In which I morph into

Long language post - not for the linguistically faint-hearted (or disinterested ;D)

2007-08-05T18:53:31Z

Oi, Catalans!

How’m I supposed to learn if you all go around using the language variably, like native speakers or something?!

Heh heh – you know, people are constantly saying to me, “Oh, but living in the actual environment that the languages are used in, learning by immersion, that must make it so much easier, right?”

Well, yes.

And no.

The truth is, the best possible scenario is to have formal lessons and be living in the natural environment of the language(s) you are trying to learn - I have always believed this, even before I had the chance to experience the latter.

Immersion definitely helps you learn and understand how the language is actually used, day-to-day. However, it’s not necessarily helpful with learning underlying structures and rules or learning to cope with variation. This is where classes come in.

Lately, I have become more and more aware of this. I am very lucky to have a husband who is as fascinated with language as I am and is also pretty damned knowledgeable about the languages of his environment (and those of other environments, too, come to think of it). But you can’t rely on that being the case with everyone.

All languages have various ways in which they depart form the official standard, in their everyday use. When you add certain historical/political/cultural factors into the mix – such as those present in Catalunya – the departures often become even more frequent or extreme or variable.

Some of the things that have been causing me difficulty, with Catalan:

The use of a number of ‘Castilianisms’ in everyday speech

There are words and phrases that have been used so regularly and for long enough that there are even people who are not sure what the Catalan alternative is.

A few examples -

burro/a: literally, ‘donkey’ (as opposed to the Catalan ‘ruc’) Used to imply stupidity (in both languages).

pues: ‘well/then’ (as opposed to the Catalan ‘doncs’).

después: ‘after’ (as opposed to the Catalan ‘després’).

bueno: ‘good/okay’ or ‘well/um’ (as opposed to the Catalan ‘bé’ or a variety of other words for the second usage).

cuidado: ‘watch out/be careful!’ (as opposed to the Catalan ‘fes compte!’)

alfombra: ‘carpet’ (as opposed to the Catalan ‘catifa’ which, apparently, only the Sitges newspaper and I actually use… :D)

This is not exclusive to Catalan, of course – it happens in most languages. Nonetheless, because I am trying to learn both languages simultaneously, it is a bit confusing for me – especially as there are a number of Catalan words that sound as though they could be Castilian (to me, anyway). I start mixing them up and using some of the few Castilian words I’ve learned, instead of the Catalan or using a word and then worrying that I might have used the Castilian when I am trying to speak Catalan and then finding out that no, in fact, it’s just one of the ones that is the same or similar in both languages!

Regional differences

Another thing I am finding very difficult is the variation in regional accents (again, perfectly normal) and lexical choices in different individuals. If you attend classes, you are generally taught the ‘norm’ (i.e. whatever that country has decided is the standard) and, armed with a general understanding of the language, you can better cope with variation when you come into contact with it. However, if you are only learning by immersion, unless you are hanging out with people from a wide variety of backgrounds or people who are really aware of and interested in such differences, it is very easy to become used to one way of doing things and then to get confused when you come across someone who does those things differently.

I find myself having a number of issues when communicating with Florenci’s mum, for example. She was born right down in the south of Catalunya, in La Sénia, which is just this side of the border between Catalunya and País Valencià. Despite having lived in Sitges for 56 years, she still pronounces certain words with an accent and also exhibits certain lexical differences to standard Barcelona Catalan.

Examples –

* ‘v’ is pronounced as a softer ‘b’ in most varieties of Catalan, including Barcelona Catalan. So, for example, the word ‘then’ - ‘llavors’ - is usually pronounced ‘lyahborz’. However, when Florenci’s mum says it, she pronounces it as ‘lyahvorns’ – pronouncing the ‘v’ as a ‘v’ and adding an ‘n’ at the end. Florenci was trained out of it at boarding school (where the monks broke Franco’s law by teaching the students Catalan, in secret) and says ‘lyahvors’ but his sister (who did not attend boarding school and only used Spanish in school, though she spoke Catalan at home), whilst pronouncing the ‘v’ as a ‘b’, also puts in the extra ‘n’.

