This resonated so deeply!!! I also speak Spanish but because I don’t look Latina (my dad’s European genes took over) I also feel like I have to caveat my language abilities despite speaking it since I was born. This was such an encouraging piece!! And your travels sound amazing ✨
thank you so much! I’m glad it resonated 🥹. And ahh if you’ve been speaking Spanish since you were born, why are you giving caveats?? If you speak, you speak! and thank you, I feel very lucky to have had the travel experiences I have had. Happy new year!
Oh, Calley!!! I can prove you know so much Spanish and you're soo good at it (even though I'm not capable of changing to my mother tongue with you) but omg!! C1 is an amazing level and I know you can totally achieve it!! Miss you 💜
this is so beautiful … i could relate to it so much as a language learner myself 🥹 i started learning korean by myself seriously in november 2023 until now, but i’ve never considered myself to be able to SPEAK in korean. “i understand better than i speak” felt super relatable and as if i was looking into my own thoughts, because that has been something i’ve been saying ever since i started learning korean 🥲 i took a trip to korea earlier this year, and i was surprised that i could actually go around communicating in korean rather comfortably! although, my cousins usually asked the locals to speak english or mime instead of having me to translate, which discouraged me a whole lot. one day i’ll visit on my own, and comfortably communicate with them :p my brain still lags quite a bit translating what i want to say in english into korean, but hey at least im pronouncing everything right! the trip felt like a confidence boost, and i hope to improve even more until i reach my desired level of mastery :—) all the best to you too!! spanish is definitely on my to-learn list, but i’m currently occupied by japanese and french hehe
I’m so glad this resonated with you! I think it comes down to us being our own harshest critics. Like if you can navigate a country in another language, that’s huge!! and as far as making mistakes goes, like, you wouldn’t judge people speaking English as a second language with mistakes and an accent right? So we’re holding ourselves to a strict standard that’s only for us. also I have found that I do better with Spanish (or even Italian now that I’m learning) if I’m alone or with speakers of that language. If I have to transition between chatting with my friends and English and speaking another language quickly, my brain short circuits. Also you’re more likely to be approached in English if they hear you speaking it, which isn’t great for practice but makes sense and is what it is. But Korean, Japanese, and French (and maybe Spanish??), wow! That’s so impressive!! You’re dealing with different systems!
thank you for your criticism and insights 🥹 you speak so much truth!! the satisfaction of finally being able to comfortably converse in a self-learnt language beats anything else, and i hope to do that comfortably sometime soon :—) i’m really interested in languages, so i wanna have a few more that im able to speak before i leave this world hehe :p wishing you all the best in your language journey too!! 🩵
HAHAHA yes yes im self taught!! i try to learn on my own terms to keep myself accountable and regulate the pace of my learning :-D it might be a little slower, but the gratification seems to be more than if i took lessons 🫶🏻
Such a positive, relatable piece! I often downplay my Spanish as well because relearning it after forgetting everything was a process. Only now I’m finally at a point where I allow myself to say yes i do speak it.
But since it’s already my 3rd language (spot the European 😅) i sometimes feel like i need to add a disclaimer otherwise people would expect the same level of fluency I have in English (it’s not even close).
Thank you for the reminder that you don’t need to be perfect to claim a language 🫶🏼
Thank you so much for the comment fialka! and yeah, if you can communicate and do what you need to do, we should be able to claim it! Even if our level isn’t to the point where we can write nuanced, grammatically correct substack posts in Spanish haha. also, I love your substack btw! 🫶🏻
Really feeling all these things right now!! Thanks for putting them into words and publishing them here. Helps me feel not so alone as I butcher words and fumble my way through the subjunctive here too. Learning another language is hard no matter how many you speak! And just communicating is an accomplishment itself (reaching the same precision and nuance we use in our native English is a tall order)! Yes we speak languages, even if it’s not perfect!
