish shops and restaurants, which not only exposes me to the language, but allows me to converse with other Spanish speakers from different countries, and of course enjoy their food as well. As I did as a kid, I watch Spanish only channels to improve my language listening skills as well as keep up to date on news and culture in other spanish speaking countries. In my free time, I listen to a lot of Spanish speaking music, and spend my time translating what they say to understand and to also help improve my understanding of the Spanish language.

These practices helped me to take what I have been learning in class and apply it in conversations with native speakers. It helped me to understand different Spanish cultures and how they differed from not only American culture but from Salvadoran culture as well. I realized that as a new Spanish speaker, that Spanish is a very beautiful language, but it can be spoken really fast and it is very difficult to understand new words especially when those words are spoken twice as fast as English words.

Engaging in Communities

I believe that its important for everyone to become involved in the community they live in. Community involvement allows people to get to know one another, to help their fellow humans in need, to band together to face problems that affect the community at whole, and to improve the area they live in for not only the people but the local wildlife as well.

I tend to do a lot of my community involvement on the local beaches. As I do my daily walks and runs, I like to pick up as much trash as possible. This not only cleans the beaches up but prevents the wildlife from mistaking it for food. I also talk to other beach goes and fisherman, seeing what they have caught or asking about the animals they have seen. I try to impart as much knowledge I can on them, and warn them when they are causing harm to the beach environment. The biggest problem is the feeding of sea birds. This not only teaches them the behavior of seeking humans for food instead of hunting, but also causes them to eat things they aren’t used to eating. Carbohydrates (bread) are not a big part of their diet so consuming too many of them can actually be detrimental to the birds GI system and their overall health.

The beaches are just for the locals though. Lots of people from all over the state and country come to visit our beaches and enjoy the Chesapeake bay and Atlantic Ocean. Therefore, protecting and taking care of our beaches not only helps our community, but it also allows us to be connected to the rest of the world through the tourists that visit. I have met many a Hispanic family on the beach and have had a great conversation with them about what they like so much about the beach and their fishing and crabbing experiences.

Interpersonal Communication

During this semester it was difficult having class online, but with a global pandemic going on we all had to adapt. I was lucky that I got to talk to some of my classmates through discussion board. It was here I got to read my fellow classmates opinions and see their responses to my post. I was relieved to find out that what I thought or how I see things aren’t just isolated to my life, and that I am not the only one that had trouble adapting to learning the Spanish language. I was very honored to be able to share my small window into Salvadoran culture with my classmates. During the activity where I had to ask a fellow classmate questions, I was able to not only help my classmate improve her Spanish, but I also learned from her and was able to improve my Spanish skills as well. I wish that I had more chances this semester to talk to my fellow classmates because we are all trying to improve our Spanish together.

The discussion boards were a little different for me then doing the online learning lessons. They not only allowed me to talk with my fellow classmates, but they also showed me my flaws when it came to me writing Spanish to communicate. Up until this semester, most of my Spanish communication has been oral, so having to type out my Spanish showed me that I am very deficient in this category. Being able to read my fellow classmates posts also showed me where I conjugated wrong or placed words in the incorrect order. Talking in person through computer audio allowed me to talk to someone at my speed of Spanish, which allowed me to focus on speaking the words and speaking in the proper order instead of having to try and figure out what the person said because it was so fast and I didn’t understand the words. As I stated earlier, I wish I had more chances to talk with my fellow classmates through voice communication.

Presentational Speaking

Unfortunately, I haven’t had a chance to do any presentational speaking this semester. Besides having Math 205 in person, the rest of my classes were online and asynchronous. The only speaking I got to do was the VHL exercises where I recorded myself answering the recorded questions and the one peer session I mentioned earlier.

Presentational Writing

The only presentational communication I wrote this semester was a letter to a dear friend describing my family. Though it was for an assignment, I sent the letter to my dear friend Melissa. She was happy to receive it, and the letter allowed me to tell her more about my family, which she had only met my mother and father.