* ‘artichoke’ is ‘carxofa’ (kar-cho-fa) in standard Catalan but my mother-in-law pronounces it ‘ez-kar-cho-fa’ because that’s how they say it down south.

* Likewise with ‘armari’ (closet/wardrobe), which down south is pronounced ‘asmari’.

* In addition, many people here (including my new family) pronounce the feminine plural form of ‘two’ – ‘dues’ – as ‘dugues’.

People who are fluent in Catalan are probably pretty much okay with these kinds of variations and it's very important for me to learn the language as it is actually used but, for someone who is not yet fluent even in the ‘norms’, it can be very confusing!

The very very normal linguistic practice of running words together and omitting vowels etc...

...that goes on in every language.
I spent quite some time being confused about the presence of what I perceived to be the Chinese word ‘yun’, in Catalan. I finally sucked up the embarrassment and asked Florenci, only to have him annunciate more slowly and clearly ‘i un’, which means ‘and one / and a’. The Catalan ‘and’ - ‘i’ - is pronounced ‘ee’ and run together with ‘un’, it sounds like ‘yun’!

Of course, sometimes there are errors, mispronunciations etc that are unique to individuals and moments. This morning, for example, as I went to stand up from the computer, my foot caught on the bottom bar of my chair and I nearly fell flat on my face. Florenci, right next to me, let out a surprised “Cuidadons!” – a hybrid of “Cuidado!” (‘be careful!’) and “Collons!” (which functions as anything from a cry of surprise to a curse of anger/frustration etc, depending on the situation).
I rather like this new expression, I have to say!

Anyway, those are just a few things I’ve come up against, so far.

As I said, most of them are common to any situation where someone is learning a new language. I think the most unusual thing about Catalunya is in the wide variety of different types and levels of linguistic interaction that go on between people here, regardless of whether they are Catalans, Spaniards, Spanish speaking immigrants or immigrant speakers of other langauges. Some of this is due to the particular history that Catalunya has with Spain but there are other factors that play a part as well.

It's all very fascinating.

However, that is another story, for another day because now I have to go and make dinner.

And to think I thought I was immune to these things... :D

2007-07-30T14:48:10Z

In fact, I still don't see a macro addiction in my future but these ones came to me as I was explaining the macro concept to Florenci and I couldn't resist.
(you wouldn't believe how difficult it can be to construct a deliberately grammatically incorrect sentence, in another language.

Anyway,

Translation for those who don't speak català o castellà:

Franco: I can has a united Spain?

El caganer: No! All your Catalan are mine!

And for those who are not familiar with el caganer, here's a link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Caganer

I have just officially become a walking cliché...

2007-06-24T22:07:19Z

That is to say, I just got home from taking a midnight walk along the beach, with my lover.
Being such a cliché, I'm kind of amused that it took me till I was 31 to get around to actually doing it - it's not as though this is my first relationship!
Just the first one where I've felt the inclination to do this, I guess.

It was lovely, though, and an extension of one of the things I love about Sitges: it's a walking town. All day and a lot of the night, people are out strolling around the streets, along the beach, eating at restaurants etc. People of all ages and walks of life.
I love it.

Also, today we had lunch at Florenci's sister's house, with her and Florenci's mum. They have a terrace!!! A very significant thing here, where a lot of the apartmenmt style homes (such as ours) don't.
Anyway, she pan fried fresh tonyina steaks and escamarlans and then for the second plate we had a Basque style tuna, potato and vegetable sort of thing, with a tomato based sauce.
And cava - very good cava. :D
For dessert, we had some coca de Sant Joan.

All very nice but, afterwards, I was half asleep as we walked home - a combination of good food, warm day and the two glasses of cava, I guess!

Well, that's me for the night - lots to do tomorrow.

tonyina - tuna

escamarlans - large prawns

cava - Catalan champagne

coca - any of a variety of flat oven baked cakes with different kinds of toppings

coca de Sant Joan - the type of coca specific to this festival, obviously! Most of the coques I've had so far have just been veryday ones from the supermarket and appear to be sponge cakes with a heavily sugar based topping. The ones for Sant Joan are more like a bread dough and can either have a sugar and pinyó topping or sugar and crystallized fruit.

pinyó - pine nut

*cross posted to

graeco_celt

Progress

2007-06-15T18:49:27Z

In your face, lack of confidence and intermittent memory!!!

