Spanish

I'm studying español, as you know if you've been here recently. Some words I encounter one time and I know them. Other words I encounter again and again and regardless of how many times I look up their definitions, I still don't know their meaning the next time I see them. I suppose that will change, eventually.

I have a Spanish tutor now. A teacher instructs a class; a tutor instructs one person at a time. My tutor is a native Spanish speaker, so Spanish is her first language. She watches my lessons, notes where I have trouble, and emails me lessons in the form of quizzes. She doesn't grade the quizzes. She writes them to help me learn words and phrases that are giving me trouble.

I studied Spanish for two years in high school. That was long ago, and I've forgotten most of what I learned, but I remember some of it. Now I'm studying it again. What else can a person do with his time? Besides watching fútbol americano on the telly? I blog, partly because I enjoy writing and partly to stay ocupado. I've posted 1600 articles on this blog since I began writing it. My blog posts are not all gems, but some of them are at least as good as anything else I've read in the blogosphere. (If I say so myself, and I do.)

Speaking of football, I watched most of last night's Super Bowl. The halftime shows used to be entertaining, but they've become increasingly bizarre of late, so I tune them out. I watched the Super Bowl from my computer desk, where I was mostly concentrating on Spanish lessons. From what I saw of the game, it was so-so. Not "super," but I didn't expect it to be. So it met my expectations: just a hard-fought, gridiron football game. But I don't think Americans expect a super football game. The purpose of the Super Bowl is to have a reason for people to get together and drink alcohol and party. Americans love to party and will use any excuse to do so. For example, New York City has the oldest and largest St. Patrick's Day Parade in the world. Before covid-19, the parade would typically have about 150,000 participants. And St. Patrick is Ireland's patron saint!

I seldom watch television. When I was younger I had little time for television. I thought most of it was lame. Almost anything was more interesting. The word "television" in Spanish is televisión. Note the accent mark. The Spanish are fond of sprinkling accent marks throughout their language. Somehow, the Brits and the americanos trudge along, speaking and writing books in English with nary an accent mark except for some foreign-language words. I wonder about Portuguese. It's similar to Spanish. At least, it looks similar on a page. Does that language use a profligate quantity of accent marks? I bet it does.

You might think accent marks are important, but they're not. The excuse for using them is to distinguish between words with the same spelling, and to show which syllable is accented in a word that does not follow the rules for accenting. But the spoken language doesn't use accent marks and people understand words from their context. Obviously, written words can also be understood from context, as that is how English works. But Spanish speakers refuse to give up their accent marks.

If I go to a Spanish-speaking country, I will have to carry notes in my pocket to refer to when I'm trying to communicate. Of course, there are translation apps available for phones, but for me, notes are quicker to use. There's an app for that? No, there's a note for that.

When early April arrives I'll have Spanish-speaking visitors arriving and living with me for a while, so I'm cramming the lessons now, trying to get up to speed on the language. I would like to be able to communicate, at least on a basic level, with people living with me. I'm sure we'll find a way to communicate. People always do.

¡Ten un día maravilloso! ¡Hasta luego!