Lovin' it

I finished my 1 a level French course today. I hardly put in too much offline time studying but ensured I attended class regularly and more importantly, paid attention in class. Fundamentally I've come to believe now that for reasons known only to our maker, my brain is wired in a way where I am quick to grasp concepts of grammar, sentence construction, tenses and so on. Looking back, English was always my favourite subject right from my earliest recollections of school, not to mention doing exceptionally well at Kannada despite being a Gujju. I found grammar similar to how many bright Indian kids find maths. And the same wiring helped when I wrote the diploma español exam and now in French aussi. Reason I say all this is I felt an epiphany this morning. As I was sitting at the exam chair ticking away the (correct) answers where we had to derive meaning after hearing an audio clip, I suddenly said to myself: damn I really love doing this!

It was a good feeling...I need to still figure out how on earth to take a stab at the diploma intermedio...I've written about it a hundred times before. If I get that...estoy listo para trabajar en un pais de hispanohablante. Mais maintenant je vais les cours de français.

á droite ou a la izquierda?

It seems unreal but I've already more or less completed 80 hours of French lessons. I'm fairly comfortable with writing, reading and constructing but of course pronunciation remains a challenge mais I am sure that will change as I continue.

I am now torn between going ahead with my French or shift focus back to mi español and give the certificado intermedio a good shot. I have no illusions about the intermedio and am almost certain it'll take more than one attempt. To put things in perspective, if I have an intermedio, then I would be qualified to teach basic level español! So it takes a while to get there...and it'll take me mucho tiempo to be sure.

But at the same time, the infrastructure and learning atmosphere at the Alliance Francaise is brilliant and my aptitude pour les langues is self evident now.

Torn.

¡Qué Bien!

I spent a total of maybe 15 minutes talking to the Mexican cabr*n in Spanish. In that time, he had to translate 3 - 4 words for me, he corrected my tenses what seemed like a hundred times, taught me new slang and swear words and told me my accent resembled a strange Dutch Mexican mix.

*sigh*

But he also happened to say I need 2 months. Just 8 weeks in América Latina. ¡Qué bien!

Soy Feliz

I don't see myself as hardworking. I've always regretted that I was unable to put in that extra mile or bring forth more application in my academics, the sport I played or even in a couple of jobs I've had in the past. Things have always seemed to come easy for me in some aspects and in others, I truly believe I got plain lucky. So although hardwork was part of the scheme of things, If I was to draw a pie chart with the factors that contributed to say, me playing cricket or me clearing exams without too much studying, I would put down the "hardwork" factor at a very low percentage. I had it easy or I got lucky.

An entire day spent at JNU in Delhi this May, being tested in 5 sections of Spanish left me tired and bittersweet. I was one among 30 others writing the exam. Most of them were students from JNU in their 2nd year of their bachelors in Spanish! They were actually studying 3 years of just Spanish and this was the exam they were taking in the 2nd year of their course. I could only smile when I learnt this and snigger a little in a "sour grapes" kind of way hearing these 19 - 20 year olds chatter away in perfect but accented Spanish and then suddenly switch between the kind of English & Hindi mix only privileged, young Delhi-ites talk and then switch to Spanish again. I will admit, it grated on me. It grated a lot. And it magnified the futility of me being there.

Which is what makes this a lot sweeter. A whole lot sweeter. In fact, out of all the little prizes and recognitions I've managed to wrangle over the years, this one will sit on top of them all. The honey-laced cherry on top of the cake. I first enrolled in a Spanish course in April 2005. It took me 2 years to get to a level where I could write the D.E.L.E exam. Missing writing it in November last year left me really bitter and having to write it in May without any classes for over 8 months left me deflated at the enormity of the task. I admit that I had some aptitude in picking up the language which helped in the self learning I did before the exam. But attributing this success to talent, aptitude or luck would be doing myself a disservice. For the first time in a long time, I worked hard, long and for days, weeks, months on end. And it feels great. All those preachy types who say there isn't a substitute for hard work may have a point after all it would seem eh? But for now I think I'll just enjoy this moment for a while. I've already decided to take the next level. And for those who're wondering what this is all about, I had written about my international standards Spanish examination some months ago here and here.

I received the results a few days back and to my utter and complete delight, I cleared it with an 80 / 100 and I now have a level 1 diploma in Spanish as a foreign language. The exam is conducted by the Cervantes Institute and the results are taken in the same vein as the popular TOEFL exam for English.

I'm over the moon. And then some.

Sueños...

I spent an entire day at Jawaharlal Nehru University's School of Language & Culture studies in Delhi on Friday last. I was there for my D.E.L.E (spanish) exam which didn't go as well as I had hoped but at least I know where I am now in a sense. However, the great thing about the day was being surrounded almost entirely by 30 odd students all speaking with each other only in Spanish the whole day. I had more conversations in Spanish in a day than I have had in almost 1 year of studying! By the end of the day, I was feeling much better for having been able to converse without any practice earlier but also feeling wholly inadequate due to my woeful vocabulary.

The feeling of sharing thoughts, emotions and experiences in a foreign language for this short a time made me wistfully think of what it will be like if and when I finally live for a short time in a Spanish speaking country. If I ever do that...I don't think I'll have to study to take the D.E.LE....

Done & Done

I'm glad I can still do crazy things like this....and I hope I will never reach a stage in life when I can't.

18th July: Bangalore - Amsterdam (Lufthansa)

18th July: Amsterdam - Madrid (Transavia)

20th July: Madrid - Lisbon (With Sathe and partner by car)

24th July: Rotterdam - Brussels - Paris

And the crown jewel will be the babuino's wedding. :-) Y también mi primera vez en un lugar que yo hablaré sólo en español!

Why Spanish - Explanation no. 123

I'm periodically asked, "Why Spanish? Why Spain / Latin America?" (add a dash of puzzlement and throw in a fistful of impatience)

Here goes explanation no. 123. No other language I have come across so far can allow words like these to be penned and and to take it one level higher, be put to a tune so good:

From "tabaco y chanel" by Bacilos

Con olor a tabaco y chanel (with a whiff of tobacco and Chanel)
Me recuerda el olor de su piel ( It reminds me of the smell of your skin)
Una mezcla de miel y café ( a mix of honey and coffee)
Me recuerda el sabor de sus besos ( It reminds me of the flavour of your kisses)

Me preguntan por ella (They ask me about her)
Me preguntan tambien las estrellas ( Even the stars ask me...)
Me recleman que vuelva por ella ( They demand of me that I return for her)
Hay que vuelva por ella...( I have to return for her)

Pero fueron las mismas estrellas (But they were the same stars...)
Que un día marcaron mis manos (that one day marked by hands)
Y apartaron esa flor, esa flor de mi vida (and they set apart that flower...the flower of my life...my life)
De mi vida

Hay que vuelva por ella...( I have to return for her...)

If you hear the song and really feel the words, explanation no. 123 will suffice. :)

(Si hay cualquier erors en mi traduccíon por favor perdóneme porque ahora estoy aprendo todavía jefe)

Exam Time

I last took a real exam almost 5 years ago! Now in a month's time I have to refresh and prepare for my diploma de español como lengua extranjera - nivel inicial exam: the first of 3 possible levels I aspire to clear as part of an unexplainable goal to learn this language. In order to write this exam I've just had to book e$$$pensive flight tickets all the way to Delhi and back, not to mention the exam fees too. And I have 3 sets of 3 month courses behind me which I hope will be sufficient to gain this qualification and allow me in a certifiable manner, to claim that I speak a decent level of Spanish as a foreigner.

Late nights, early mornings & muchos cafés lie ahead...