Finding Familiarity in Spain Without Speaking Spanish
BY Rachel Zheng
“I’m going to be in Spain for four months but I don’t know any Spanish...”
was a thought I had multiple times before coming to Madrid. While I was filled with excitement about studying abroad, I couldn’t help but wonder whether I’d have a difficult time in Spain if I didn’t know the language. Fast forward 4 months, my Spanish has tremendously improved and Madrid has become a place that feels like home. Here are some tips that helped me to better connect to Madrid:
Integrate Spanish into your daily routine - It sounds simple but making an effort to use Spanish daily helps so much! Ordering in Spanish, conversing with your friends, or even watching a show in Spanish will help you feel more comfortable speaking up. Personally, I felt somewhat awkward at first because it would take me some time to conjugate verbs or recall the right vocabulary, but almost everyone was very understanding and appreciative of my efforts to communicate in Spanish. Speaking Spanish to locals is a great way to meet new people and learn more about Madrid from their perspective.
I had some of my best experiences by getting recommendations from locals after speaking to them about studying abroad.
2. Take advantage of NYU’s language exchange program and tutoring sessions - NYU is definitely here to support your transition to a new city and offers various resources to help you do so. NYU Madrid offers a language exchange program in which they host events with students from a Spanish University who want to improve their English. This semester, they have had events such as bowling, rock climbing, and even a Paella cooking class. They also can connect you to a penpal (a perfect way to help each other learn different languages).
Additionally, I enrolled in NYU’s tutoring program that connects you to a Spanish graduate student focusing on language studies. The program meets twice a week and is completely free and personalized to fit your needs. My tutor has been very friendly and helpful. For example, she will guide me to the right answer instead of simply telling the right answer, which helps cement what I have learned in Spanish class. I also love how I’ve been able to have casual conversations with her in Spanish, making the sessions a lot more fun and engaging. Both the language exchange program and tutoring sessions have helped me discover cultural activities unique to Madrid, and I’ve made great friends along the way.
In addition to attending NYU’s cultural exchange events, I recommend asking others in the program if they would like to grab lunch or explore Madrid together. Also shown above are some examples of activities offered in the NYU Madrid weekly newsletter.3. Deambulation (an activity I practiced in one of my classes: Performance of the City) - a term used by artists in the 20th century as a rebellious act against the bourgeois society. The purpose of this exercise is to disconnect from the need to plan or consciously achieve a destination. Instead, surrealist artists believed their city had unconscious zones they could discover by removing the constraints of time and daily life. So by walking aimlessly and in any direction that they felt called to, surrealists collectively experienced the hidden, unconscious parts of their city, which fueled their creative possibilities afterward.
I loved my demabulation experience because it was so different from how I normally experience a city, which usually consists of googling the top sites and planning to fit as many of those sites in as possible. And while I love and still do visit top tourist attractions, getting lost in a city can be one of the best ways to help a city come to life and connect to it. For example, I was craving authentic Asian food in Madrid, and during my first deambulation I stumbled upon a Chinese family-owned restaurant. Sometimes not planning leads to the best surprises!
Here’s how to deambulate: turn off your phone, wear a comfortable pair of shoes, and go! The only true “rule” is that there are no rules to deambulating. Hope you have fun on your journey!
Walking around Madrid (or any city I’ve visited) has been one of the best ways to connect to the city by experiencing the liveliness of a city or by a chance encounter with a unique, memorable experience.
All of this to say that it is normal to feel nervous about studying abroad in a country where you don’t know the language. I know I definitely did. However, maintaining an open-minded and flexible attitude helped me embrace any challenges and cultural differences that came my way. As my time abroad is coming to an end, I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to learn Spanish in Spain. Ultimately, not only am I walking away with significantly improved Spanish, but I have made life-long memories along the way.