I started learning Spanish in high school in the Caribbean but didn’t pay much attention to it as I found the sciences more interesting. Being surrounded by Spanish speaking countries, the language seemed to be something that would come in useful eventually, even if I didn’t quite know how.
After five years of half-hearted attention I stopped only to restart 10 years later when I saw an opportunity to visit Mexico as part of my MBA program. I found a student on campus who was willing to teach for two hours a week, and after about six months I was ready to get lost in Monterrey. I felt quite proud of my fearlessness to display my linguistic ignorance and left Mexico inspired to continue on my own.
Over the years I have had innumerable classes in which I have met an endless stream of people from varying backgrounds. Each were like me, struggling to find something to do that was new, interesting and completely unrelated to their daily lives.
Thanks to my interest in the language I can now read novels and watch films in Spanish as a hobby. I still have regular classes but they are are more conversational than strict lessons on grammar.
The question I keep asking myself is how has this has really helped me on a daily basis. There were the friendships, the better understanding of new cultures and their points of view, the relaxation of immersing myself in a different frame of mind but there was something else that was lingering in my subconscious mind that I couldn’t pinpoint until recently.
Spanish has undoubtedly helped me with my English. Not with vocabulary nor grammar as you may think. Speaking with a limited pool of words forces you to be more creative with your expression while also being more concise. This has helped me immeasurably in my home and work life. The skill was especially put to good use when writing my book. It has improved my interpretation of body language as so often many misunderstood words can be pieced together with a motion or tilt of the head. It has also made me more fearless in asking for clarifications and improved my subtle tenacity in asking for what I want.
My second language has opened many new windows in my life and this has been a good thing. I highly recommend learning another language and am now learning Portuguese to prove that I practice what I preach.
