And yet, as I kept discovering, if you keep adding vocab to your foundations, Carlos is – or will be in time – your uncle. He also tried to involve me in an excitable conversation about mules that stretched Destination Spanish beyond its limits. ![]() Riding through Castilian countryside at an exhilarating pace, Enrique taught me some fine Spanish curses and: " hombre!" (Good heavens, man). Out of such frustration, one learns in earnest. He looks like a superbly turned out businessman, keeps an immaculate stable, has an impish smile and rides like a man possessed. A caballero who spoke no English, he was to be my interlocutor. Her colleague, Enrique, was a living reminder that in Spain "horseman" and "gent" go together. ![]() It was Maria Elena – its vivacious organiser – who explained that Spanish is direct: you can go a long way on a noun and a " por favor". Post Madrid, I joined a horseback ride for a couple of days in Segovia, just north of the capital. In practice, this sounded pompously overlong (couldn't I have waved my card at the cashier?), but I was elated at being understood. At the Prado's cafe, I unveiled one of my more complicated sentences: " Quisiera pagar con tarjeta de credito por favor" (I would like to pay with a credit card, please). But making the human connection felt great – even if my obsession with asking people which cities they had visited wore thin. On taxi rides to and from the Prado (half-hour tutorials), I asked drivers: " Ha visitado Londres?", as if conducting a survey, and invited incomprehensible torrents of Spanish in response. I had low moments when, in my determination not to cheat with English, I collapsed into panicky French. I clung on to quisiera like an old friend – until I got verb fatigue. It made me ashamed to think how often I have behaved as if it were my right, as an English speaker, to be understood everywhere. What's more, the Spaniards I came across were encouraging, unsnooty and often visibly pleased when I made it clear I preferred to stagger on in Spanish rather than lording it over them in English. But also that it was far better than nothing: I valued the security of knowing I had phrases that, in the proper context, would be understood, with pronunciation that would not disgrace me. I realised then that my Spanish was equivalent to a handful of small change – not proper currency. " Quisiera la Consigna por favor?" The official responded but I did not understand a word. Quisiera (I would like) is the word with which Noble launches us upon Spain (alarming that tourism should boil down to such an acquisitive word). This meant departing from the script, because la consigna was not on the CD (I spotted it on a sign). I needed directions to the luggage storage, as I had time to kill and hoped to visit the Prado. As I landed early in the morning at Madrid airport, I was seized by stage fright. Spanish is a hospitable language for English speakers.īut it is one thing to trot out these phrases at home, another to air them abroad. ![]() Noble also gives you a pick 'n' mix of adjectives effortlessly converted: exótico, politico, romántico. I enjoyed ordering imaginary paella in the privacy of my study, reserving rooms with baths, asking imaginary people whether they had visited Barcelona and getting the soft pronunciation of mesa (table) right following the lead of patient Castilian Carmen. There is no overt grammar (Michael Gove would not approve).īut at the end of the CDs, I found that language had been placed in my head – it reminded me of the methodical way my husband stacks the dishwasher. You do not make any effort beyond listening and repeating. What he tells you – and this is the interesting bit – is not to remember. He reminds me of a hypnotist in that he works with unconscious recall. I rather liked this, though some students might take umbrage. He seems to have low expectations of his students (telling us not to rush or worry about our errors). Paul Noble – mastermind behind the series – has a voice that is slow, clear, reassuring. I put on the first CD with caution at home. I have a lousy memory and am a beginner at Spanish. But languages take years of slog to master. The idea is that they turn your head into a phrase book. They even boast that you can do the courses on the plane and be up to speed as you disembark. ![]() In 150 minutes, with two CDs and a follow-up booklet, they teach tourist vocab and rudimentary conversation. These new language courses pitch themselves as replacements to phrase books. As a marketing ploy, Destination Spanish (and its cousins, Destinations French and Italian) could not be cannier. Whenever I conscientiously buy one, it slumbers in my suitcase unconsulted. Foreign phrase books must be the least referred to of all reference books.
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