Today, after a lesson with Florenci's sister, in which a significant amount of the journal I had written was correct, I hopped on the train to Barcelona, to go and meet Florenci.

In the course of the next few hours, eating lunch and wandering around Gracia, about 30 - 40% of my speech was in Catalan.

Hah - I'll beat this thing, yet!

It's funny because people think I have 'suddenly' learned whole chunks of language, when I speak to them, but it's more that I've been absorbing all of these things, all along, whilst waiting for certain vital 'keys' to make themselves apparent, thus unlocking my ability to form sentences and actually communicate.
The multitudinous tenses and aspects of the verbs represent one of the main keys. I am finally beginning to get to grips with them and, consequently, am now able to start forming basic sentences.

És un començament petit, però, és un començament!

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In other news, Woody Allen (who is currently here in Barcelona, scoping out locations for his next film) is to be awarded an honorary degree, by the Universitat Pompeu Fabra.

Which annoys me.

Don't get me wrong - whilst I'm not an Allen fan, I have nothing in particular against him. This is something that annoys me, regardless of who the honoree is.

Those of us who are actually studying for degrees are having a hard enough time getting taken seriously for our bits of paper, without this kind of thing rendering degrees even less meaningful.
If somebody is believed to have made some kind of significant contribution to society, sure, recognize it in some way - give them a bit of paper or a shiny medal or whatever - but don't give them a university degree!!!

Mr. Allen may be great at writing and making films but that doesn't necessarily mean he could, for example, write a 40.000 word thesis.
I would like my M.A. to eventually be an actual indication that I am able to.

Bah.

Weekend in Quexians, Puigcerdà & Andorra Pt. I

2007-05-29T09:38:42Z

Unfortunately, re-sizing all the photos is quite time-consuming, so the trip will be covered in several posts, instead of just one.

Actually, I don’t think that’s a bad thing – doing it all in one post would clog up everyone’s friends page and probably get quite boring for all of you. Regardless of how beautiful or interesting a place is, seeing hundreds of photos at one time is enough to irritate anyone, I think! :D

Anyway, this first post is about the little town we were actually staying in.

Queixans

Queixans is an interesting place.

It was originally an actual village but, as the younger people began to move away (for education, jobs etc) and the population became older and eventually passed on, the village began to die. It’s something that happens, sadly. The change has been fairly recent, too, because Florenci said he used to go there when he was younger and the original village was still going then.

The thing, though, that makes him rant (and I can see his point) is that this little village, with all of its history etc has now been turned into little more than a (growing) tourist accomodation site. 99% of what is left now are the cloned houses that have been built for rich people to spend weekends and holidays up in the mountains (or ‘pretend’ rich people, like we were, for the past weekend!)

It’s a difficult thing, really.
On the one hand, I agree with Florenci, that it’s a real pity the original village now only exists in remnants. On the other hand, it died ‘naturally’, so to speak and, given humanity’s inability to leave open or unused spaces alone for very long (especially in higly populated countries), the odds were always on someone using the space for something new. Given that fact, there are much uglier and more damaging things that could have happened here.

The houses are all a bit 'The Stepford Wives' in their uniformity but, that aside, they’re quite pleasant to look at and are not horribly at odds with the landscape or anything.

Anyway, if you follow the link, you can see:

* the house we stayed in, that belongs to Florenci’s sister and brother-in-law – including our cool room and a few shots from downstairs. These houses are quite ‘holiday home in Aspen’ in style – made of stone and wood and kitted out with ‘old’ things (framed posters from the 50s, old tools, knick knacks etc). In other words, deliberatley rustic. I quite liked the place, despite this. We had the room on the top (3rd) floor, which meant we had a gorgeous view and got some lovely sun coming through the (also very rustic) windows.

