Language and Culture

A couple of things have been on my mind these past few days and both relate to Americans studying abroad. The first has to do with language while the other has to do with culture, so hopefully it makes sense.

The other day, Will asked me if he had a good Spanish accent. I have been told that I do not really speak with an accent (though there are some words and some times in which I speak with one, I will grant you that), but other Americans have trouble puring the Englishisms from their Spanish skills. I realized that there are a few things wrong with Will's question. First of all, he should not be asking me (a non-native Spanish speaker) whether his accent is good or not, because I have cannot judge at all. Spanish is not my native tongue, so ask someone who is a native whether your accent is good because I am going to be much more harsh than others. Also with this question, I realized that it seems to be the general case that English speakers (at least the American ones) have difficulty with a couple of aspects of Spanish pronunciation. First is the meshing together or melding of consonants. For example, the word “Cantabria” and the combination of “br” is difficult for English speakers to pronounce because in English we tend to separate consonants and give them each a little bit of a sound. In Spanish, on the other hand, natives meld the two together. I think that this double consonant example (along with a ton of other ones) has the pronunciation of the Spanish “R” as the root problem. In English, we have a very soft “R” sound, with the tongue of our mouth never touching the top of our mouths. However, in Spanish, when you pronounce the letter “R,” you always touch the tip of your tongue to the top of your mouth. I do not know if it is just a lack of effort on the part of Americans or whether it is truly difficult for most Americans to get over or pronounce, but I noticed that that was an issue for sure. Another issue is the pronunciation of vowels, since in English we have such a diverse variety of vowel sounds while Spanish as only five. Both languages have confusing and difficult dipthongs (combinations of vowels), but once you get it down, it is really not that difficult. I was talking to Sara today, my intercambio girl, and she said that Spanish pronunciation is really not that difficult at all (and I am 100% in agreement), so if you cannot get it down, you are not working hard enough at it, in my opinion (and I would imagine she would share this opinion). Finally is the stress of a word. In English there are no markers or rules as to what part of a word you should stress, while in Spanish there are fixed rules and the exceptions to the rules have it marked.

The second part of this post is about culture. Will has come home many days and said something definitive about Spanish culture. Rufi has not always been in agreement, which causes cognitive dissonance for Will: he does not know what to believe anymore. His teacher says one thing while his host mother says another. I think there are many things going on here. First and foremost is this issue of a foreigner saying something about a culture that is not their own, and saying it like it is true for everyone and everything. Will says that X is true about Spanish culture, but Rufi says that she does not agree with that, that this is not how it actually is. I do not know, but I feel like that is a bit pretentious for someone to say something like that. It would be like a foreigner coming to the U.S. and saying that some bad word is the worst ever and that you should never say, ever, no matter what. For example, the word “damn.” I think that most Americans could agree that it is not a word to use all the time and most people get a little uncomfortable when they hear that word in public, but it is not the worst word ever. I do not know if this makes sense at all, but I think the bottom line, the point to take away from this discussion is that I think it is a little pretentious to be a foreigner and think you know everything about a culture. I talked with Sara about this today and she said that your knowledge of cultural things, gestures, words, etc. is largely a function of your experience, your background, your upbringing. I would totally agree, so a cultural statement might be accurate, but it does not mean that it is universal and applies to everyone.

Las Águedas

Yesterday, February 5, was a festival typical of Salamanca that is La Fiesta de las Águedas. Without going too much into the history of the festival, I think that mostly what you need to know was that Águeda was a female Christian martyr and so the day of her feast is about women. I learned about this festival in my Spanish culture class during the month of January and Rufi told us about it when the date approached. When I learned about the festival, I realized that we do not really have a day like this in the United States, other than Mother's Day, but that mostly focuses on women who have children, but this day in the States does not even compare to the festival in Spain. On this day, women have power in the city of Salamanca (or whatever city they may find themselves in). As I understood it at the time, if a woman approached you and asked you to do anything (typically for some money), you were to comply. If you did not, your reputation was stained. Rufi told us that in the villages and towns surrounding Salamanca, such as the one in which she grew up, if a man did not give the woman what she asked for on this day, he lost his pants. And not just his pants, she told us, but he was required to strip to bare butt. The mental scene that was produced in my head as I listened to this story was a comical one, but when the day actually came I had a different reaction.

As I walked around the city, every woman I saw I viewed as a potential threat or a potential person who would ask me for money. I tried not to make eye contact with women and tried to just fly under the radar the entire day because I did not want to give them money nor did I want to lose my pants if I declined them money. I am not exaggerating when I say every woman, because as I walked I was not sure when a woman would approach me and demand that I do something.

Women (and a few men) during the festival of Águedas.

By the end of the day, I had managed to escape without being bothered by a woman, but I got to thinking about my way of thinking and my attitude toward the world. First, it must be remembered that the gender roles on this day are flipped, with women being in charge (one of them actually was bestowed the [albeit symbolic] power of the governor for the day) and men typically at their mercy. The way I thought and behaved yesterday seems to me to be the way that women behaved for a long period of time in history and how some cultures (including our own) treat women today. Really thinking about it, I think it makes sense. Women were supposed to be submissive, not speaking up, and were to do as the man said. They were second-class citizens and I would assume that if they were to be walking around the streets of the city, that they would be left completely to the mercy of any passing man and they could not protest whatsoever. I am completely hypothesizing this situation, but I do not think that a woman on the street being a man's property is completely unfounded or outrageous. I think it is actually quite truthful or representative of the situation that women faced for many years. 

For this reason, I gained a new appreciate for women yesterday. I realized the struggle that they faced for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years and that many still face to this day. I could not imagine living each day as I did yesterday, but many women do. I commend women everywhere for being brave, holding their head up high, and walking with the world and all of their dignity. It amazes me that women are able, despite all odds, to finally speak up for their bodies, their livelihood, their being. It would take a lot of courage, that is for sure. 

Women, thank you for being so great, for bearing with men's stupidity and violence, and also thank you for saying something, for speaking up, for telling us that what is happening is not right. For those women that are still living in these conditions, please have courage. Please talk about your situation and about how you are being maltreated. You are not second-class citizens. You are individual human beings with the same rights as every other human being. Nobody should treat you otherwise. Fight, women, fight.