Living in Spain is one of the most amazing things I have ever done in my life. Apart from having dreams to study and live abroad, Spain is the country that I am so interested to since I was a child. For example, I had followed a radio program that tought Spanish when I was in elementary school. My favorite international football team is Spain (and also Germany, ahem), plus I adore their best goalkeeper, Iker Casillas.
Years had passed, I tried to learn Spanish again when I was in college, but sadly I couldn't continue until I was trying to apply for a scholarship in Spain, which was happened in 2017. Without thinking that I would get the scholarship, I started to learn Spanish more serious. I bought Spanish exercise books and enrolled to a Spanish course for 3 months. A month later, after finishing the course, I got the big news; bam, I got the scholarship!
All those small traces apparently had led me to achieve one of my dreams; studying and living abroad, especially in Spain.
*sound of vinyl scratching*
Anyway, I have been living in Jaén for almost 2 years and 9 months in Mallorca. I live in Jaén for studying (obviously) since 2017, meanwhile I was doing au pair in Mallorca meanwhile finishing my TFM (final project of my study) this year. During my stay in both places, apparently I have adapted some habits that I have never done before when I was in Indonesia, my home country.
Inspired by this video, it really intrigues me that I can totally relate to his situation. He clearly has been living in Spain much longer than me, but there are two points that make me say, "That's exactly what happened to me!" So, what are those two points? In this post, I would tell you the first point.
1. Spanish is slipping into my English
I rarely speak in English when I live in Jaén. Sometimes I speak with my friends from Colombia and Kazakhstan, or anyone who only speaks English. Meanwhile in Mallorca, I speak in English more because I teach English to a kid. Therefore, since I speak in Spanish more often here, I notice something interesting... I often slip Spanish words into my speech when I speak in English! Also, I have lost count of times when I accidentally respond something in Spanish when I am in situation that I should have spoken in English or even in Bahasa Indonesia.When I realized that I started to mix them more than once, at first I thought my head was screwed up, hahaha. Well, there were a bunch of funny moments when I did that. As a starter, there were moments where my mind thought in one of the language, but when I spoke, I said it in other language!
- When my friend asked me what to do when we were cooking Indonesian foods, I told her, "Only mezcla!" (mezclar means to mix, so I tried to say "Only mix it!")
- When I told my age to a family, "Este año, tengo veinti six años!"
- When I spoke in English with a friend from Brazil, I accidentally said, "this night" instead of "tonight", because in Spanish I'd have said "esta noche".
- When I was in an ice cream shop in Regensburg (Germany) with my friends, the shopkeeper asked me in English if I wanted a cone or not, I answered, "SÃ! Eh, I mean, yes!" We immediately laughed, and surprisingly the shopkeeper was an Italian!
Next is the moments where I mix my speech in English with Spanish words. I spontaneously do it because it already becomes a habit for me, looking how many times I say those words...
- Whenever I respond someone in English, I ALWAYS begin it with, "Bueno, ..." (In English, it is equivalent to "Well, ...")
- Whenever I respond someone in English as an affirmative, I ALWAYS say, "Vale, ..." (In English, it is equivalent to "Okay, ...")
- Whenever I ask to make sure about something, I end the sentence by saying, "..., no?" (In Spanish, sometimes the interrogative sentence ends with "no?" or "verdad?", which is equivalent to "..., right?", "..., isn't it?", "aren't you/they?". When you end the interrogative sentence in English by saying, "no?", it doesn't make any sense, right?)
- Saying "Uff..."
- Saying "Buah!"
Another obvious example that has huge influence when you live in a certain region is the accent or dialect, which I already talk about it on this post (it's in Bahasa Indonesia, I think I will write the English version!). AndalucÃa region is famous for its distinctive accent and dialect. Meanwhile, Jaén is part of the comunidad autónoma AndalucÃa. By living and talking to local people here, their accent and dialect clearly have affected mine. Then, when I live in Mallorca, I can notice the differences. (We're gonna talk about this later, okay?)
No matter how funny or silly the outcomes are when I start slipping Spanish into my English, it's such a fascinating experience when I learn a new language then adjust it with the other languages that I've understood. So far I fluently speak Bahasa Indonesia (native language), English, and Spanish. I use three of them on a daily basis, which is an interesting process when I have to switch them when I speak to certain persons. It is undeniable that I would mix all of them by accident, but it doesn't matter! I really enjoy this process and I wouldn't stop learning more Spanish (and also English!).
So, what is the second point?
I'll give a clue: it's about swearing!
Hasta luego!
