Tarot in another language?

PavlovsDaughter

I recently picked up a Spanish tarot deck simply called "El Tarot".
I purchased it partly because it was a very good price, and partly because I am trying to better acquaint myself with the Spanish language.
Spanish is not my native language but I have dabbled with it casually for many years.
I'm wondering if this is could serve as a hindrance in my readings? I can easily recognize the cards (Major Arcana only so far) for their images and numbers, but I have yet to memorize them by name.
I feel that this deck means to do well by me, but I'm also wondering if perhaps that is just me being sentimental. (Spanish is also the native language of someone for whom I possess very strong feelings, and just seeing it or hearing it evokes a flurry of strong emotions. Does that matter?)
Sorry if this seems silly, I'm very new to this and wondering if anyone could give me insight about this or has tried to cross a language barrier before. I have gotten some very good, insightful readings from this deck but lately I've been struggling very much. I'm not sure if it has to do with this language thing or the tumultuous period I am currently going through in my life where everything just feels confusing and chaotic no matter what. (Needless to say I have drawn The Tower card a great many times, but I always see that one coming, sigh...)
 

Nemia

In my opinion and experience, tarot is a VISUAL tool (that works with background knowledge acquired over years). I have a Spanish tarot deck that I like very much and although I'm not a Spanish speaker, I have no problem reading with that deck. I recognize the images (and since I learned Latin at school, I can read and understand many Spanish words), and that's enough. I don't focus on the words anyway but on the pictures.

I have few decks in my native language (English is my third language), and many people here on AT get along well with tarot communication in a language that is not their own.

You have positive feelings for that deck, that is enough I think. Just read with it. If your readings have become less satisfactory at late, I'd say don't blame it on the language but look for the root cause.

Is the tarot reflecting negative things in your life that you'd prefer to ignore? (Happens to most of use sometimes...) Did you over-tax the tarot, i.e., ask the same question in many guises until the answers became watered down and confusing? Do you ask the right questions? Do you need a tarot break?

So many things can lead to little bumps on a tarot journey. As long as the images speak to you and inspire your intuition, I'd say don't blame the deck or its language.
 

decan

I recently picked up a Spanish tarot deck simply called "El Tarot".
I purchased it partly because it was a very good price, and partly because I am trying to better acquaint myself with the Spanish language.
Spanish is not my native language but I have dabbled with it casually for many years.
I'm wondering if this is could serve as a hindrance in my readings? I can easily recognize the cards (Major Arcana only so far) for their images and numbers, but I have yet to memorize them by name. (...)
Probably not.
My decks are in english and it isn't my native langage. Tarot is more about images and symbols than about words. Else we recognize the cards, even in another language.
Nevertheless probably I could feel uncomfortable with a Tarot in Russian or in Chinese because of the completely different alphabet. But Spanish uses a latin alphabet like english.
 

page of ghosts

I don't own any decks in my native language, they're all English which I'm fluent in, and then there is the Mythic Tarot in German. I did a year of beginners German in school but I'm not very good at it. Still the language is recognisable and not that different from my native one so I do manage well with the cards - probably helped that I was a sneaky sneak and got the English book! The image is the most important part but titles can sometimes be distracting. I have trimmed some of my decks so there isn't any at all, but they're typically RWS clones (magical forest and its bug eyed animals) so I easily recognise what I'm looking at though. I don't have any good advice for you unfortunately, just wanted to share that even if I'm fluent for the majority all my decks still are in another language than my native one.
 

Barleywine

When I went looking for the Rorig deck, the only one I could find at a reasonable price was the Spanish edition, and I don't speak Spanish. The minor cards don't follow the RWS model, so I had to learn the Spanish equivalent titles to some extent to understand them. Fortunately, the author included the Thoth titles somewhere in the artwork, in English, German and possibly French, although they are not always readily discernible.

This stretched my mind a bit and gave me a new set of keywords to play with, so if anything it sharpened my readings when using that deck.
 

bonebeach

Spanish is one of my native languages and technically the one I learned first, so I have someone with fond feelings for *me* who reads tarot with Spanish cards for similar reasons...seems to work fine.

I think, if anything, it should be good for your readings! And for your Spanish! Tarot is visual, but if you do read the card titles over and over, then those words, at least, will soon feel natural. It's a little how people watch childrens TV or listen to pop songs in a language they're trying to learn, I think--something more organic than obvious language exercises.

That said, I also have decks with French and Italian and German titles and I basically ignore the text as long as I know what the cards are, no big deal. For you, with this deck, I think it's different because you *want* to learn the language.

Anyway, good luck and have fun!
 

mrpants

The Ludvig Tarot is one of my top decks for reading, and I don't speak a single word of Hungarian. If you are familiar with tarot's structure, there should be no problem with language differences.
 

AnemoneRosie

I provide readings in English and in French. I have decks with titles in one or the other, or both. Because I speak those two languages I feel confident reading my Spanish deck, despite the fact that my Spanish is limited to "yo no hablas Español." The images tell me what it is that I need to know.

When I have to refer to them by name I use the name that my querent would recognize in their language, rather than the language of the deck.

I also have decks with zero titles at all. That one could be a hindrance if I let it be. Instead, I took the time to learn what the images represent. Now I can read those particular decks just fine. Imagine if I had to refer to these cards by their title! Instead, I use their 'common names' in the language of the querent.
 

nisaba

I sm monolingual, English being my only language. I have decks in German, French, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Finnish, Japanese, Hebrew ... all sorts of languages. With those that share an alphabet, I've made a point of reserching pronunciation as far as I am able just in case I drop a clanger in front of a client who is better-informed than I am <grin>.

I recognise cards by their images, but I love looking at their names too and noticing the resemblances with English word-components: even languages like Finnish which is supposed to be unrelated to English have instantly recognisable words, like "Princessa" (approximate, from memory, the deck is in another room) for Princess.

I may not *know* languages, but I love language generally, and foreign decks are an absolute joy.
 

PavlovsDaughter

Thank you everyone for sharing your stories with me! This has been very helpful. :) I do suppose that lately I have been "over-taxing" my deck and stressing on one particular problem too much, and perhaps I should give it a rest before I try to do another reading.

I'm also becoming more and more acquainted with the images themselves, so relating them to the Spanish names has been both helpful in my readings and with my development in Spanish.

Thank you everyone!!