How I did it:

I started high school convinced that I would learn French. French, after all, was the language of diplomacy, Paris, and crepes. Plus it was a language of sophistication. Unlike Spanish, which I perceived (incorrectly) as a language of poverty, squalor, and epidemic illness.

However, my plans didn't quite pan out. I needed two years of high school foreign language for admission to my chosen college, which would be hard with the limited French offerings at my school. So I relented and fell back on Spanish class.

Although I wasn't really into the cultural aspects of the language (it's hard sitting in a high school classroom thousands of miles from a Spanish-speaking country or region), I found verb conjugations engaging and interesting. When two Hispanic students came to my school, I decided (after wiping the drool) that I had misjudged Hispanic culture. The warmth of Hispanic people and families is well known. It was a trait that I identified with.

In college my language skills placement test put me back at square one. From there I resolved to study and practice as much as possible to become as proficient as possible. I dated a man from Guadalajara and went salsa dancing.

During my junior year I studied abroad at the UNAM in Mexico. I was a Linguistics major, so I was able to take Spanish linguistics courses for credit toward graduation. I took phonetics and phonology (sounds of Spanish), syntax (word choice and order), and philology (history of the Spanish language). These classes were with native speaking students. I became friends with some of them.

Needless to say, I soon became very wieldy with the expressions and slang used in Mexican Spanish. I was even able to speak clearly at a good Chilango clip (Mexico City speakers talk Very fast). By the time I came back to the U.S. I was thinking primarily in Spanish and speaking Spanish in my sleep.

Lessons & tips:

My profile says it took 3 years. But really, mastering the language and

maintaining proficiency is going to be a lifelong task. I have friends

in the US who are native Spanish speakers, and we speak almost

exclusively in Spanish. I would also love to return to Mexico or make a

first voyage to some exotic locale to learn a different dialect and see

the sights. Learning never ends!!

Resources:

Study Abroad
Meetup.com

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May 03, 11:31PM PDT | 1 comment | 1 cheer