Thank you for reading Victoria!! And you got this! We got this! Also mallorca has the extra hurdle for Spanish learning of never truly being immersed in Spanish 😅. So maybe it’s natural that it takes a little longer than if we had taught in like Madrid or andalucia
Yes girl from Tennessee on her way to polyglotism!! Hell yeah! I relate to soooo much of this, the shame of being in Europe and not speaking another language well enough, being hard on yourself on your abilities to speak another language. So very real. Although I also have dreams on living in Barcelona and becoming fluent in Spanish, I know mi espanol is not anywhere close to that. But that’s also awesome u majored in Spanish ?!! I wish I would’ve done that
Thank you so much Abby!!! And I swear confidence is half the battle unfortunately. I know people that make a lot of mistakes but they… speak. They don’t falter or stop themselves. They just try and they improve so quickly because of that. And you got this!! Spanish is so fun and there’s so much media to help the immersion process. My reels are half in Spanish now and it’s great. And Spanish music is soo good. Also, when you’re further along in your Spanish journey and want to dip your toes into Catalan (bc barcelona!), there’s some really great Catalan music as well. You got this!! And yes, I got a dream degree combo that really doesn’t translate well to job applications unfortunately but is setting up the life I’m trying for nicely. I double majored in Spanish and international studies and minored in creative writing haha
Thank you so much for your comment Candace! And the pep talk! 🥹 You’re totally right, if you can get important stuff done, you’re doing great. And Spanish is literally everywhere haha. I visited a friend in Zagreb and everywhere we went, there were groups of Spanish speaking people. And omg we’re basically neighbors then, so fun. And oof, best of luck with croatian. That is a tall order. Are people more likely to speak spanish than English where you’re living? There was a bit of English in Zagreb, but I just let my croatian friend do most of the talking so she didn’t have to interact with people in English in her home country lol
You text reminds me why i wanna back to learning spanish! I wishing you happy new years <333
I’m so happy you enjoyed it and are feeling motivated haha. happy new years! 🎆
This is such a great piece! Love learning about you, too!!
Ahhh thank you so much hannah! I’m glad you enjoyed it ☺️
This resonated so deeply!!! I also speak Spanish but because I don’t look Latina (my dad’s European genes took over) I also feel like I have to caveat my language abilities despite speaking it since I was born. This was such an encouraging piece!! And your travels sound amazing ✨
thank you so much! I’m glad it resonated 🥹. And ahh if you’ve been speaking Spanish since you were born, why are you giving caveats?? If you speak, you speak! and thank you, I feel very lucky to have had the travel experiences I have had. Happy new year!
Oh, Calley!!! I can prove you know so much Spanish and you're soo good at it (even though I'm not capable of changing to my mother tongue with you) but omg!! C1 is an amazing level and I know you can totally achieve it!! Miss you 💜
thank you so much Ainoa!! one day maybe we’ll manage longer than ten minutes before you switch back to English hahaha. miss you too 🥹
this is so beautiful … i could relate to it so much as a language learner myself 🥹 i started learning korean by myself seriously in november 2023 until now, but i’ve never considered myself to be able to SPEAK in korean. “i understand better than i speak” felt super relatable and as if i was looking into my own thoughts, because that has been something i’ve been saying ever since i started learning korean 🥲 i took a trip to korea earlier this year, and i was surprised that i could actually go around communicating in korean rather comfortably! although, my cousins usually asked the locals to speak english or mime instead of having me to translate, which discouraged me a whole lot. one day i’ll visit on my own, and comfortably communicate with them :p my brain still lags quite a bit translating what i want to say in english into korean, but hey at least im pronouncing everything right! the trip felt like a confidence boost, and i hope to improve even more until i reach my desired level of mastery :—) all the best to you too!! spanish is definitely on my to-learn list, but i’m currently occupied by japanese and french hehe
I’m so glad this resonated with you! I think it comes down to us being our own harshest critics. Like if you can navigate a country in another language, that’s huge!! and as far as making mistakes goes, like, you wouldn’t judge people speaking English as a second language with mistakes and an accent right? So we’re holding ourselves to a strict standard that’s only for us. also I have found that I do better with Spanish (or even Italian now that I’m learning) if I’m alone or with speakers of that language. If I have to transition between chatting with my friends and English and speaking another language quickly, my brain short circuits. Also you’re more likely to be approached in English if they hear you speaking it, which isn’t great for practice but makes sense and is what it is. But Korean, Japanese, and French (and maybe Spanish??), wow! That’s so impressive!! You’re dealing with different systems!
