It’s been a rough day.
An admitted perfectionist by nature, I have long realised that I subliminally decide which of my various interests, hobbies, tasks, etc are worth ‘competing in’ and which are not.
Those who have seen my artwork will know that this skill fits squarely in the ‘ok to be mediocre’ category. As does my running 
And at first, when we started taking Spanish lessons it fit squarely in the ‘it’s ok to be mediocre’ category, as well. But, as we’ve progressed, it’s somehow transitioned to become something I actually care about and want to do well with. Great!
But tonight, I experienced the downside of actually caring. We were meant to translate a few tricky paragraphs from English, requiring that we use and properly conjugate for all three past tenses within a single passage. Absolute disaster. Every word spoken–incorrect. Not a great thing for a perfectionist.
Though we’ve been taking Spanish classes in London and meeting with a friend from Spain for a language exchange since returning from our various adventures this Spring, the past tenses just aren’t sticking. Why is this so hard?!?!? Actually, I think I know why, but that’s another story.
The whole experience made me crave a bubble bath and a good cry. Welcome back to life as a 5 year old. Maybe it’s time not to care about Spanish…
Even though you’re doing language exchanges already, you may also want to try out a Spanish language group just to get more practice. Languages take an awful lot of practice to perfect; don’t loose your hope or fire to learn! Try meetup.com if you want to search for a language group; it is how I keep my French up living in NC. Bon Courage!
Language is a special skill. It tales practice. Conversational language is very forgiving and the other person really appreciates your efforts. Heck, back hom very few people can properly congegate sentences. Ya, ya all ar dong fin jst as y r. Am I right?
PS, get a really cheap book and a good bottle of wine and enjoy your bath.
Hi Lizounette,
Thanks so much for the bit of encouragement. After last week’s disasterous class experience, I thought about the reasons behind my difficulties with the past tenses. I think I’m a visual learner. As all of our current efforts are centered around conversation, I need to supplement with visuals in order to commit thing to memory. Currently, we don’t even use a book or a whiteboard in our class. As such, it’s difficult for me to dedicate whatever we’re learning to memory.
Thankfully, this week’s class went much better. And we’ll have a book (for me to pre- and post- review) and maybe a whiteboard from next week.
K
You’ll likely appreciate where I’ve landed…I’m a visual learner! I was successful in school through long hours spent reading and repetition/practice. I learn by seeing and by doing. So, during this week’s class I asked our professor if we can use a book for our class. We’re currently using only photocopies for practice and learning the various bits via conversation sans visuals. I have a feeling having a book and doing a bit of pre-work will make a huge difference for me. Alas, we’ve now moved onto future tense anyhow…so maybe I’ll focus on the present and the future and just conveniently ‘forget’ the past