The Language Hamster Wheel

It's Day 9 of my 9 week stay in Mexico. I've been working all week in the office of the non-profit conservation organization I'm collaborating with (Especies, Sociedad y Habitat, A.C. (ESHAC)) to put  together my methods for my research with the bats and the local communities. I'll be doing two main things this summer for my PhD work: doing ecological monitoring of bat foraging (feeding) at agave plants at night using an infrared camera system and doing anthropological work with local communities in Nuevo Leon and Coahuila to understand their harvest and management of agaves (or magueyes as they are commonly known in Mexico) and the implications for bat conservation (and how bat conservation efforts could potentially be incorporated in the communities). I’ll be visiting two communities this Thursday and Friday to talk with the leaders about my project and after that will be going on a lot more field outings, but for right now I’m still preparing!

I’ve noticed some interesting similarities and differences between my language abilities this year versus last year. Last year during my first few days I felt pretty confident and felt like I did a pretty good job of communicating (probably because I brushed up on grammar before I arrived), but I couldn’t understand many people hardly at all since they talk so fast to my untrained ear. Then I started to feel like my speaking skills were diminishing, and about midway through my six weeks here I
started to feel like both my speaking and listening skills were at their lowest. However, after that point I slowly began to understand more and more of conversations and learn more and more words and expressions. Unfortunately, I had to leave after six weeks right when I thought the pieces were starting to come together. I left when I could understand fairly well the people I was around a lot (like the people in the office). However, whenever I met a new person and when I wasn’t familiar with their voice, way of talking, etc. it was very difficult to understand them. It was like a vicious hamster wheel where I often felt like I wasn’t getting anywhere.

This year I have so far noticed a somewhat similar pattern, in that the first day or so I felt like I could speak okay, but now after a week or so I feel that my speaking is getting worse. I struggle to say even basic things that I know I know how to say. However, unlike last year, my listening comprehension is much better. It’s by NO means great, but I’m beginning to be able to tease apart the sounds of conversations and the breaks between words, which I had a hard time doing last year. I also remember some of the common phrases/slang that people use here, and with the help of Josefo (the Director of the non-profit conservation organization I’m working for) and his wife and daughter, I’m writing down and keeping track of even more of them. I’m immensely thankful for their patience and help with my language (dis)ability, as I know it must be hard working with someone from another country who doesn’t speak the language fluently.

My non-fluency is definitely adding a whole new level of difficulty to my PhD work, but I know (although I have to keep reminding myself) that this kind of experience is hugely beneficial in the long run. For example, when I was in Austin for the Nivalis Conservation Network meeting in April, one of the participants did not speak a lot of English. Before the rest of the participants arrived, he was the only one of our group who wasn’t fluent in English. Since I knew some Spanish I was able to talk with him and serve as an “emergency translator”. Not only has working in Mexico where I’m not fluent in the native language made me better able to converse in Spanish, it has also helped me understand how to talk to people who don’t know or are learning English. I was able to better understand what he may have needed. For example, I know from experience that slower is better, so I made sure to talk slower and enunciate more than normal when talking to him. I also know from my experience in Mexico that it REALLY stinks when you can’t fully be part of a group conversation because you don’t understand what they’re talking about and that just understand the context of the conversation helps with picking out and understanding more words, so I tried to help provide context to our discussions at dinner, in the car, etc. So for all my moments of smiling and nodding and pretending I understand a conversation or wanting to kick myself for fumbling over easy words and sounding like an idiot, I think the language learning and the experience of working with others who don’t speak your language is one of the most beneficial things I will take from my PhD.