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As if learning a foreign language wasn’t hard enough . . .
After arriving in Spain last year, my husband and I (along with our boys at their local school) dove head-on into language learning. It was fun, hard, exciting, exhausting, and everything in between.
For about nine months, we were all making good progress. We enjoyed going to language classes at the local community center. We enjoyed meeting with our language tutor at the bar down the street for drinks and Spanish tapas. We enjoyed going to the outdoor farmers’ market on Wednesday mornings to buy fresh produce and practice real-life Spanish conversation.
Our kids were immersed in Spanish at soccer practices and games four days a week. They were learning Spanish one hour a day at school and hearing the language swirl around them during recess, lunch, grocery store runs, etc.
We were all making good progress . . . until March 2020 . . . until COVID hit!
Then, everything stopped. We were quarantined in full-blown lockdown for 50 days with schools closed, activities halted, markets packed up, restaurants shut down, churches closed, etc. Our community center shut its doors as well, so all of our structured language learning and community conversation opportunities came to a sudden halt.
For almost six months, other than some major medical emergencies, we had little exposure to native Spanish speakers and opportunities to practice our Spanish.
Language Regression
Our language progress stopped and even regressed—BIG time. Our Spanish level had gone from beginner, to advanced beginner, to pre-intermediate, to intermediate . . . and then back down the hill to NADA, NADA, NADA.
A few weeks ago, the local community center reopened its doors and invited the foreigners back in to learn Spanish. Yeah! I was so excited.
On the first day of class, I found myself sitting alongside eight other immigrants—six from Morocco and two from Nigeria. It felt comfortable and exciting!
I love to learn languages, and I love to be surrounded by people from other lands and other cultures of the world.
I felt right at home.
A New Normal
However, nothing felt “normal.”
The desks were new, single desks, instead of shared tables. They were spaced out 1.5 meters. Gel dispensers lined the walls so that we would remember to regularly disinfect our hands. The teacher wore a long, white, medical-looking gown. All of us wore masks.
“Oh boy,” I thought to myself when I walked through the classroom door. “This is going to be tough to learn a foreign language through masks.”
Already, learning a language is challenging—more difficult for some than for others. Now, we have an extra barrier, an extra roadblock to understanding, an extra piece of material standing between us.
The beloved mask!
Like Telephone Classes
For years in France, I taught English through telephone classes. These were not video classes, but purely audio telephone conversations. It was primarily for advanced-level students who wanted to be challenged to increase their oral and auditory skills. The challenge with the telephone is that you can’t see the person—can’t see their mouths move, can’t see their facial expressions, can’t see their hand gestures.
After having learned three foreign languages (French, Arabic, and Spanish), I have discovered that telephone conversations are absolutely the most difficult for me and any other language student out there. It takes on a whole new level of complexity and frustration. Misunderstandings are inevitable!
As I sat in my Spanish class at the community center, I realized that this new experience is like learning a foreign language on a telephone. Yet, I am not a highly-advanced student, and neither are my fellow classmates. We are at an A2 intermediate level, and we aren’t quite ready for telephone classes.
These are “mask classes.” We can’t see the teacher’s facial expressions. We can’t see her mouth move to make out the words. And, even more difficult than a telephone conversation (unless there is a horrible connection and static on the line!), we now hear this foreign language through a muffled sound.
We hear the sound and the language traveling through a barrier, a piece of material, called a MASK.
‘Please Repeat!’
Not only do many of us have to regularly ask the teacher to “Please repeat, I don’t understand,” but the teacher also can’t hear or understand us well through a mask. I have lost count of how many times she has said, “Please repeat, I don’t understand.” It’s not because we don’t know the words or expressions, it’s simply because we all can’t hear or make out each others’ muffled sounds.
It is very frustrating for all of us.
On that first day of class, I had to take a deep breath and make a decision. Either I could give up now and walk out of my Spanish class until COVID is over and I can learn this language without wearing a mask. Or, I could push through this new language barrier—the mask—and learn Spanish even better than I could before . . . thanks to the mask! I am now having to push my listening, comprehension, and speaking skills to an entirely different level.
A Choice
What’s my choice?
I have Spanish class three days a week. Tomorrow, I’m walking back into my Spanish class at the community center. I will wash my hands with gel, sit far from my classmates, wear my mask, and struggle through this language learning process.
I am determined. I hope that my immigrant friends from Morocco and Nigeria won’t give up. I hope they make the same choice to come back tomorrow, not giving in to frustration and our challenging life circumstances.
Hopefully, we will all get through this difficult season together and come out on the other side—speaking Spanish fluently and NOT wearing masks!
—THE CULTURAL STORY-WEAVER
MY GIFT TO YOU—GET YOUR FREE EBOOK—”THE 5-DAY JOURNEY TO CULTURAL AWARENESS”!
LET’S WEAVE CULTURES!
Have you ever learned a foreign language? What were some of the challenges you faced? Try to imagine learning a foreign language through a mask—as a student—or teaching a foreign language through a mask—as a teacher. What would that experience be like?
We invite you to tell us your own cultural stories and global adventures . . . as you engage with the world, breaking down barriers, building bridges, and “weaving cultures”! Write about them in the comment box below.
