I have found that Spanish has made travel more feasible and enjoyable. The knowledge has greatly increased the number of holiday destinations which I can visit without fear of being lost. Travel, not just for recreation but business and education too. I have worked and studied in both European and Latin American countries because of this ability. As you can see there are very tangible benefits that include improving your employment potential, improving your chances of being accepted into college or graduate school and expanding your opportunities to study abroad.
Spanish has expanded my global understanding significantly. I can view the world from a different perspective and recognize the world’s perspective of me, my community and country. Surprisingly, it has helped me understand myself and culture in unexpected ways. Explaining the nuances between the various English speaking Caribbean islands can be challenging enough in my native tongue, and in Spanish, it is even more apparent, and yet equally enjoyable. I now have a greater appreciation of international literature, music, and film and use every reasonable opportunity to learn even more.
I am certain that it has also improved my English skills, but I am not sure how, and finally it has also allowed me to make make many lifelong friends.
So as you can see Spanish is an important part of my life, but my busy schedule often makes it difficult for me to practice. Sadly in my case love isn’t good enough and I need regular sessions to remind you to practice.
Yes practice is the most important thing about learning a language and doing it often is best. Reading provides the vocabulary and grammar, but writing, listening and speaking provides the fluency. They provide the fleetness of the mind which is so necessary in conversation.
I continue to have regular classes. I chat with a Latin friend of mine every Sunday, and on other days I have regular classes provided by a personal Spanish tutor at PersonalSpanish.net, an online school based in Nicaragua. The prices are reasonable and the tutors have been professional. I found them by accident after searching through Craigslist for private Spanish tutors in my area. Most were charging between $30 and $40 per hour which is quite expensive, so I began looking for online courses that were cheaper. I soon realized that the people with the most flexible schedules were those not in my timezone, and the cheapest ones were based outside the USA. So I took a chance and have been pleasantly surprised. In reality I just chat with my tutor, as my fluency is quite good, but I have seen some of the course materials and they are good. Depending on the number of sessions you want, prices vary from $12 to $7 per class.
We are now planning the next family vacation to Central America with our excess airline miles. We started this trend in 2007 with a very enjoyable trip to central Mexico and we are all looking forward to the next visit to the region. Maybe we’ll even stop in Nicaragua on the way.
