Living largely in Spanish, and giving classes in English has made me reflect on the way we use language: the ease with which we use our native tongue, and the way we modify it depending on who we are speaking with. I know nothing about linguistics, but am finding it interesting to ponder the subject, and I’m interested to hear your ideas on it too.

The idea that native speakers of a language don’t have to think at all about their language when they talk is only just slowly sinking in. I know, that observation seems rather obvious. But it comes as I gradually improve at running together everything I’ve studied and practised and learnt. Occasionally when I’m speaking English, the most apt phrasing for what I want to say will come to me in Spanish.

Most of the time though, it takes some effort to express myself in Spanish. The words and phrasing can come to mind quickly, but not as easily as if I were speaking English, and often as the words are coming out of my mouth, I realise I have screwed up some element of grammar. Hearing replies and conversations between native speakers, it’s strange to remind myself that these people aren’t speaking like this because it’s the way they have been taught to express themselves, but simply because it’s the way they do.

The phrasing and way of speaking in Spanish cracks me up sometimes – especially if the conversation involves subjects like “footing” (jogging) or “tuning cars” (boy racer cars) – and the form of sentences is often very different in Spanish to English. A lot of things are passive in Spanish in a way that seems strange to an Anglophone – I don’t like the movies, but rather the movies please me. But then the imperative is also used a lot more in Spanish: in a shop you say “give me four tomatoes”, rather than “could I please have four tomatoes”.

In terms of speaking English, I’ve been noticing how I subconsciously adjust the way I speak depending on who I am talking to. I came to realise it first when I was speaking with Liz, the other Kiwi conversation assistant in Madrid. Our conversation is so relaxed, we can say more or less whatever we like and understand each other. This is as much cultural as anything else: someone who doesn’t know Bro Town wouldn’t get “What do you call a one legged Maori?” (Not even ow.)

I find I cut out a lot of the kiwi-isms when I’m talking in English with people who aren’t from New Zealand. It’s completely subconscious, but I speak in a more global form of English. Then if English is the second language of the person I’m talking with, I modify my speech further, to a greater or lesser degree depending on the level of ability of the person.

And in class it changes again. When I was helping the kids understand a recorded dialogue between someone from Liverpool (!) and someone from London, I repeated the phrases more slowly and what I thought was clearly. The differing accents were pretty confusing for the students (personally, I thought they were hilarious), but I could at least spit out all the syllables that get swallowed when we speak quickly (the phrase “but I’m not” was a kicker).

The teacher briefly explained English accents to the class, and then had me illustrate his point. But asked to pronounce words like “ten” carefully and in isolation, I couldn’t help modifying my accent somewhat. Throwing it into a fast conversation with a kiwi I would say it one way, but to say it to a class of learners I couldn’t spit it out in true New Zealand English.

I’d be interested to hear other ideas and opinions on this – like I say, I know not a jot about linguistics, but I’m finding this experience fascinating.

Other posts by Katie