Reflections on the Spanish Language and My Learning Journey

It’s fascinating how much we change as we get older. Things that we took for granted when we were teenagers and young adults, we now treasure and look for ways to expand our knowledge of what we once disliked. One of those things was the Spanish language—not the language per se because I love my language, but the actual linguistics, the structure, and grammatical rules, that the Spanish language has, most of which are preserved by the Real Academia Española (The Royal Spanish Academy), whose mission is to ensure the stability of the Spanish language.

I’m currently reading “Cuentos Puertorriqueños De Hoy” (Puerto Rican Stories of Today), written in 1959, describing the generation of Puerto Rican writers from the 1940s. While the book was intended for an audience in the 1960s, I would argue that it still impacts today’s readers. Some of the authors and stories I read when I was in high school and college, even though I didn’t care much for them then due to the different linguistic rules and themes—most of them political, focusing on the relationship of Puerto Rico with Spain and then the United States—now I’m fascinated with. 

But reading this book now is bringing back a lot of memories. The first one was when I read the name of Dr. Josefina Rivera de Álvarez. She is a famous Spanish language intellectual who wrote the Puerto Rican Literature Dictionary in 1955, providing a historical overview of Puerto Rican literature from the 16th to the 20th century.

She was my college Spanish professor in 1993, teaching Special Topics—a course usually for students completing their Bachelor’s degree in Hispanic Studies. However, I took the class because it was the only one available during the registration period, and we were required to complete 12 credit hours of Spanish coursework. Of course, I didn’t do well and received a “C” as my final grade. A chemistry student taking that class—what else can you expect? It was horrible; there was a lot of reading, and the exams consisted of one question. Then she provided “blue books” to answer that one question. I did my best and struggled to fill out the blue book, while other students from that department were filling two books with ease. I even remember one student turning in three blue books. Amazing, I thought. Now, fast forward almost 31 years later (crazy that it has been that long), I saw her name and thought about that semester. I knew she was famous within the literature community, but now I realize that she was more than that. She was a pioneer of Puerto Rican literature and highly regarded in the Royal Spanish Academy. I feel privileged that I was able to sit through one of her classes and proud of my “C”. She died in 2010.

The second memory was when I was taking a Physical Chemistry class, probably in 1995 or 1996. The professor, Dr. Samuel P. Hernández, was leading a Physical Chemistry Lab and was discussing with us the importance of writing and following the grammatical rules. He was probably in his early to mid-forties when I took his class, and he was telling us that he was actually studying Spanish grammar to improve his writing skills. Back then, I thought, who has time for that? We don’t need grammar to be successful. Now that I’m reading a book from 1959 focusing on famous Puerto Rican story writers who were masters of the written language, I’m thinking to myself, what an immature, ignorant little punk I was back then.

Thankfully, we grow and become mature adults, and we start seeing what’s really important in life. Remembering the past and meditating on how far we have come is therapeutic and gives us the tools to guide our sons and daughters on a better path. At least, that is my hope.

37 thoughts on “Reflections on the Spanish Language and My Learning Journey”

  5. Qué bonito. Tomo apunte de los cuentos que mencionas. Tengo libros muy viejos que no pasaban por la inmensa presión de hoy de tantas reglas y los Correctores de Estilo. A veces parecen textos atorados los modernos. Una frase, coma, una palabra, otra palabra, punto y coma. Madre del amor hermoso. A veces, yo gozaba más de la sencillez de los textos y no por ello mal escritos. Me trajiste el recuerdo de la primera novela que leí estando enferma con siete añitos. Al tener fiebre la novela me dolió más: La cabaña del tío Tom.

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    1. Gracias, Sheila, y si tienes mucha razón. A veces, el texto sencillo es mejor y uno lo disfruta más. Yo considero las novelas de Isabel Allende simples pero buenas. Por lo menos, a mí me encantan sus novelas. Cien años de Soledad me gustó mucho, pero no es tan sencilla como las de Isabel. De los cuentistas puertorriqueños que estoy leyendo ahora, creo que el más famoso es René Marqués y su obra ‘La Carreta’. A lo mejor has oído de él o has leído su obra.

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    1. It’s fascinating how our perspectives evolve with time and wisdom. You, a teacher and poet, appreciating science, and me, a science/math guy, enjoying the written word, literature, poetry, and history. What a wonderful thing. Thank you so much, Michele, for taking the time to read my post and share your thoughts.

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  8. Oh, I love your beautiful perspective looking back. How wonderful to have Dr Alvarez. She sounds like such an impressive figure! And your hope about reflecting on how far we’ve come – it’s so good. All that we learn can be used to help us do better as advisors. At least that’s my hope too!

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  10. Thank you for these musings on your learning journey and the importance of grammar. I did not understand English grammar much until I learned grammar in Spanish. Great side benefit of learning a beautiful World Language. Even though you weren’t satisfied with your final grade, you can be very proud to have gone outside your usual field to learn something new. That is very courageous. What an honor to have studied with Dra. Rivera de Álvarez. Professor Hernández gave you perspective about knowing Spanish well that you reconsidered with time. That shows you grow and learn. Hopefully we all are open to growth. Are you interested in the writings of Héctor Ramos? He has many fascinating essays about PR politics.

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    1. Thank you, Rebecca. Those were great experiences that I now cherish. I have never read anything by Héctor Ramos; is he the judge? I’ve read a book by Ramón Luis Nieves, his perspective on the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, but I haven’t come across anything by Ramos. Do you have a link to his essays? I would like to read those.

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  11. That was very interesting – thanks - I’m wondering if the Real Academia Española is working like the French and Italian versions. Will it make Puerto Rican Spanish the same as Mexican or Cuban Spanish? A Frenchman can read Victor Hugo in a language more like his own? (English needs that – LOL!)

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    1. Funny that you mention it. In theory, we should be speaking and writing Spanish using the guidelines established by that Academy, but in reality, we are not following the rules, at least on the speaking side. On the writing side, I think we are doing much better. Cuba, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and other countries where Spanish is the official language have chapters that meet annually to discuss changes in the language. I believe English should have a similar approach. Usually, when I have ‘technical questions,’ I search the websites of Oxford or Cambridge universities in the UK, and the University of Chicago. By the way, thank you for reading and glad that you found the post interesting.

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      1. The biggest thing I’ve noticed is that I read Balzac in French and it’s the same French today. If I read Candide in French today it’s the same French as it was (or it should be) in 1750. That is so not true of the Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy. I really almost need a translation for the old English.

        How about the socio-cultural background of the books though – that might need some explaining along with new words – lol

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        1. What you mentioned about the French is interesting. It’s probably the same for Spanish since they are Romance languages. English is a whole other animal. The change from ‘thou,’ ‘thee,’ and ‘ye’ to the simple ‘you’ was a loss in my opinion. We retained those forms in Spanish. The socio-cultural background went through significant changes between the 1940s and now. The United States appointed governors until 1948 when we finally elected our first governor in democratic elections. Our constitution was created in 1952. So, the books need a lot of explaining for the young generation for sure.

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