Writing this letter was very difficult for me, and provided a challenge. First, I had to use a lot of words outside of my limited Spanish knowledge to try and get my point across, and I was afraid I would make a mistake and say the wrong thing. Melissa speaks Spanish as well, so writing to her was a bit intimidating. Though I have been practicing my numbers in Spanish as a little kid, trying to use them in conversation, especially to tell someone’s age, proved to be very difficult for me. This was compounded by having to tell multiple people’s ages. However, after the first few times it started to get easier to write peoples ages in Spanish. I felt that I was very vague in describing my family members to Melissa, but that’s because I didn’t know a lot of descriptive words at the time of writing the letter. Next time I have to write a letter like this, I know I can be more descriptive and paint a better picture of my family to whomever I am describing them to. I have included the letter below.

Querida Melissa,

¿Cómo estas? Recibí tu carta preguntando por mi familia. Mi familia es muy pequeña. Tú conoces mis padres Patrick y Lupe. Mi padre Patrick tiene cincuenta años. Mi padre es un marinero retirado y es mi héroe. Mi madre Lupe tiene cincuenta y seis años. Mi madre es muy hermosa y es una trabjadora tambien. Yo tengo dos hermanos y una hermana. Mi hermanos son Brian y Robert. Brian tiene treinta años y está en California. Brian tiene un hijo Kyle y una hija Rose. Rose tiene cuatro años y Kyle tiene dos años. Mi hermano Robert tiene veintiun años y es muy tranquilo. Mi hermana es Patricia, y tiene veinticuatro años. Patricia es muy ruidiosa. Espero tu próxima carta y escuchar sobre tú familia.

Amor siempre,
Tyoo

Interpretive Listening

In class I had to listen and watch videos of people speaking Spanish, then after watching the video match what they said in the video, tell if the statements listed were true or false in the video, and complete written sentences of what the people stated in the video. Outside of class, I listen to Spanish music, watch the music video if there is one associated with the song, and then look up the written lyrics and then translate them to understand the meaning of the song.

A core concept that I always find difficult is that fluent Spanish is spoken very fast. This makes trying to listen to the words very difficult, and why I always have to look up the written words if possible to better understand. Another difficulty that I face when listening to Spanish and then trying to write it down is that my brain is hardwired for English, so some Spanish words I automatically spell incorrect because of how I am used to hearing. The best example of this is Double “L” words. The double “L” in Spanish makes a Y sound, so whenever I heard words such as llamo and llegar I see them as Yamo and Yegar in my mind at first so I have to translate in my brain and then remember to write the translation down instead of what I hear.

The first song I linked is “Que Sera, Sera” by Doris Day. I occasionally listen to this song, and its the song I remember my mother singing to me as a child. I like songs like this because its what we like to call “Spanglish,” meaning that its a mix of Spanish and English words. My mother would speak to me growing up in Spanglish because she had trouble grasping the English language, so listening to music like this actually helps me learn Spanish better. The second song I linked is “Madura” by Cosculluela Featuring Bad Bunny. Thought the song itself is spoken in all Spanish, the lyrics and meaning of the song is nothing really educational. However, I included it because the Spanish is spoken in a different dialect and speed then I am used to. Listening to music like this helps to develop my listening skills when it comes to the Spanish language, and allows me to expand my vocabulary and to listen to people from different Spanish countries speak Spanish.

Interpretive Reading

In English, give a very brief 2-3 line description of interpretive communication activities you read in and out of class this semester, such as articles, stories, websites like the Language Learning Center, etc. that you completed for or related to your Spanish learning. Include a copy of one of these activities; remember to cite it. (See Modes of Communication link for description and examples).

Then, write a short reflection paragraph that includes the activities you described above. What was unclear or challenging for you? How did you overcome this difficulty? What did you find most interesting or compelling? What was your takeaway from the reading? How have you grown with each assignment?

Other then reading the assigned material in the book, I didn’t really do any interpretive reading during this semester. The reason for that is because I am horrible at reading Spanish, and I honestly think its not the best way for me to learn Spanish. I have concentration issues enough reading English, so I think I avoid reading Spanish unless I have to.

To improve my Spanish, I now realize that I should spend more time reading Spanish. However, I don’t mean just reading my textbook. I should start reading Spanish newspapers, magazines and books (which my mother has a collection of) so that I can improve my base Spanish skills. Just like watching all Spanish channels on the tv or listening to all Spanish music, I need to read more of all Spanish publications to become a better Spanish speaker.