Saturday, April 11, 2015

Béisbol and second language learning


 I'm such a Yankees fanatic that I listen to the games religiously on the internet.  Something has been wonky this weekend on the usual English-language stream I use, so I am listening to Yankees baseball in Spanish this weekend, and it is an eye-opening experience.  Here are some observations:
  • I've forgotten a whole lot of my Spanish baseball vocabulary, but it's all coming back fairly quickly.
  • There are two Spanish-speaking announcers on WADO, and I understand about 90% of what the Mexican announcer says, but only about 60% of the speech of the Puerto Rican announcer.  In both cases, I am translating way too much in my head rather than just listening in Spanish.
  • When they give large numbers and years, I translate the numbers into English slowly.  Still.
  • These two announcers actually talk more about the game, the plays, and the players than the English announcers do, with a lot less opinion.
  • The Yankees need to step up their game if they're to beat the Medias Rojas this afternoon.
  • Play ball!