Doing the CAmino de Santiago

Question

Hello. I'm new to this site. I am a 59 year old linguist living in south Austin, Texas. I use Spanish every day most of the day. So, my Spanish is pretty good, so I've been told. Now, in the spring of this year I will be going to S. France then N. Spain to do the pilgrimage route, el Camino de Santiago, walking two months from France, across the Pyrenees and on to Compostela. I know the basic differences between American Spanish and Castilian. Do you think that I need to begin to "castilianize" my Spanish before I go or will American (basically Mexican Spanish) be understood? Thank you for any advice and encouragement.

Have a great trip, David! :)) - iana01, Jul 30, 2012

I read a lot about Camino de Santiago. It is nice to read here that somone is going there. :)) - iana01, Jul 30, 2012

Answer 1

Hey, David, welcome!

No, I don't think that you need to change your standard Spanish. You will be understood everywhere. You may want to watch a few movies or listen to Spanish online radio to accustom your ear to the speed and accent used in Spain.

Have a great trip...sounds wonderful!

Very nice answer, and a good advice, Mariana. :)) - iana01, Jul 30, 2012

Answer 2

Hiya. What a wonderful plan. I keep saying I'll get my act together and do the camino, but I haven't so far. Good for you!

You should be able to get TVE television and radio either online (http://www.rtve.es) or via satellite. News, comedy & drama, documentaries - it's all there. You might find the magazine programme Gente particularly helpful when it comes to linguistic differences and regional accents, because its reporters interview people from all over the country on all sorts of issues, both local and national.

You can also access national dailies through their websites, e.g. http://elpais.com/ and http://www.elmundo.es/.

I'm a fan of the radio channel Onda Cero, which you should be able to find at http://www.ondacero.es/index.html

Enjoy!

Answer 3

You will be fine!

Everybody will understand you, but you may sometimes not understand them, however, during the walk you will get used to the difference, I'm sure! If you understand nothing at all, as you cross the Pyrenees , remember that they are probably talking Basque ( there will be a lot of xx's on the roadsigns to start with,) and this language is more akin to Welsh than to Spanish.

¡ Que tengas una buena romeria!

Basque is not even akin to Welsh. The Celtic languages are least members of the Indo-European language group and within that group of the Centum branch, together with the Germanic and Romance languages. And Greek. - Castor77, Aug 12, 2012

Answer 4

David, I don't think you will have any trouble understanding or being understood, but you may want to adapt a little bit. I would definitely recommend studying/reviewing vosotros conjugations. Also, as Mariana has mentioned, I would recommend listening to audio (movies, news, etc.) from the regions you will be spending the most time in. With the plethora of videos available on youtube this shouldn't be much of a problem. Furthermore, I would recommend studying common idioms/word variations from Spain. For example, "enojado/a" = "enfadado", "extrañar" = "echarse de menos", etc. This is a trip I also plan on taking after I graduate. ¡Buena suerte y que tenga un buen viaje!