In November last year I travelled around Colombia for two-and-a-half-weeks. At the time, I knew around three words in Spanish: hola, adios and cerveza. Shortly after touching down in Bogota I realised these were paltry.
Anyone who has travelled to South America will know it’s impossible to get by without learning the lingo, fast. So, with the help of some locals I picked up words, numbers, phrases, and actually attempted to communicate in Spanish. It was brilliant – not being able to resort to English was liberating so I became curious and kept asking how to say certain things. At one point I successfully purchased hairspray and some tweezers in a sleepy Colombian Village.
I loved learning about the language and culture, so when I got home I started thinking about getting some Spanish lessons.
I was taught French at school for 11 years with multiple lessons a week and even private tuition at times. With all that instruction all I had to show was the ability to mumble a few sentences in French, read menus and mis-pronounce words left, right and centre while on holiday.
Learning a language this time had to be different. Learning Spanish was going to be for me – just for fun, not work and not to pass an exam – so a completely different experience. I had heard of The Language Guru through Brighton Chamber so I did a bit of research and booked a 10-week beginner Spanish course which I’ve now finished.
Yes, I was slightly nervous to start with. I am gregarious but this was different. I was going to be exposing myself and my ability to learn a language in a public setting, albeit a small class. How would I do? Would my accent be right? Could I remember things from week to week? Would I have time to practice? I needn’t have worried. All would be well. I was in good hands, and the experience has stretched those little grey cells in my brain I hadn’t used for a while just enough to get them working again!
The course flew by and I learnt a lot. Not just about the Spanish language and culture, but also how important learning is as an adult, even when the stresses of everyday life make you think there isn’t any possible room for anything other than work, family and sleep.
These are the main reasons I loved learning with The Language Guru:
• Although it is sometimes a bit of a chore to finish work, hot-foot it back home for a mouthful of food and then head out to a Spanish class, it’s incredibly important to do it and make time for yourself at least once a week. Learning a language helped me use my brain in a different way and switch off from work. The chatter and camaraderie of my peers helped lighten the week.
• There is always a breakthrough moment when learning something new and for me, this came in Week 4 when we were able to have a full, flowing conversation in Spanish with each other. This gave me a real sense of achievement, especially thinking back to how hard it was to even say hello and ask for a beer last year in Colombia.
• Learning a language is a brilliant way of meeting new, like-minded people. By the end of the course, almost all of us had decided to book onto the next course. We went out for drinks after our final class, joined by our wonderful teacher Patricia, and shared our love of travel, language and our general curiosity about the world.
I loved it all, and I’m looking forward to carrying on learning and putting it all to good use in the future.
Amy Lishman
Membership Manager
Brighton & Hove Chamber of Commerce