This is me!

Let me tell you a little about my story of when I started to learn Spanish.

I started learning Spanish in my teens, back in the 90’s, and as everything was new to me I felt I was making a lot of progress and was actually able to have a decent conversation en español.

Then things took a turn for worst: I felt like my learning ability had frozen up. I felt like everything I learned, such as new words, expressions, grammar patterns, was going to be forgotten the next day. I was appalled!

Then I was offered a job teaching Spanish. Some teacher had quit in the middle of a school year and I was the only person available at the time. I was 20 at the time. So I took the bull by the horns, so to speak.

At first it was VERY difficult. It seemed like I couldn’t put two coherent sentences together, but then after a couple of months it all started to sink in and Spanish became second nature to me.

How did I do that?

First, I realized I already knew a lot of vocabulary and grammar, and now I was TEACHING that language to other people, so somehow they trusted me, even with my flaws.

So I started to go deeper into cultural things like watching TV channels in Spanish, reading Spanish newspapers online and starting to meet Spanish-speaking people online to chat with.

Another thing that helped me a lot was music. I bought CDs by Shakira, Thalía, Ricky Martin, Alejandro Sanz, Gloria Estefan, Noelia, Alejandro Fernández, etc.I would listen to their songs over and over again (I still know most of them by heart today).

So my point here today is: my motivation to learn and USE Spanish was my teaching. Yours can be something else. And make no mistake, it is hard work. If being fluent in a language was easy, everybody would be, right?

So, arremángate (roll up your sleeves), trust in yourself, take one day at a time and be the best you can. I’m not rocket scientist; actually my IQ is average-ish (according to a test I took at college), so if I could master it, you can do it too!

Well, this is a little of my story and my pep talk for today. Hope you have a great day and keep the ball rolling – you will score a goal soon!

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