Obrigado!

Someone asked me what the best way to learn a language was, and hands down best way….fall in love with someone from that country! How do you think I learned French fluently? Okay, so maybe you’re not going to run out and get a Latin lover to learn French or Spanish, but it’s never too late to learn languages. It’s so much fun and it just opens the world up to you that much more.

In a few weeks we will be vacationing in Portugal for the first time. My first reaction….have to learn some Portuguese! So, I got on my neighborhood alias and asked if anyone knew a native Portuguese speaker. I was put in touch with a young Portuguese au pair. I only met her a couple times for coffee, and if I had more time before my trip I would have met her more, but it was a great way for me to ask questions, learn a bit about the culture, and ask about some basic phrases that could help me get around. I brought a small Portuguese phrase book to make notes in, and it really helps to hear the words spoken from a native so you get the pronunciation correct.

Make it a summer project to learn a language! Even if you don’t have a trip planned, pick a language you’ve always wanted to learn, and go for it. Or perfect that broken Spanish you have going on. Sign up for a class (private lessons work best, or just 2-3 people in class), and make sure the teacher is a native speaker, it really is the only way. You get all the nuances and little anecdotes that are so much fun to learn about, it helps cement the language. I took Italian for a year and I will always remember the stories Michele would tell us about his days as a young boy in Sicily. Belissimo!

Besides, it’s so much fun to blow people away with your ability to speak their language when you are in their country. Let’s do our part so that not all Americans are monolingual!