Who Knew Talking Could Make You Feel Tired?

When you are learning a new language, it's amazing how challenging it can be.   I'm reminded on a daily basis about this.  My language strengths have always been my reading and writing.  Then my listening and finally speaking.  This is true in English as well. 

So, with moving to Brasil, I've grown in the same way.  My reading's pretty decent, listening's alright.  Haven't done as much writing here. But my speaking, well, it's subpar. Pretty sad when I think about how I've lived here for almost 11 months.   There are reasons and excuses but regardless, speaking is what's most difficult for me.

I spent my Saturday afternoon with Cris, one of EAB's art teachers.  I just LOVE her.  She's kind, friendly and has gone out of her way to make me feel welcomed.  What I haven't mentioned yet is that Cris is Brasilian.  She speaks Portuguese, English, Spanish and Italian.  She's lived in Brasil (obviously), Venezuela and Italy.  Learning languages for her isn't easy and she reminded me of this yesterday.

We spent our afternoon at a local haunt, Libanos, chatting, drinking deliciously cold beer and eating hummus.   The first hour or so we spoke in English.  Then we were talking about my language learning and she switched.  She said, no more English, only Portuguese.  Instant panic hit.  I get so nervous and flustered when I have to speak Portuguese.  I feel at such a loss and get tongue tied.  This is even more true when I'm around people I know.

Since Cris is so wonderful and speaks Spanish I did my best  trying to use what Portuguese-Spanish combination I knew.  She helped my vocabulary learning along the way. 

Another 30 minutes later into Portuguese only, Cris' friend Adriana joined us.  She speaks French and Portuguese and a little English.  I didn't know about the English until much later.  So, here I was sitting outside with two wonderful women, trying my best to keep up with their conversation in Portuguese. 

I didn't do wonderfully, I did okay.  I was proud of myself for understanding most of the conversation and when I didn't understand, asking for help.  I was proud of myself for trying to convey my thoughts even though I was speaking in the present tense, unless I was using the verb "to be."  I was proud of myself for letting go a little bit.  The beer helped with that I'm sure too but at least I tried. 

When I left after a bit of shopping, I realized how exhausted I was.  Yes, I had a few drinks and yes it was late afternoon but I don't think I've worked that hard language-wise for a long time.  Man, it's a lotta work but it's good work.  Work I need to continue doing as much as I can.