I didn’t study Spanish first, but actually Latin in high school. After learning the complexities of Latin, Spanish was a breeze. It was also more fun, because we moved to West Texas were people atually speak the language.

It always amazes me that people talk about taking a language class in high school, then graduate without actually being able to speak any of the language. After a year or two pass, they can’t seem to speak a word of it. In our classes, the teacher always made us practice actual conversations, and I believe that helped to make the language stick.

During high school, I had two labor-type jobs, so I got to work with several Spanish speakers. I can’t repeat many of the “colorful metaphors” that I learned, but it was a good experience. It actually did help reinforce what I was learning in school.

Our high school Spanish Club sponsored an annual trip to Mexico city each summer. At the end of my junior year, my parents and I went, and it was another boost to learning Spanish. From a nearby Junior College, I even got three hours college credit for the trip.

Speaking of college credit, I took advanced placement tests for Spanish when I went to college. Due to my scores, I actually got fourteen hours of credit. Along with some other math and science tests, I was basically a sophomore in college my first year there.

During my undergraduate program, I took Spanish classes, as electives, just for fun. During one summer, they had a Spanish Conversation class, then later, I took two courses in Spanish literature. During the literature classes, the entire lecture, notes, and exams were in Spanish.

Later, when I was out in the working world, I did self self-study in French, Portugese, and Hebrew. I discovered the Pimsleur system and the government FSI courses (this was still 10 years before the internet!). I went on a couple of trips to Brazil, where I spoke probably butchered my limited Portugese with a lot of Spanish, but I could make myself understood.

In 1995, I was a consultant and got a job offer in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Being single and living by yourself is not the optimal way to learn more Spanish. But on the job, I was able to put a lot of Spanish to use, even though it wasn’t a requirement.

After studying a few more languages, I have learned what works and what doesn’t. I decided to create my own Spanish online learning community. We have several native Spanish speakers supporting our forum and creating short lessons.