Language Learning as a Family

Over the last two years in Spain Dziu and I have been working hard to grow in our Spanish speaking abilities. This year Evelyn also entered the language learning world with us. Right now she is going to school 5 days a week (5 hours each day) completely in Spanish. Talk about immersion.

We were really worried for quite some time that this would be too much for her. But Evelyn has responded well and is comprehending and speaking Spanish. She is already correcting our word usage and pronounciation.

We are often weary from spanish classes and meetings or discussions that are exclusively in Spanish. It takes so much mental energy to listen and reply in a tongue that is not your own. We have made many strides and actually feel very comfortable now living and working in Spain. Still, it often wears us out. We can't imagine how Evelyn feels after a week of school.

Here in Granada people speak with a specific accent, called Andaluz, for the region we live in, Andalucia. For example, "adios" is Goodbye in Spanish, but here in Granada it is pronounced "adiooo." The vowel is elongated and the "s" is dropped. Evelyn usually says "Adiooo" and often corrects us when we say, "adios."