In the fall of 2020, I began doing research for Dr. David Salisbury in the department of geography and the environment. He specifically focuses on regions of Peru and Brazil in the Amazon. I started out mapping roads for him and at most Google translating the names of shapefiles. I would sit and blink while my professor spoke rapid-fire Spanish and Portuguese with on-the-ground collaborators about our maps.
I then moved on to my own research project mapping COVID-19 among Indigenous communities. This involved working in a research team with my professor and two other professionals, one of which only spoke Spanish. From that point forward, anything involved in my data analysis was translated into Spanish. I couldn’t hold a conversation with anyone, but I started trying to comprehend the meetings more and I began to know some of the key phrases from the excel sheets and data visualizations that were all in Spanish. It was such a vastly different approach to a language than any that I had previously taken.
I took an introductory Spanish course over one summer in an attempt to better understand what was going on in meetings, but I needed more practice listening and speaking than what we did in a class. That was when I realized that I would not be able to learn these languages the way that I thought I needed to through any standard path because they were not as focused or applied. However, I also knew that I was not someone who could learn a language on my own. I am someone built for setting aside a specified time for something and I also am more motivated by collaboration. These are some of the reasons why this program really appealed to me.
This past summer we, as a student research group, traveled to Peru for a workshop about environmental issues in the Peru/Brazil borderlands of the Amazon that we study. We got there and I was thrown into a language blender with Spanish, English, and Portuguese coming at me from all sides. Most of it I didn’t understand. A lot of times I needed someone to translate or I would type things out on my phone. However, an amazing part was how much people were willing to teach me or communicate in broken Spanish or Portuguese. I learned an insane amount because I had people willing to engage with me.
I say all of this because I now have a research collaborator who only speaks Portuguese and after hearing about this program I think it could be what helps me to meet my goals of conversation, comprehension, and investigation when it comes to Portuguese, particularly in my area of study. One of my main goals as a part of this program is to speak as much Portuguese as I can. It is the most challenging aspect of any language to me, but I also think it pushes me to be more competent in that language as well. I also hope to put a specific focus on communicating in the context of the research I am doing. I recognize that I do not even know foundational Portuguese, but I think being able to communicate with my collaborator will be a good initial motivation.
Comments
I think that's very cool to hear about your travels to Peru and that you're wanting to learn Portuguese to be about to communicate with your research collaborator! Would you say that you have achieved the level of Portuguese you wanted from this semester of SDLC?
I love how your summer has ignited this passion for learning Portuguese! I hope your language level may rise to the point where you are able to discuss difficult topics like environmental issues in the Peru/Brazil borderlands that you studied -- though maybe you might still have to understand it in English ;). Speaking as much Portuguese as you can is a very lofty goal! I hope you ended up splitting into some smaller (perhaps more manageable) chunks.
Hi Elspeth~
I think it’s so cool that your research motivated you to learn Portuguese so that you can hopefully communicate more easily with the collaborator! It’s hard to take up a new language from scratch, but like you mentioned, speaking as much possible is the best method. Also that Peru trip sounds amazing tell me all about it next time we meet. J