After twenty years of lessons, I stopped translating in my head
I am a civil engineer from Houston and I have been ‘learning Spanish’ since high school. Apps, podcasts, a tutor on Tuesdays. I understood almost everything, but every sentence I said went through English first, and by the time it came out the conversation had moved on.
My company gave me a week of training budget and I decided to spend it on immersion. I chose Pueblo Español because there are no classrooms: the method is conversation, hour after hour, with people from all over Spain.
The first two days were exhausting. I went to bed at night with my brain buzzing. On the third morning something changed. I was talking with Pilar about her job at a bank in Bilbao and I realised I had not translated a single word. I was just talking.
The volunteers come from every walk of life. I spoke with a firefighter, a pharmacist, a retired judge and a student who wants to design video games. Every conversation was a new accent, new vocabulary and a new way of seeing the country.
I now have meetings with our partners in Mexico in Spanish. My tutor says I sound like a different person. I think I just stopped being afraid.
DAVID OKAFOR
USA · Adults program
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