* some of the other properties around and some of the secenery in Queixans

* remaining bits and pieces of the original village – including the old church (the front of which was rebuilt in 1775 but the back of which is the original Romanic structure) and an old bar/restaurant.

You have to click on each individual photo if you want a better view, which is a pain in the bum but I'm not sure how else to do this.

http://s190.photobucket.com/albums/z196/nova_catalana/

That’s it, for this post.

Next time: photos of Andorra, which are rather more limited than we'd hoped for because it was pouring with rain on the day we went there. Some nice shots, nonetheless, and the beginning of my toilet fixation......

What?!
I can’t help it if they have cool loos in northern Catalunya and Andorra!!! :D

There will also be a few short videos, at some point, when I get around to uploading them!

Communicating

2007-05-24T14:22:03Z

I spent pretty much all morning out with my mother-in-law (and, for an hour or so, also with my sister-in-law).

Before Florenci's sister (who speaks some English) arrived, his mother and I were left to our own devices.
Initially, we were both quite nervous about being left alone together, because my Catalan and Castellano are both still crap and she doesn't speak any English. However, in the last couple of weeks, we have seen quite a lot of each other and have moved from meeting to do one task I need help with and then going our separate ways, to actually spending some time together, beyond the tasks themselves, having coffee etc.
The truth is, along with my painfully slow linguistic progress, we are also developing ways of coping with the linguistic barrier, until it has the decency to go away! She's very helpful and patient with me and she has a fairly good sense of when to repeat or change the way she is saying something and when to just leave it for another day!

We sat and had a coffee and I showed her the book from the Teach Yourself Catalan course I bought (much much cheaper than the Digui Digui set I was originally looking at, so it will do for now) and she was covering up the English lists of words and phrases and reading the Catalan to me, to see if I understood - if it was a question, I would try to answer it; if it was a single word, I would try to demonstrate it, to show I knew the meaning.
Frustrating at times but also fun.

Anyway, I am beginning to pick up (and actually understand) more and more of what I am hearing spoken around me or directly to me. However, the thing that is still a big problem is that my knowledge is very passive - I'm still not good at actually creating dialogue myself (especially when it involves verbs in anything but the simple present!)

One moment I was quite proud of, this morning, was when we to a market, looking for bras (because I only have one and it's dying) and she kept insisting I get the slightly smaller of two we found, that pretty much fitted me. I was inordinately proud that I managed in almost perfect (if simple) Catalan, to explain that yes, I did prefer the one with slightly larger cups because every month when I get my period, my breasts get temporarliy larger.

Why can I say this but not got to a shop and ask whether or not they have [ X ] product that I need to buy?!

No, sé - llenguatge és una cosa estranya.

Well, that's it for now - I want to go and have a walk and then tidy the house a bit before Florenci gets home with the children, tonight.
Er, should probably do some work on my thesis too. *sigh*

Fins ara, amics.

Maybe...

2007-05-21T05:47:32Z

Note to self:

'potser' = maybe

'potser no' = maybe not

'no potser' = impossible/not a chance

Remember the difference! :D

Yesterday, we went to Florenci's mum's house for lunch (rabbit, first time I'd eaten it and I'm sorry to perpetuate a cliché but it actually does taste like chicken!)

Before lunch, Florenci, his daughter Helena, his aunt Maria and I played Parchisi. But during and after lunch, we were having fun translating the frases fetes on the wall of his mother's patio.
A frase feta is a kind of set expression, in Catalan. I suppose the equivalent in English would be a proverb. Some of them were easy to work out the meaning of and even have easily discernible English counterparts but some of them were not so easy! It was a two-part job for me, really, because I first had to translate what they said literally and then figure out what they actually meant!
One of the things I really like about them is that they are usually placed on the walls of buildings (either on the street or internally, as these ones were) in the form of ceramic tiles, with accompanying pictures.

I actually have a photo or two of the ones at my mother-in-law's home but they're on the other computer, so I'll have to add them here later.

I may also add a few examples, if I can remember any (spot the person with very little memory).

