My first foreign language in school was Latin – a great language to prepare you for any university. But then we moved, and the only language offered was Spanish. I found Spanish more fun, because people in West Texas actually spoke it, where as Latin was mostly just reading and learning complex grammar.
My high school Spanish seemed to “stick”, even though I’m always talking to people who have totally forgotten whatever language they learned in school. Perhaps they didn’t have a true love for language, or perhaps they just never made opportunities to continue their studies.
I worked at a Dairy Queen and a janitorial company in high school. In both jobs, I had plenty of opportunities to work with Latinos. I even picked quite a colorful vocabulary.
Our high school Spanish Club sponsored an annual trip to Mexico city each summer. At the end of my junior year, my parents and I went, and it was another boost to learning Spanish. From a nearby Junior College, I even got three hours college credit for the trip.
I also discovered CLEP (College Level Examination Program) tests, and took the Spanish exams. My university awared me 14 hours of credit just for my Spanish! I went to college already having 17 credits (plus even more for math and science exams).
During my Bachelor’s in Business, I took three more Spanish classes. One was in Spanish conversation, and the other two were Spanish literature, where the teacher spoke in Spanish, we took notes in Spanish, and of course the tests were in Spanish.
Later, when I was out in the working world, I did self self-study in French, Portugese, and Hebrew. I discovered the Pimsleur system and the government FSI courses (this was still 10 years before the internet!). I went on a couple of trips to Brazil, where I spoke probably butchered my limited Portugese with a lot of Spanish, but I could make myself understood.
Finally, in 1995 I got to live and work in a Spanish-speaking destination, San Juan, Puerto Rico. While I could have used English on the job, I tried when possible to use Spanish, and the co-workers were encouraging. I was there about nine months, and often found myself starting to “think” in Spanish instead of English. I would have learned even more if I had stayed in someone’s home, instead of living by mself.
After studying a few more languages, I have learned what works and what doesn’t. I decided to create my own Spanish online learning community. We have several native Spanish speakers supporting our forum and creating short lessons.
Pinching Pennies with Catastrophic Insurance
Tags: Travel, free, spanish, learn
