Spanish is Hard!!! (Part I)

Warning… the following article may give you a headache or discourage you from wanting to learn Spanish. Because this entry is rather lengthy, I’ve divided it into three parts. So please take breaks while reading, drink a lot of water, and remember: everyone experiences something different when learning Spanish in different countries!

A couple of weeks ago a friend of mine living in Alicante brought a youtube video to my attention. In the video, titled, “Qué difícil es hablar el español,” two men sing about how difficult it is to learn Spanish because every Spanish-speaking country speaks a different type of Spanish. The guys give many examples of the language and expressions used in many different countries. To me, the video was quite amusing.

Costa Rica

As an American Spanish-learner and having studied in two Latin American/Caribbean Spanish-speaking countries prior to living in Spain, I could totally agree with everything that they were saying. In fact, the more I listened to the video, the more frustrated I became because I began to think about all of the lexical “mistakes” that I’ve made in these different countries. Now being in Spain and speaking “castellano,” I feel like I’ve totally had to reconstruct the way that I speak in Spanish. Not only did I have to learn a new set of vocabulary but I also had to change some of the tenses that I normally spoke in, learn a new verb form and learn some castellano slang. And this does not even include the whole new language, valenciano, that I’ve also been learning.

Unfortunately, this would probably be the case of anyone travelling to different Spanish-speaking countries. Although some countries speak the same language, there are so many lexical and cultural differences between them, just as there are so many differences between the language and customs of the United States and other English-speaking countries.  It's important to pay attention to the manner in which people speak so that you are not completely lost in translation.

Here are some examples of why it is so difficult to learn Spanish:

Vocabulary

The Dominican Republic

One of the main reasons why speaking Spanish can be so difficult, especially when travelling to other countries, is because the vocabulary in each place can be so different. You may run into words that are completely unused in other countries or words that have a completely different meaning. I’ve run into these differences while living in Costa Rica, The Dominican Republic and now Spain. For example:

These are some words that replace each other in different countries:

1.      Computer: in Latin American Spanish, computer is computadora; whereas in Spain, it’s ordenador.

2.      Glasses:  in Latin American Spanish, glasses are anteojos; whereas in Spain, they are gafas.

3.      Potato/French Fries: this is one of the first things that surprised me because before coming to Spain, I always referred to potatoes as papas and French fries as papas fritas; however, in Spain they are patatas and patatas fritas, respectively.

4.      Congratulations: I’ve always said felicidades or felicitaciones; but in Spain, saying enhorabuena is more common.

5.      Beans: in Costa Rica, the beans were always referred to as frijoles; whereas in the Dominican Republic they were always habichuelas and in Spain they are called alubias or judias.

6.      Juice: in Costa Rica, the juice was fresh and therefore was referred to as fresco; whereas in the Dominican Republic the juice was simply referred to as jugo. In Spain, juice is most often referred to as zumo.

7.      Ticket: In Costa Rica, I always referred to a ticket as a boleto or a tiquete; but in Spain, ticket can be an entrada, a billete or other things, depending on the exact type.

8.      Cake: I’ve heard the word cake being referred to as a pastel, a tarta, a torta, a queque and a postre (which technically means dessert, but has been used in more of a cake context).

These words are used in the same countries but have a different meaning:

1.      Coger: coger is a word that you really need to watch out for because in Spain, it means to get, pick up or catch something. In Mexico and some other countries, however, it is a very vulgar word and has a sexual connotation. 

2.      Comida: I’ve always taken the word comida to mean food or meal. But in Spain, the comida is the big lunch that people eat in the middle of the day.

3.      Almuerzo: Just like comida, I’ve always learned that almuerzo was lunch. However, in Spain, the almuerzo is more of a mid-morning snack.

This is just a few examples of the hundreds of differences in vocabulary between some countries. If you would like to view more, this is a good website:

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anexo:Diferencias_de_vocabulario_estándar_entre_países_hispanohablantes

Grammar

Just as the vocabulary varies in different Spanish-speaking countries, sometimes grammar rules also change. It’s the same in English. In American English vs. British English there are some differences in preposition usage, using the present perfect tense and spelling. For example, we would say “on the weekend” while they would say “at the weekend” and they would oftentimes use the present perfect tense when we would use the past tense. Spanish is also like this. Here are some examples:



Costa Rica

1.      Those who have studied Spanish know that each verb in every tense is conjugated differently. The way that verb is conjugated depends on the subject. Take the verb hablar for example, which means, “to speak.” In the present tense, the forms are yo hablo (I speak), tú hablas (you speak), él/ella habla, (he/she speaks) nosotros hablamos (we speak), vosotros hablais (you all speak) and ellos hablan (they speak). Keep in mind, this is just the present tense, there are 14 verb tenses. When learning Spanish in the United States, we are usually told that the vosotros form, or the “you” plural form (the way we would address a group of people), is only used in Spain and therefore, it wasn’t important to learn. As a result, I always studied this form, but I never used it because I was never tested on it and none of the countries that I have been to used it. However, now that I am in Spain it is used constantly; I especially have to use it when I am addressing the children in class or talking to the teachers that I work with. Although I know the vosotros forms of these verbs, I always feel uncomfortable using them because they are words that I’ve never used before.

2.      Speaking of using the vosotros (“you” plural) form of verbs, one thing that has also been difficult when travelling to different Spanish-speaking countries is knowing how to address people. For example, in Spanish, you can address an individual person in two different ways: by using the pronoun tú or the pronoun usted. In English, both of these pronouns mean “you,” however, tú is normally used when you are addressing someone informally, while usted is used when addressing someone formally. In other words, when you are speaking with your friends and to people younger than you, you would normally use “tú,” but if you’re speaking to people that you would respect more, those older than you, you would use usted. As with all of the pronouns in Spanish, they each also come with different verb conjugations. You can either say something like, “Tú eres muy guapo” or “Usted es muy guapo” (They both mean “you are good-looking”).

This is really important because some countries rarely use the tú form, some rarely use the usted form and some use a mixture of both. In Costa Rica, for example, the language was very formal and people did not use the tú form at all. Therefore, every person, whether 2-years-old or 90-years-old, was addressed as usted. In the Dominican Republic, however, the language was more fitting to the age and social status of each person and therefore, I would address my friends as tú and my professors and host-parents as usted. The language in Spain, in my opinion, is the total opposite of that in Costa Rica; it is extremely informal. Therefore people normally address each other as tú without considering age or social status. I made the mistake of addressing my school’s director as “usted” when I came here and, according to her, it made her feel very old.

In my opinion, each country’s language rules have a direct correspondence with the formality of the country. Costa Rica was a very conservative country, which is why everyone addressed everyone in a more formal, respectable manner. Spain, however, is a lot more relaxed; therefore, people address each other in a more familiar way.

The Domican Republic

3.      Another grammar note that I’ve picked up on while I’ve been in Spain is the placement of indirect object pronouns. People learning Spanish as a foreign language have learned that when using indirect-object pronouns (me, te, le, nos, os, les or in English, me, you, him, her, us, them) with a conjugated verb and a verb in its infinitive form, you can either place the pronoun before the two verbs or you can attach it to the end of the verb in its infinitive form. For example, you can either say “me puedes ayudar” or “puedes ayudarme” (both mean “can you help me?”). Although I use both, I’ve always preferred the latter way over the former because it’s just easier for me. However, I’ve noticed that most Spaniards that I’ve spoken with use the former. So I’ve started doing the same. 

4.      An additional thing that I’ve caught on to while living here is that people use the present perfect tense in a different manner. In English, the present perfect tense is used to describe an action that started in the past but may still be going on in the present. It involves the have/has verbs that we use in English. For example, I would normally say, “yo he comido tres galletas hoy,” (I have eaten three cookies today) or “¿Que has hecho hoy?” (What have you done today?). However, I’ve realized that Spaniards normally use the present perfect tense instead of using the past tense with actions that happened that same day. For example, one day, I was telling my roommate a story about something that happened in the kitchen that morning. I said something like, “I was making tea and I put water in the mug and put the mug in the microwave and when I took the mug out of the microwave there was something in it.” Anyway, my roommate laughed at me while I was telling the story and when I asked her why, she said that it was because I was using the past tense instead of the present perfect tense. “But why would I use the present perfect?” I asked. She said that it was because, although everything happened in the past, it still happened that day, so it sounds better to use the present perfect. “Isn’t it like that in English too,” she said, “wouldn’t you say, ‘I have put water in the mug’ and ‘I have put the mug in the microwave?’” Umm no. That’s when I assured her that we don’t speak that way in American English, but I believe they do in British English. We may use the word “had” in that context, but that’s a totally different verb tense.  They didn’t speak that way in the other countries that I’ve been to either.

Anyway, so now instead of saying things like, “fui al supermercado hoy” (I went to the supermarket today), I say “he ido al supermercado hoy” (I have gone to the supermarket today).  To me, it doesn’t convey the same message, but hey, when in Spain…

Stay tuned for Part II.