I'm sure I ahd something else to say but I have to go and get ready to meet Florenci's mum a bit later, for coffee and to go and get the SIX parcels that have arrived form NZ for me (it turned out this was the best combination of money saving and time saving, to get my more urgent bits and pieces over here).

Yaaaaay, all my Catalan-English and Spanish-English dictionaries!!!

I will take Florenci's dictionary with me this morning, though, because his mum doesn't speak any English and my Catalan is still so crap that I need a dictionary on hand at all times!

Y-u-u-u-u-m!

2007-05-18T21:40:04Z

I made pita breads with refried beans and salad things for dinner. It was good.
And then we finished up with mel i mató* - honey and cottage cheese - which is a very common postre (dessert) here and is really nice. The cottage cheese is a bit different here because it's made from goat milk, not cow milk, but is nice all the same.

Postre seems to be almost compulsory in Catalunya, which I'm not about to argue with.* *
This applies even to dinar (lunch)***, although that's not so surprising because it's pretty much the main meal of the day. It is taking me awhile to get used to that. No more sandwiches rushed down in a hurry - dinar is almost always a three-course affair, if you go out for it: primer plat, segon plat and postre. You basically get a menu with several options for each course and you choose what you want.
You get the three courses for a set price, with the cheaper places ranging from about 4€ to about 8€. With the current exchange rate, that's between less than NZ$8 and NZ$16 - for a three course meal! You usually have coffee afterwards, though some places offer the coffee within the initial cost, as one of the postre options.
Really, though, food here - whether you're eating out or buying things at el supermercat - is cheaper (or, in some cases, equivalent to) New Zealand.

Anyway, with the mel i mató, we also had some Malvasia de Sitges - a kind of fortified wine, made (and only available) locally.
By nuns.
Which makes a change from monks....
:D

Now I am off to the couch to read my way through as many Tintin books as I can before bed.
Tintin is really BIG here. I thought it was only Florenci (being the comic obssessive he is ;D) but no. Whether you're in a big city like Barcelona or a little seaside town like Sitges, you can find whole shops of toys and models of famous cartoon and animated characters and Tintin characters almost always dominate the available products. One of the shops I went to in Barcelona had figures that were lifesize!

*Did I mention I'm also going to be using this journal to practise the Catalan and Castellano I am acquiring, a poc a poc (bit by bit)? :D Well, I'm going to, because I need to. But don't worry, I'll explain it when I do use it. Honestly, my language skills are still so primitive and slow to progress, you guys can probably all just about learn it with me!

** You know, when in a country formally occupied by Romans, do as..........okay, it was a weak joke to begin with but now it's really dying! :DDD

*** It probably comes as no surprise that the name for lunch has caused periodic confusion between Florenci and I - it's almost identical in pronunciation to dinner in English! For the record:

breakfast - esmorzar (Cat), desayuno (Cast)

lunch - dinar (Cat), almuerzo or comida (Cast)

dinner - sopar (Cat), cena (Cast)

It's all in the timing

2007-05-18T09:22:37Z

I'm starting this cultural journal with the very mundane fact that I do not actually have time to write just now because I have to get out to el supermercat before 2pm.

Why?

Because the shops here in Sitges close for lunch at 2pm and don't re-open until about 5:30pm.* It's one of the things I am having a bit of difficulty acclimatizing to because it requires being more organized in the mornings, if I need to shop before lunch!

That said, I really love the practise of sitting down, relaxing with friends or family and really enjoying your midday break. I have spent a lifetime in jobs where we had a strict half hour break - not really enough time to eat, digest and relax. There are things I like more here in Catalunya and things I liked more back in New Zealand - this is one of the things I prefer about Catalunya.

Trouble is, I'm getting a bit chubby, I think - too much good food and not enough exercise! Although I am walking around Sitges and sometimes Barcelona, it's not enough on it's own to counter all the yummy yummy food!

Well, details on the food culture (and the walking culture too, actually) will have to wait until another post - things to do, things to do.

* Not just in Sitges, actually, but throughout Catalunya. The exact closing and re-opening times vary a bit but most businesses take two or three hours. Then they work later at night; usually until about 8:30pm.