Stuff

I like learning languages. After watching a Spanish tv series and realising that the subtitles were sometimes inadequate, I decided to learn some Spanish. So I've been using Duolingo. It's fast, interactive, relies on text, listening, speaking and writing equally, and doesn't expect too much of a beginner. The day I learned to say 'I need a pen, where's my pen?' and 'I need to read a book' was a day of joy. Along with, 'I need a coffee' that's most of my daily communication.

Learning another language teaches one a lot about the native tongue as well as the new one. I think everyone knows this. It also points up certain 'default' attitudes. Spanish is a gendered language and when asked to put 'the doctor is american' into Spanish then 'La medica es americana' is as correct as 'el medico es americano' but to 'pass' the lesson, the second is 'correct'. Now, in English, I'm aware that it would be argued that the default was always to the male when gender was unknown but, 1) in the context of an actual conversation the gender would probably be known, 2) assumed gender may not be correct 3) the male default is being fought in many fields, not only language. Perhaps, as a beginner I should just shut up and get on with learning the basics, but I don't like it. Of course, this may simply be the result of trying to put language learning on a website where there is no actual interaction with a teacher. The programmers can't think of everything, I suppose, but I do resent that I, a female, often have to write as a male to achieve a 'correct' answer.
Or possibly I'm just getting old. (Also what about new pronouns? Gender neutral ones.)

On another note. I rather like Spanish. It is surprising, and has very interesting sounds and combinations of sounds. I'm confused about rather a lot, for instance why 'ella' is sometimes pronounced ey-a and sometimes e-ja, and 'yo' is io or jo. I have to research this, obviously. Oh dear.

I think my favourite word so far is 'disculpe' I like that way my mouth feels when I say it.