Why I Want to Learn Spanish
The following post is from Concepts: 101 Short Stories, Essays, and Insights to Improve your Communication Skills
If you were to ask me a year ago:
‘Do you ever plan to learn Spanish?’
I’d say:
‘Nope.’
But ever since I have been getting audiobook library converted into Spanish, my views on learning a new language have changed.
I don’t plan to learn Spanish anytime soon.
But I do plan to learn it one day.
Something funny happened to me recently.
I went to a local Spanish café to pick up some food.
Soon as I walked in, I had 3 folks yelling at me…
In Spanish!!
2 ladies in front of me.
And an older man to my right.
Caught off guard, I said:
‘I don’t speak Spanish. I don’t know what you are saying.’
They continue talking to me in a loud tone.
This time, they began moving their hands.
Once again, I said:
‘I don’t speak Spanish.’
My English was doing little to calm them down.
Drawing upon my memories from taking Spanish in high school, I said:
‘No hablo Espanol.’
When I uttered those 3 words, they looked at me like I was lying to them about not speaking Spanish.
I left my phone in the car.
I lifted up my index finger to tell them to hold on.
I went to my car to grab my phone and use the translator app.
But once I got in my car, I thought:
‘Eh, let me find somewhere else to eat.’
Normally when I go to that café, I do some strategic pointing of what I want.
They follow my finger, fill up my tray, then ring me up.
Once I drove off, I wondered what they were trying to tell me.
Their faces didn’t look mean.
They actually seemed excited to see me.
I wonder if they were alerting me about a new lunch special.
Oh well, I guess I will never know.
In the US, learning Spanish is becoming high ROI for certain states.
I knew demand for Spanish was increasing when I heard customer support lines say:
‘Press 1 for English, press 2 for Spanish.’
I don’t hear them saying:
‘Press 3 for French.’
Which means the demand for French has not reached fever pitch yet.
Before, I thought:
‘Why learn Spanish? We should be speaking English here.’
But after hearing my Spanish narrator, Nico, reading my work out loud, I noticed he had a phenomenal musicality to his voice.
I thought:
‘Bro, what are you reading? Let me read that!’
Then I realized he was reading what I wrote in a new language.
After hearing the musicality of Nico’s voice, I realized I wanted that.
And in the next 10 years, I plan to get that.
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