SPAIN

CONTINENTAL DRIFTER
“Learning” is the universal language
by Elliott Hester
click on photos for enlargements

Having completed 3 weeks of language classes at the Andalusí Spanish Institute in Málaga, Spain, I’ve learned a lot about the Spanish language and a bit about being American.

I’ve learned to conjugate regular and irregular verbs. I’ve learned to construct basic sentences in the present, past perfect, past imperfect and past indefinite tenses. After greeting the waiter and ordering boquerones (a tasty sardine-like fish) and tinto de verano (red wine and Sprite) at my favorite tapas bar, I can digest bite-size portions of the local Spanish-language newspaper.

Thanks to a dedicated staff of profesores who taught exclusively in Spanish (they gesticulated like mimes when I couldn’t understand), I’m well on my way to learning a second language. But when a European classmate asked a cultural question, I needed to study a map before I could answer.

Allow me to explain.

Of all the resort towns along the Costa del Sol, Málaga is the largest and most prominent. Lured by 16 city beaches and the narrow winding streets of Old Town, hordes of visitors flock each year to this sun-drenched destination. Many mix leisure with learning by enrolling at one of Málaga’s 20 Spanish language schools.

I enrolled at the Andalusí Institute because it’s relatively small (a maximum of 8 students per class, 150 total students during peak summer months), located in a quiet residential neighborhood, and because most of the students come from Holland and Germany.

By avoiding the schools preferred by my fellow Americans (as well as Britons, Canadians and Australians), I could resist temptation and speak Spanish instead of English during class breaks.

For 4 hours each day, 5 days per week, I soaked up lessons along with 7 Dutch and German students. But the Europeans seemed to soak up lessons faster. (They were Bounty “Quicker picker-uppers” and I was the generic paper towel.) Sure, my mind often drifted from the classroom toward the topless beauties sprawled on nearby beaches. Sure, my desire to explore the city sometimes overruled my desire to do homework. But these weren’t my most obvious shortcomings. During a 30-minute lunch break, I found out what was.

Due to the nature of her job, Kirsten, a German banker, speaks 3 languages fluently (German, French and English). Because of educational requirements in The Netherlands, most Dutch students also speak 3 languages (Dutch, English and French). A few speak German as well, bringing their total to 4. For them, Spanish would be their fifth language.

As it turned out, I was the only mono-lingual person in class. Most of my European counterparts were half my age and spoke at least 3 times as many languages.

After pondering my all-American upbringing, I bit into a bocadillo (sandwich) and eavesdropped on the lunchtime conversations. While sitting in lounge chairs by the pool, my classmates alternated between Dutch, French, German and English, with occasional forays into Spanish.

I marveled at their ability to shift linguistic gears. I envied the cultural multiplicity. But when a 20-year-old Dutch student turned to me, I was caught with a mouthful of bocadillo. Blue eyes blinking innocently, she spoke in textbook English. “How many languages do you speak?”

I felt like the frog at a gathering of princesses.

After I admitted my linguistic shortcomings, she asked a profound question. “How can you survive with only one language?” I answered her the following day, after consulting an encyclopedia.

North America, third largest of the 7 continents, is made up of only three countries: the United States, Canada and Mexico. Two of these countries speak the same language. Europe, by comparison, is comprised of 43 countries sharing 38 languages on the world’s second smallest continent.
 
Northern Italians speak Swiss-German. Ten percent of Swiss citizens speak Italian, which along with German and French is one of 3 official languages. Depending on where you are in Spain, you’ll hear Galician, Catalan or Basque languages as well as ubiquitous Español.

Amsterdam, the largest city in The Netherlands, is within 500 air miles of London, Paris, Brussels, Geneva, Munich and Prague. I grew up in Chicago. The only “foreign” city within 500 miles is Toronto.

Which is a lame excuse for not conjugating verbs as fast everyone else in my class. A more plausible explanation could be that people who speak multiple languages often have an easier time learning an additional one.

“Poco y poco,” cautioned Anna Belén, my favorite Spanish instructor. Halfway through a 1-hour private class, she paused to smile at me. It was the smile of a teacher whose lesson finally “clicks” in the mind of her student.

“Sí profesora,” I replied, nodding my head like the schoolboy I was decades ago. “Little by little I’m learning.”

Next stop: Stryn, Norway

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