How much of a problem is the language barrier in your daily life as an expat?

ShoeMakerLevy9

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Hello there!

I created this thread to know a bit more about the language skills of expats in the forum and their experiences dealing with Spanish.

I hope you all guys find this interesting. I might create a YouTube channel dedicated to languages in the future, and I would surely love to interview some of you if you like the idea.

Best wishes, Shoemakerlevy9.
 
I speak decent Spanish and sometimes get a “de donde sos?” because they can’t quite place my accent.

I could probably make an effort to feign an Argentine accent if I wanted to but can’t be bothered.
 
Howdy Shoe,

The problem I find with a language is that the more you learn, the more you realize you don't know. Every new hobby, interest or endeavor opens up a new door to vocabulary you didn't even know you needed. For example, now that I bought a property down here, I realize I don't have the vocabulary to describe it's infrastructure, it's piping, electrical, etc. What was previously not a problem (talking about daily life) is now a problem (talking about my new property). Before I purchased a home in the US, I already knew what a 2x4, drywall, stud, or sheetrock was from countless social interactions and media references growing up. However, I don't have any of repetitive exposure to help me here.
 
Been in Buenos Aires two years now and have made pretty substantial progress (somewhere between B1-B2). I studied Spanish in high school but that was a billion years ago and probably never progressed past A2. I'm a bit of a parrot and am picking up the porteño accent (for a yanqui anyway).

As others have mentioned, it's the vocabulary for specific things that can get tricky. Like I went to the tailor and realized I did not know how to communicate what I wanted, but managed to get it done.

I use Duolingo daily, and that has helped me build vocabulary for some of those more day-to-day activities, but it's a slow process and I'm lightyears away from learning slang for things
 
Many years ago I was in Teatro Avenida chatting with my companion waiting for the curtain to come up when the woman sitting next to me on the other side tapped me on the arm and, in perfect RP, asked me if I were English. We had a short conversation and just before the lights went down I asked her where she was from. I expected her to say Oxford, London, Weybridge or some such. Oh, I'm from here, Buenos Aires, came the reply. Such a shame that I didn't realise that earlier because I had assumed we were talking Englishman to Englishwoman and I missed the opportunity to chat with her as a local. I look on that as an example of the downside of speaking a foreign language perfectly.

I have always struggled with foreign languages yet seem cursed to have to speak them to the end of my days. I made an abject failure of French at school; struggled with German when I needed it for business; gave up Russian pretty quickly then, just when I thought I could get away from all that language stuff, I fell in love with an Argentine. Will it ever end, I ask? What's more, my hearing continues to get worse and ironically I comprehend foreigners (Brits, Germans, Dutch, Poles etc) when they speak Spanish better than native Spanish speakers of any origin.

I studied Spanish in the UK up to the Higher College Certificate (whatever that means) and one to one tuition in Argentina but I still don't think I'm any good so here are my rules for survival.

Only master spies who want to infiltrate a foreign government service need a perfect accent and I accept mine is far from perfect but some people find it endearing.

Of course it's helpful to know if people are swearing at you but there's a awful lot of language I would never use at home so why learn it here?

I use the subjunctive mood a lot. It's not very Argentine but it reflects the way I speak in English and I see that as a way my personality comes through. Besides, it means that I don't have to memorise quite so many Spanish irregular verbs!
 
Many years ago I was in Teatro Avenida chatting with my companion waiting for the curtain to come up when the woman sitting next to me on the other side tapped me on the arm and, in perfect RP, asked me if I were English. We had a short conversation and just before the lights went down I asked her where she was from. I expected her to say Oxford, London, Weybridge or some such. Oh, I'm from here, Buenos Aires, came the reply. Such a shame that I didn't realise that earlier because I had assumed we were talking Englishman to Englishwoman and I missed the opportunity to chat with her as a local. I look on that as an example of the downside of speaking a foreign language perfectly.

I have always struggled with foreign languages yet seem cursed to have to speak them to the end of my days. I made an abject failure of French at school; struggled with German when I needed it for business; gave up Russian pretty quickly then, just when I thought I could get away from all that language stuff, I fell in love with an Argentine. Will it ever end, I ask? What's more, my hearing continues to get worse and ironically I comprehend foreigners (Brits, Germans, Dutch, Poles etc) when they speak Spanish better than native Spanish speakers of any origin.

I studied Spanish in the UK up to the Higher College Certificate (whatever that means) and one to one tuition in Argentina but I still don't think I'm any good so here are my rules for survival.

Only master spies who want to infiltrate a foreign government service need a perfect accent and I accept mine is far from perfect but some people find it endearing.

Of course it's helpful to know if people are swearing at you but there's a awful lot of language I would never use at home so why learn it here?

I use the subjunctive mood a lot. It's not very Argentine but it reflects the way I speak in English and I see that as a way my personality comes through. Besides, it means that I don't have to memorise quite so many Spanish irregular verbs!
I can relate: DH is American and we have been together for 20 years. He is definitely not cut for languages, it took him a decent amount of time to speak and understand Spanish. I guess with my English being decent, we always communicated in this language, and so everybody blames it on me that his Spanish is not superb. I guess languages is not the prevalent area in his brain hemisphere. He worked for local companies, in my family nobody speaks English. He is very shy about his accent, which I keep telling him should not be an issue at all. He gets the worst of both worlds when is in conversations where everybody speaks on top of the other, or the phone: the horror. I have taught English as a foreign language, and can actually speak German and Italian as well. I guess the key is to just keep in mind that languages are just a tool, they have to serve your purpose so forget about the accent! Also, Argentines can sometimes pretend not to understand you just for fun. Be brave, be bold and enjoy yourself. Your Spanish will always be better than most people's inexistent English.
 
If there is a problem here it is that the locals speak really fast. So understanding is sometimes impossible...sometimes.
This is true: people from some provinces have trouble keeping up with Porteños when speaking.
 
Howdy Shoe,

The problem I find with a language is that the more you learn, the more you realize you don't know. Every new hobby, interest or endeavor opens up a new door to vocabulary you didn't even know you needed. For example, now that I bought a property down here, I realize I don't have the vocabulary to describe it's infrastructure, it's piping, electrical, etc. What was previously not a problem (talking about daily life) is now a problem (talking about my new property). Before I purchased a home in the US, I already knew what a 2x4, drywall, stud, or sheetrock was from countless social interactions and media references growing up. However, I don't have any of repetitive exposure to help me here.
You reminded me of the Dunning-Kruger effect: the more you know about a subject the more aware you are of how much you don't know.
If you worry about words like sheetrock you're almost likely fluent enough to describe the object; if you hear a new word you'll be able to tell them apart from the set of words you're used to hear and ask what that is. Not a bad position to be in honestly.
 
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