Living Abroad

Sometimes my students ask me what the best way is to learn Spanish. I tell them to go live in a Spanish-speaking country for as long as they can and avoid associating with Americans and speaking English while they are there. There is no substitute for this total immersion approach that I know of.

I have lived in Mexico for five years, one year after graduate school on a Fulbright Scholarship and I later taught at a university in northern Mexico for four years. When I lived in Mexico, I associated with very few English speakers and would sometimes go weeks and months at a time without speaking English. This was a very valuable experience for me and helped me really become fluent in Spanish and familiar with Mexican culture. As a result of these experiences, I look at the world in a different way, and can appreciate how Mexicans have a different worldview than Americans.

For this reason, I would recommend a living-abroad experience for every young person. It will help you learn a different language, culture, worldview, and at the same time, make you appreciate some of the things that we have in the U.S. that you might take for granted. So go volunteer for the Peace Corps or volunteer to work in Africa helping the people there. You will never be the same.