Reflection Paper #2

[Thomas Dennis]

Before taking this class, I did not fully realize how important it was to understand the culture of your target language in order to fully utilize the language in the real world. I have taken Spanish courses before, and although interesting, I never found the attention to cultural aspects of the language to be very important. Through videos such as Culture Shock, I discovered how strange it can be for a someone to be immersed in a new culture, and understanding some of the cultural differences related to a target language allow you to focus more on improving your communication skills. I have a particular interest in learning Spanish from television, and after listening to game shows and news broadcasts this semester I can definitely notice an improvement in my ability to comprehend spoken Spanish. It is still difficult to understand fast speakers, but my comprehension level for average speed speakers is getting better. I have also been working on my speaking skills, but I find it a little more difficult to practice this skill. My friend and I converse in Spanish sometimes, but I definitely notice a difficulty in code switching to Spanish from English since I almost always speak English. It probably won't happen this semester, but if I truly want to become fluent in Spanish I think I need to dedicate time every day where I either talk out loud by myself, or preferably find someone fluent in Spanish that I can talk with on a consistent basis. One of the skills not commonly taught when learning a language is the relevant slang terminology, and I find game shows specifically to be helpful in this regard. Most native speakers do not strictly adhere to the formal way of speaking taught in classrooms, so it is valuable to experience people speaking Spanish in the real world. For me personally I would like to be able to use Spanish when I am in Spain this summer, so I have been looking at some vocabulary that I think will be relevant, such as directional, food, and entertainment terminology. I know I can't learn a large amount of vocabulary that I will actually be able to implement in practice, so I am focusing primarily on what is most relevant to me. I have also been watching some soccer in Spanish, because I have a strong interest in sports and a lot of the terms in soccer are applicable to other sports. Apart from learning the language itself, I am very excited to be immersed in Spanish culture this summer. I find Spanish culture to be fascinating, and the more I learn about it the more I want to improve my Spanish language skills as well.