A Non-Native Spanish Speaker—and Language Liberation
I participated in an online fundamentals class taught in Spanish by Dulce C., an RC leader in Mexico. I was invited as a support person for a Peruvian friend. Dulce and the other twenty people were Latin Americans. Most lived in their native countries. I was asked to report on my experience as a U.S.-based white Ashkenazi Jew and non-native Spanish speaker.
Time and comfort: Dulce said we could arrive and leave at any time. What mattered was our presence for whatever portion of the class we could attend. We were encouraged to make ourselves comfortable, even lying down in our beds. This was a huge contradiction [to distress] for me as a USer.
Technology: Many students kept their video images offscreen much of the time. Many Latin Americans do not have unlimited internet access—they buy data cards that charge according to usage, and video drives up the cost.
Access to the Internet was erratic. It wasn’t unusual for someone to disappear in the middle of class. Dulce would acknowledge that the person was gone and continue with the class. Sometimes they came back; other times they didn’t.
Some people felt uncomfortable showing others where they lived.
We played many inclusive and fun games that took into account people’s uneven access to technology.
Language liberation: I loved learning the Spanish terms for RC theory and listening to Dulce’s explanations. However, as a non-native speaker (even with relatively high Spanish proficiency), I was exhausted by the end of the class. I was a guest in the class, nobody was expected to slow down or simplify their language for me. Sometimes people used words from their Indigenous languages that I had never heard before.
In mini-sessions I had to continually remember that it wasn’t necessary to understand everything in order for me to be a good counselor. There were times when I had no idea what people were saying. The experience restimulated both victim and oppressor material [distresses].
I got a much better sense of the immense privilege I have in RC as a native English speaker as well as the significance of our language liberation policies. I would like to see more international events held in languages other than English, maybe with only limited translation so native English speakers can discharge what it’s like to not understand every word.
I think Dulce took a risk by inviting a white USer to the class. Thank you, Dulce. And thank you, awesome Latin American RC Community!
Chicago, Illinois, USA
(Present Time 203, April 2021)