Several people have asked me recently, if I am able to speak Spanish yet. The shortest answer I can give you is, yes, more than 6 months ago, but, no, not as much as I will 6 months from now. The nice thing is that everyone, well, most everyone in my arena, speaks English as well as I speak Spanish!! We all get by, by simply helping each other with the language differences.
Verbs, and their tenses. Need I say anything more? They are the downfall of any person learning a different language. Think of how many times you ask someone about something that happened weeks ago, or something that will happen next week, next month, or next year. Each has a completely different verb tense, so, unless you are taking classes to learn these tenses, you have to listen, and retain.
Therein lies the problem for me, really anyone in this situation. You listen to the conversation being spoken in Spanish around you, then, you have to translate what you are hearing into English, formulate a response in Spanish that sounds remotely acceptable, then actually speak that response. All within seconds. Then, the next sentence comes, and you use the above algorithm, repeat, and so on, until the conversation ends. For the first few weeks I was exhausted, mentally, by days end. Now, I am able to speak in a somewhat more confident manner, and am definitely more easily understood.
I understand the bulk of most conversations, so I am able to make some sort of appropriate response. Fortunately, for me, they all, our cousin Pepe, in particular, gently correct me. But Pepe, his wife Paty, and Juan, also explain what I have said incorrectly, and how to say it correctly in the future. Big help.
Then there is their brother, Marco, who speaks 100 MPH, and I rarely understand him. When he notices me giving him the “you have got to be kidding me” look, he laughs, knowing all the while I understood nothing of what just flew by my hearing. After he has had his chuckle, he will either say what I just missed in a much simpler Spanish, or, if he feels like practicing, he will say the whole bit in English. We all come to an understanding, in the end.
The more important thing about learning a different language, for me anyway, is that here, they love me, and are willing to help me, any way they can, to learn this different, but beautiful, new language.