I am reasonably fluent in Spanish. I have lived in several Latin American countries, For many years I had a girlfriend who didn’t speak English and I was never shy in trying to improve my proficiency in the language.
In university a couple of years before my adventures began abroad I studied Spanish. To say the least it was challenging. In the second year I was in a class with several first generation Canadians who grew up with with parents who spoke Spanish. Their vocabulary was extensive and were mostly in class to learn structure and improve their fluency in their parents native language.
I struggled to say the least.
It was also my first attempt to learn a foreign language and I was constantly trying to relate material I didn’t understand to English. That was the wrong approach. I needed to appreciate the language on its own terms.
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