Reading Between the Lines

When reading through Laray Barna's article "Stumbling Blocks in Intercultural Communication", I immediately realized that I had indeed find some of the eponymous stumbling blocks which hinder true understanding across cultures. Many of the arguments in the article, I found to be compelling and offering a critical look at the process by which one experiences a new culture.

Primarily, the stumbling blocks with which I identified the most were Language Problems and the Assumption of Similarities. Before I had arrived in Seville, I had taken many years of Spanish both in college and high school, learning the structure of the language including grammar, syntax, and pronunciation. In the classroom setting this was all well and good but coming over to Spain, I learned really quickly that Spanish on the street is not the same as book Spanish. True I was at least accustomed to the language so I was not completely lost but I also found that many a time someone tried to talk to me in Spanish, it went a few ways. It eventually led to one of us using English so that we could understand each other better or with me just smiling and nodding, indicating that I understood but just was not willing to respond. I suppose one example of a possible miscommunication that I've come across is for people I just meet randomly here to just assume that I speak English and do not try to speak to me in Spanish. I don't hold anything against them for it because I can see why they'd think that and my accent/pronunciation is not the best. Countering this for me has been the exceptional picture of Spanish culture I get here in Seville. Around every corner is something new to me and it's all exciting. I'm constantly surprised here in Spain and I'd say that's a good thing. I mostly looked at Spain before from afar as an historical power now existing in the modern world but more and more I have learned how diverse Spain has become and yet I see the underpinnings of the culture that hold everything in its place and family I think is a major part of that.

The real power statement of the article came through here when it mentioned that one must be willing to accept the anxiety of not knowing. Admittedly this was difficult for me at first but now ,after I've picked up multiple conversations in Spanish as background noise which I sometimes understand but other times don't, I've come to realize that even though my daily Spanish has improved, I'll most likely need a year or two of full immersion before I can effectively become fluent in Spanish without any issues. Thus, I find that culture shock and the stress of studying abroad for me has mostly been latent and not tied to any major cultural differences. I'm able to keep myself occupied so that I do not feel isolated and shut in and when I want to, I can go for a walk easily enough. My experience overall has largely been a good one. I credit that to the program I'm enrolled in at the Center for Cross Cultural Studies at Spanish Studies Abroad. Through a class on Spanish culture and all of the trips, the Center made Seville an engaging place to be and I'm still glad I chose to come here for my study abroad. Moreover, I think I've just learned to take the whole trip, both good and bad days, in stride as just things that I'll take with me when I go back. My Spanish should get me through it all. I'm not sure what culture shock I'll face when I'm back in the United States but I do know that I'm not the only one going through and I also know that eventually, I'll be alright.

And I've also learned that there are things we can all enjoy, no matter the place