Journey through the Spanish language: how Telenovelas have contributed

 It is not out of the ordinary for students to choose Spanish as their language to learn throughout high school, but very few stick with it unless it is a requirement at their institution. 

My passion for the language began in ninth grade, when I took Spanish 1. I remember learning the absolute basics: perro, gato, mujer, hombre, etc. I thought it would be a breeze since I knew Bulgarian, until the verb conjugations were introduced. As it got harder, my determination to learn grew more and more, and I promised myself I would never leave my studies behind. 

Here I am 5 years later, communicating nearly effortlessly with my Salvadorian best friend and her family. Every day I hear a new word, and every day I make the effort to repeat that word and solidify it in my brain. I do not have a single verb tense and its irregulars memorized perfectly, because frankly, it is way too overwhelming. Babies are not taught their native tongues with flashcards or memorizing conjugation charts, they learn simply from listening and connecting the words with what they see. 

Spanish classes throughout high school allowed me to establish a very solid foundation for the language, which then helped me analyze and retain all that I heard. 

I got to a point in my journey where I was frustrated with myself, because I felt as if I was not learning fast enough. After some research and a book about language learning, I began completely immersing myself in all things "Spanish". This is where I began to see the most improvement I ever have. I began with Netflix shows like La Casa de Papel and Elite then quickly ran out of popular shows and began diving into the telenovela world, hence my desire to take the Telenovela Freshman Seminar. 

My very first telenovela was La Reina del Sur. The novela is mostly filmed in Spain, but often there are scenes in Mexico, where the protagonist Teresa used to live. This aspect of the novela helps me get a picture of the differences between Spain and Mexican dialects. 

For example: the Spanish characters like Sebastian, reference "tío" when calling somebody dude or as we say "bro". The Mexican characters like Epifanio use "hermano" for this. Spaniards also use "vale" as "ok" or "good" while the Mexican characters tend to use "bien." The weirdest thing was hearing that money was referenced to as "pasta!" I focus more on trying to understand the language without subtitles rather than noticing the differences, so I am sure there are many more I have missed. 

Additionally, with the intense drama in La Reina del Sur, I often have to try and understand characters through tears, screams, and mumbling. This is more important than you think, because the characters tend to lose enunciation and it takes several listening attempts to train your brain into understanding with the lack of syllables. When characters are angry and begin ranting or screaming, they speak what seems to be too quickly for my knowledge. I often have to slow down the episode or go back several seconds. Over time of course, this skill is developed.

At the beginning, it was very difficult to understand all the different characters, because of their dialects, vocabulary, and simply the speed at which they spoke at. I relied mostly on subtitles at this time but I quickly began to adapt to the main character's speaking habits and understand them without much effort. 

La Reina del Sur stretched my mind's horizons in ways I never imagined I needed. All of the skills I have learned are still in progress, but improving with every episode. The complex plot allowed for my mind to be challenged with thinking and piecing together information in my nonnative tongue. Lastly, with watching the novela, I also gained a common topic to converse with native Spanish speakers, allowing me the opportunity to practice Spanish more!