thank you for your criticism and insights 🥹 you speak so much truth!! the satisfaction of finally being able to comfortably converse in a self-learnt language beats anything else, and i hope to do that comfortably sometime soon :—) i’m really interested in languages, so i wanna have a few more that im able to speak before i leave this world hehe :p wishing you all the best in your language journey too!! 🩵
AND you’re self-taught? That is seriously impressive!!! And thank you!
HAHAHA yes yes im self taught!! i try to learn on my own terms to keep myself accountable and regulate the pace of my learning :-D it might be a little slower, but the gratification seems to be more than if i took lessons 🫶🏻
Such a positive, relatable piece! I often downplay my Spanish as well because relearning it after forgetting everything was a process. Only now I’m finally at a point where I allow myself to say yes i do speak it.
But since it’s already my 3rd language (spot the European 😅) i sometimes feel like i need to add a disclaimer otherwise people would expect the same level of fluency I have in English (it’s not even close).
Thank you for the reminder that you don’t need to be perfect to claim a language 🫶🏼
Thank you so much for the comment fialka! and yeah, if you can communicate and do what you need to do, we should be able to claim it! Even if our level isn’t to the point where we can write nuanced, grammatically correct substack posts in Spanish haha. also, I love your substack btw! 🫶🏻
Really feeling all these things right now!! Thanks for putting them into words and publishing them here. Helps me feel not so alone as I butcher words and fumble my way through the subjunctive here too. Learning another language is hard no matter how many you speak! And just communicating is an accomplishment itself (reaching the same precision and nuance we use in our native English is a tall order)! Yes we speak languages, even if it’s not perfect!
Thank you for reading Victoria!! And you got this! We got this! Also mallorca has the extra hurdle for Spanish learning of never truly being immersed in Spanish 😅. So maybe it’s natural that it takes a little longer than if we had taught in like Madrid or andalucia
Yes girl from Tennessee on her way to polyglotism!! Hell yeah! I relate to soooo much of this, the shame of being in Europe and not speaking another language well enough, being hard on yourself on your abilities to speak another language. So very real. Although I also have dreams on living in Barcelona and becoming fluent in Spanish, I know mi espanol is not anywhere close to that. But that’s also awesome u majored in Spanish ?!! I wish I would’ve done that
Thank you so much Abby!!! And I swear confidence is half the battle unfortunately. I know people that make a lot of mistakes but they… speak. They don’t falter or stop themselves. They just try and they improve so quickly because of that. And you got this!! Spanish is so fun and there’s so much media to help the immersion process. My reels are half in Spanish now and it’s great. And Spanish music is soo good. Also, when you’re further along in your Spanish journey and want to dip your toes into Catalan (bc barcelona!), there’s some really great Catalan music as well. You got this!! And yes, I got a dream degree combo that really doesn’t translate well to job applications unfortunately but is setting up the life I’m trying for nicely. I double majored in Spanish and international studies and minored in creative writing haha
Thank you so much for your comment Candace! And the pep talk! 🥹 You’re totally right, if you can get important stuff done, you’re doing great. And Spanish is literally everywhere haha. I visited a friend in Zagreb and everywhere we went, there were groups of Spanish speaking people. And omg we’re basically neighbors then, so fun. And oof, best of luck with croatian. That is a tall order. Are people more likely to speak spanish than English where you’re living? There was a bit of English in Zagreb, but I just let my croatian friend do most of the talking so she didn’t have to interact with people in English in her home country lol