My story - Barlingue

It’s only fair to share my story first! At school I had zero interest in languages. It would be easy to blame the attitude to language learning that English schools had 25 years ago but the truth is that like most teenagers I was more interested in the boy next door. I remember a total of 4 words of the French I was taught at school – Bonjour and Pain Au Chocolat!

Fast forward to my mid twenties. I had finished university and entered the world of full time work but wanted to continue learning something. I was looking around a second hand shop on my lunch break and found a teach yourself Spanish book. Someone had already filled in half of the answers in pencil but for 50p I thought ‘why not’! The first time I actually had a short conversation and really connected with someone through the language that was it, I was hooked! I found a class, a conversation group (more on that later) and even did some exams. Since then I’ve also picked up Italian and although I sometimes mix them up I use them both for my work in an International company.

So back to that Spanish conversation group…Rewind to 10 years ago, glass of wine in hand for courage, I tentatively walked into a room full of strangers and introduced myself. I needn’t have worried though, I was welcomed with open arms and I’ve gone almost every week since! It’s the few hours a week that I totally forget about everything else that’s going on at work and in the outside world. It’s where I learned to swear in Spanish, where I feel most comfortable speaking even if I make some mistakes, where I learned Spanish phrases and euphemisms that I definitely wouldn’t learn in class, in short it’s where I learned ‘real’ Spanish. It’s also where I learned about myself and how I learn. Flashcards and books are great but I learn more from the social interactions I have in a language, so many of the words or phrases that stick very strongly in my mind are tied to a memory of a person or the conversation I was having when I learned it. I’ve met mathematicians, anthropologists, sommeliers, and people from all corners of the world. We talk about our biggest fears and greatest hopes for the future in the same breath as what we’re having for dinner tonight, and everything in between! I never fail to leave with a smile and a spring in my step that I don’t get anywhere else. I will be forever grateful for the people I’ve met because of languages.