Working

For the past few days I have been reading the original text in spanish of the play La Casa De Bernarda Alba by Federico Garcia Lorca. Although I technically can speak Spanish, the reality is my skills are very limited. All that I know is what I learned from speaking my grandmother. Although Spanish was my first language I never truly learned the grammar, reading and writing. However, I can figure it out. Basically, I am reading this play as if I was dyslexic reading in English. I like this better though. When I read in English words are almost meaningless and often I will skip over a part or read over quickly because I can. Here I need to read, process and accept the word and its meaning before I can move on. In truth, meaning is no so much the problem as figuring out how to pronounce and read a word. This is something I have never experienced before. Although I studied French I was learning the word, its spelling and pronunciation at the same time whereas here I already know a word but I have never learned how to spell it. It it so odd to read a word and be so confused at to what it means and read it a different way (different inflections, ways to pronounce letter ex: "ll"= sounds like "ja"… silla= sijya or chair)

Besides the learning about the technical part of the language, I also am learning about the play. I have already read a translation version. I know the plot and the general direction of the play but there are so many more little details and a richer text that a translation could never capture. I can see how translations of sacred texts, the Bible, the Quran are better in their original text because the meaning could be slightly altered with each translation.

Finally, I read a spanish biography of Garcia-Lorca and what really stood out to me was his community. Every few lines it was a name-dropper bomb of different people who he studied with, meet with, lived with. Throughout his life he accumulated more and met different people. He traveled a lot as well to make these new encounters and his work reflected every change. This was very important in the development of his career and life. Right now in my community I have people I can truly trust to ask questions and not feel as though I am exposing myself. My mother wants to help me with my Spanish and grammar. My father has studied Garcia-Lorca in addition to various Spanish and Latin American important figures. My aunt has done a lot of research and studies in Latin America having taken various trips and has even won grants to study the history of various Latin American subjects.