Learning the Spanish Language: The Overload Phase

“I think it’s happening again. I’m having another Spanish overload….”

These words rolled off my tongue to many a friend over five years ago when I was learning Spanish in two upper-level classes at the same time. What exactly was this “Spanish overload,” you ask?

Well, I will elaborate on that in just a few sentences.

I was pretty ambitious back when I was starting out in college (okay, I still am…). In fact, my first and last semesters of college were the only times I took just one class taught in Spanish. The rest of the semesters I took an average of five to six classes per semester and two of those classes were always Spanish classes. By the end of my first year I had my minor in Spanish completed. But oh, I wasn’t done there. I had many more classes and an eventual major change ahead of me. And not to mention lots of self-imposed cultural immersion too. 🙂

Having an overload in Spanish for me would consist of two things. Both of these things were not emotional or mental side effects. These things had a huge effect on me physically. The first thing that would happen, after I had been reading or listening to too much Spanish, was that I would get a headache. The closest thing that I relate it to is a tension headache. Except that the ache would primarily be in my temples and they usually throbbed. The second thing was this: I would feel like I was drowning. Or as if I hadn’t gone outside or spoken to anyone all day. Another way I could describe it would be a mix of hitting a brick wall, getting into a slump (think the middle of the day 2pm. slump) and a brain freeze. When I reached this point, the best thing for me to do was take a step back, breathe and…take a break. I knew that feeling overwhelmed with the language was a sign that I was moving in the right direction. Or at least it felt like I was even though I had no idea what I was doing half the time. (Especially when it came to interpreting Spanish literature, madre mía…)

I shared online one day a few weeks ago that I thought I was experiencing another one of my infamous overload headaches. To be honest, I hadn’t experienced one of those since 2010. My brother commented saying that he could relate. He also had some insight into what might be the underlying reason for ‘language-induced headaches.’ You see, the two of us are exploring two new languages this fall. He is taking a Beginning Arabic class as well as two required classes for his Spanish major. I’m delving into the wonderful and oftentimes confusing world of…Portuguese. Nathan has the benefit of having a structured class and a professor. I’m on my own, minus the lessons and activities I’ve been doing through Duolingo (an interactive language learning app) on my iPhone. I’ve yet to conjugate verbs or make verb sheets in Portuguese (like I did in good old HS Spanish classes), but I am trying to read a little bit of it every day, make a list of vocab words and practice saying what I’ve learned.

One of my goals to reach by the time I turn 30: be able to speak three languages fluently. Challenge Accepted! 🙂

It’s strange that we can still experience ‘growing pains’ as adults. You would think our years of growth and development would stop in our early twenties but that’s not the case. Every day you are either growing or shrinking. There is no in-between when it comes to this topic. I’m embracing the growing pains I’m currently experiencing as I challenge myself with this new language. If you’ve made it to the end of this post, I have a feeling that you are doing the very same thing. Hang in there. I promise it gets better!