Spanish!

What a roller coaster this semester has been!! All for the sake of one measly little class!! However, a class not to be taken lightly. Yes this is my third semester of Spanish at the local J.C. and could possibly be the last Spanish class that I will ever have to take. Chances are I will voluntarily take the final class offered at the college. "You're crazy!" some might say! Especially for those who know me....they are probably wondering why in the heck I would wish to put myself through this again. The answer is simple (the understanding of it is a very different problem): I would love to become fluent in another language and although I do not necessarily care for the Spanish language, I can't imagine starting all over again. I would be re-missed however, if I did not admit that the language is growing on me, despite my utter frustration.

Learning another language is an experience not easily found anywhere else. Through it, I think I have learned more about my own language than of Spanish. Its fascinating to learn why we put words in certain orders, and how a minor slip could affect the entire sentence. Making it either unintelligible or say the exact opposite of what was intended. This is especially obvious when translating. Often Spanish does not follow the English rule regarding adjectives and nouns (but then again, neither does English at times!!). When one is translating a sentence, they have to reorganize all that they are reading and then try to make the translation sound like the original.

A group of friends and I are in the middle of reading through Dante's Purgatorio together. One of my friends has the original Italian text written next to the English translation. Because the Spanish and Italian language are very similar, we often try to read it in the Italian and compare it to the English. We have noted a couple of times where the English translation does not read quite the same as the Italian. Thereby giving us a different perspective of what Dante is trying to relay. It has occurred to me, through these readings, that there is a lot of pressure on the shoulders of a translator. Not only do they have to understand the other language, but they have to be careful that they do not misrepresent or inaccurately convey what the author is relaying. Not to mention that the work is extremely tedious and requires an enormous amount of patience.

However, what makes this art of language so amazing is it is a talent that everyone is born with. Everyone can speak at least one language. To learn a second or third language is skill that all people have the ability to do! By naturally speaking one language one already has the building blocks to learn another. Take it from me...you don't have to be a genius to learn. This is not to say learning another language is easy, but it is a joy that most people miss out on. The joy in expressing oneself more fully through articulation.

This Thursday I have my Spanish final which the professor so happily told us was going to be cumulative! That was just before he informed us that we were going to have another test a couple days before the final as well! Now as I frantically search for class notes, previous tests, and begin to feel the weight of the up coming final, I'll try to remember that I am doing this for the joy of expressing myself more accurately (no telling what that will sound like)!