How do you train for the "Spanish" Olympics?
Awhile ago, I opened a thread about disappointments, including my misery over not being able to return to work in the Dominican Republic. Well, sometimes, once every so often, things do go our way! 
Our tickets are purchased and we leave at the end of July. 
However, now that I have stopped wallowing... 
, I have so much to do!! My grasp on the Spanish language is coming along, but to me, this feels like I am in training for the Olympics. With only three months to go, I want to make the most of my time. The last time we went, I knew enough Spanish to survive and obtain our basic needs. This time, I really want to make deeper connections with the people. I am also trying to learn enough "meet and greet" Creole in order to bring some much needed love and comfort to the Haitian refugees who are now living in the city we will be working in.
My question is this: For those who have studied Spanish with an end date in mind such as for a vacation, mission work, work related trip, etc., do you have any special tips on maximizing time and focusing on what is really important. I know all of the usual tips that are shared here and they are great. I'm just looking for some ideas "outside of the box". For our last trip, I know I made the mistake of not understanding enough about commands in Spanish, as they would have been very useful in directing children and teens with the work we were doing.
So if there is anything you have done to help in your crunch time or aspects of learning Spanish that were not essential for a trip, wasting your valuable time, I would be very grateful for your ideas.
Thanks in advance!!
5 Answers
Gillagalue gave such a good answer. I would only add to that one thing. Flashcards are very easy to make here, and you could make them with phrases and do them until you know them by heart. If they are very long phrases, probably it would work better by making them out of index cards.
Perhaps you should start a list of all the phrases you may need to use for your work in the D.R. Then, translate them, or, get help with translation.
Where I work, I come in contact with many people who only speak Spanish, or, know only a little English as well. So, I have started a list of all the sentences and questions that I may need to use in my line of work. I've haven't tried this out yet.. as I am just beginning to learn Spanish.
Good luck and have a great time. This is a wonderful thing you are doing!
Hi Nicole, I will find out very soon if I am going to Peru for a medical mission in August. I have been making flashcards like crazy. I like the idea of carrying a phrase book around. I have a Spanish course that I am finishing in a month and when that is over I will concentrate on oral practice like Dogwood. I will be checking back with this thread for suggestions. This trip has been on and off so many times, I just have to wait and see what happens.
Hi Nicole!
I am happy to hear your plans are on track. I, too, have been preparing for an upcoming trip (June/July). With the short amount of time that is left, I am trying to focus my study on vocabulary, phrases, and sentences that I will definitely use in my trip.
Here are the areas I will concentrate on:
- formation of simple questions that will (most likely) result in yes or no answers. This should help to minimize the dialogue, but allow for communication to proceed.
- structure of simple sentences in the indicative present and preterite tenses.
- write out verbs and conjugations normally used in my area of study
- practice with as many native speakers as possible
I have been working with native speakers from the area for a couple of months now. Oddly, one commented a couple of weeks ago that my Spanish was understandable, but I was making the process too difficult. His recommendation, for my current level at least, is to practice speaking simple Spanish with the other people involved in this effort.
You are probably at a much higher functional level of Spanish than I am, but this is my plan. I can't tell you how many times I have been ready to abandon the effort completely, go to the beach and enjoy myself. But something seems to be driving me and I can't help but follow.
I'll let you know how it works out, since I'll probably be back before you leave. At that point, I'll either raise my skill level or do something else.
Dogwood said:
I, too, have been preparing for an upcoming trip (June/July). With the short amount of time that is left, I am trying to focus my study on vocabulary, phrases, and sentences that I will definitely use in my trip.
I am so happy to hear you will be experiencing the opportunity to use Spanish "on the ground"!
In my case, there are several areas I struggle with:
- Understanding the rapid pace of the Caribbean accent.
- Learning musical terms since I will be teaching and helping musicians. This is especially difficult because even those who are fluent in both languages don't necessarily know the names of musical symbols and terms.
- Preparing to re-tell my life story, which I will have to update and add a few things to.
- Learn basic commands for working with the kids and also because we will be directing some building/painting projects.
- Most importantly, just improving my ability to communicate through increased vocabulary and ease of conversation.
There is even more to do besides this, including teaching songs and basic meet/greet terms to those traveling with me and many other things. It just seems so overwhelming. And since I can be easily distracted , I am just looking for some way to properly divide my time and stay focused.
