Para empezar...

"a través del lenguaje" - 'through language'

Isn’t it a pretty phrase? You’ve got the soft Spanish v, the ‘gw’ sound, and the jota. I’m not trying to be cryptic here with a foreign title, but I could hardly call the blog ‘Tess’ Travels’, and besides, I am in Spain after all, and language is so important to me. But more on that later.

I promise it was never my intention to write a travel blog. Even when a couple of people suggested the idea to me I waved it off dismissively, and when Dad asked why not later, I admitted that I thought it was a bit narcissistic. Why should people care what I’m doing? That’s not to say that I look down on travel blogs, or blogs of any kind for that matter, as they have been a great resource for me in my worldly and culinary adventures. But those are blogs which are interesting, useful – successful. I thought it was pointless – downright delusional, in fact – to write to an audience which would most likely consist of my parents and a few interested friends.

However I have always always written travel journals. Mum encouraged me to keep one on my first trip overseas – eight weeks travelling Europe when I was 9 – and I guess the habit stuck, as I have a whole box of books back home, four of which are filled only of India. Writing a travel journal is an excellent idea, I can’t recommend it enough. That said, being the babbler I am, I rarely stuck to writing only about the places I’d been and people I’d met, but instead treated the journals as places to vent my emotions. And who wants to sort through all that teenage angst to get to the good bits?

So, here we are. In short, a blog, for no one’s sake but my own, to document my language-learning journey, and vetted by others to ensure I don't let myself ramble too much.

Back to language. I had the rather gratifying and exciting experience – MILESTONE, in my opinion – of not feeling like a monolingual for the first time in my life. In high school, I learnt Latin, but we didn’t speak it. Then I started to learn Spanish, then I picked up a bit of Hindi in India, then I went to uni and took up Spanish (again) and Korean. I went to Seoul for five weeks with the sole (haaaha) purpose of increasing my speaking confidence, and I did. But still when people asked me how many languages I could speak, I would say one, and never hesitated to criticise the Australian education system for improving our writing skills far beyond our conversational capabilities (sorry, Usyd).

And yet yesterday, I thought for the first time in my life: “I am multilingual”. I was in my dorm room with a Brazilian girl who spoke Spanish, and a South Korean girl who spoke English. There was a problem, they were unable to communicate with one another, and suddenly both were turning to me expectantly, wanting me to translate! Being multilingual speakers themselves – like the rest of the non-English speaking world (come on Australia, get with it) – they would have had no idea that this little exchange meant so much to me, but it really did. I translated! It worked! They didn’t stare at me like I was crazy! Of course I am still nowhere near fluent, but the confidence boost sure helped.

Language. It’s clearly a big deal, for communication sure, but also in shaping our experiences. Those who have learnt a second (or third, or fourth) language will know that it opens up windows to other cultures, just like – and in some ways even more so than – travelling. It allows you to connect and engage with the country on a more meaningful level. Or maybe that’s just for little language nerds like me, who eagerly latch on to any new piece of information or word. On this blog I’m hoping to post new words and idioms I've learnt, and where possible, a little history or anecdote of how I came across them. Basically, I’ll be using my favourite thing, language, to give this blog some direction, because I sure as hell need it!

“¡Tus ojos son muy azules!” / “Your eyes are very blue!” – Some guy stopped me at the metro station yesterday and said this. I was totally taken aback and am still not sure if he was being funny, nice, or sleazy. 

 “jefe nacional” / “dictator”, although literally, “national boss” – This came up in a conversation about the Civil War in Spain I had with an old man at a busy restaurant. We were both there alone, so the waiter seated us diagonally across from one another on the same table. He decided to strike up a conversation with me – regardless, it seemed, of whether I could understand his fast Spanish or not – and although he did end up being a tad racist, I was definitely grateful for the opportunity to practise.

“No te preocupes” / “Don’t worry” – By far my favourite phrase to hear! Whether I’m lost, worried, confused, or apologising for my bad Spanish, the madrileños (people of Madrid) are always reassuring me with these simple words. I have been so pleasantly surprised by the kindness, patience and warmth of people here so far :)

That’s all for now... ¡hasta luego!

Parque del Oeste, Madrid