So I have recently reached 3000 known words in Spanish which I am pretty happy with but I have noticed with my reading in Spanish that I have to sometimes read backwords which I am most definitely not used to only currently Speaking English as we only read left to right. I have an example down below would someone be able to help me with this?
This is the example - El representante commercial japone ( The Japanese commercial Representative)
When reading that sentence I have first read El which is âTheâ I then have to read Japone which is âJapaneseâ followed by commercial representante for the sentence to make sense?
oh and this is not me arranging these in the wrong order this is from Steveâs book and this is how it was displayed on Lingq!
Is this my brain getting used to reading a lot of Spanish and slowly adjusting to this?
and Finally where does âTheâ come from in this sentence?
because the word âTheâ in not written in the sentence I feel like I have to add word when translating sentences into my head?
âotras grandes ciudades del mundoâ
other big cities of the world - this is the Lingq translation of the sentence above!
this is not the first time I have noticed this and would be great if someone could help me!
Muchas gracias!!
sorry if it is hard to understand it was difficult trying to get my point across in writing!!!
You are on the right track yourself when you ask, âIs this my brain getting used to reading a lot of Spanish and slowly adjusting to this?â
Yes it is. Spanish speakers arenât like Arabs in that they read right to left, but they do âdo it backwardsâ in that the important information comes last for them.
Kind of like how toilets flush the correct way in Australia, but not in America.
Because this is not the first time this has happened I feel like when I am reading something I have to read something near the end of the sentence then read the word before it for the sentence to make sence in my brain but again is this just Spanish? also with the words missing or not being there I feel like I have to put them in myself?
Yes, you have to get used to it, itâs just how grammar works and how sentences are structured in that language. For example, in Romance languages (not just Spanish), adjectives tend to come after the noun, whereas they come before the noun in English. Thereâs no right or wrong here. Actually it probably makes more sense the Spanish way if you really think about it. If youâre talking about a red bag (âsaco rojoâ), the first thing you really should read/hear is bag so that you know what is being referred to as early as possible, and then the description of the bag should come later.
When youâre starting out with a language, translating in your head is unavoidable. But the goal is to get beyond that. Eventually, if you keep at it, you will just understand without needing to translate and the sentence structure will make sense.
Dare I recommend you get hold of a small grammar book, or simply do some online reading about Spanish grammar. Like Steve says, you don´t have to memorise all the rules, it just helps to point you in the right direction about what kind of oddities you´ll encounter vs the way it´s done in English. Word order is something you´ll get used to over time, but if it´s really hindering your understanding it can´t hurt to get a little bit of grammatical guidance along the way.
Yes on a more abstract level, imagine a given sentence needs to have 5 ideas (words) expressed⌠So every language will have around 5 words. Say that in English the correct order of these words is A B C D E. But then you study another language where the correct order is A B E C D. As an English speaker, especially when you try to speak the other language, it will feel uncomfortable when you get to word âEâ because you have to keep track of the fact that you still need to say C and D afterwards! So to varying degrees itâs an issue with every language.
What I might suggest is to listen to the audio of some easier lessons and try to store a few whole sentences in your brain, ones that demonstrate word order. I think it will help you if you can clearly recall what a few (definitely correct) sentences sounded like, because you wonât be able to doubt those ones, and maybe you will be able to map new sentences that you see to the same structures of sentences you know by heart.
you WILL get used to it, so donât concentrate on the whyâs. Accept the language as it is, with all itâs weirdness, I mean, look at English:
-Turns out: something turns then goes out?
-Look up: I should look for something turning my head upwards?
whatâs with all that wizardry?
The answer: phrasal verbs.
Iâve heard that word order in Spanish is more flexible than in English, I donât know, but if you look for âhipĂŠrbatonâ youâll find some interesting examples for both languages.