Life as a polyglot

So what is a polyglot? It’s just an another way of saying multilingual. From about high school, I’ve been interested in learning Spanish. In 2009, I went to high school in Spanish Harlem and thought their culture was so cool. Like every good high school story, I had a crush on a friend, a Dominican boy🇩🇴, and it essentially fueled my desire to learn Spanish.

Though the crush didn’t work out, I continued to immerse myself in the culture. I was the only Black girl on the Latin Dance HS team and I had great Spanish language teachers that made me enjoy learning. I would say I was a decent beginner.

College (2013) was interesting because I went to a predominantly white university so I had no reason to speak it. While in college, I studied abroad in Europe (2016). I went with a friend from my home university and decided to go Barcelona 🇪🇸 for a week on holiday. It was so fun to use the little Spanish I knew to get around. Also, during that time, I met one of my best friends to this day who is Mexican-American and saw my passion. He helped me practice speaking and still does it by to this day.

In 2022, after my doctoral program, I found myself essentially starting over. Being in Vermont for so many years can do that to a person but I’ve gained a new purpose in learning. I have been with the love of my life for almost 4 years now. (Yes, he happens to be a Dominican man LOLLLL). I see myself getting married and having children with this man. A lot of his family does not speak English. It feels good to be able to communicate with them and understand the stories they tell me of my boyfriend’s youth. Another aspect is that I love being able to communicate with my patients. When I worked in the outpatient setting as a pharmacist, I used to get a lot patients from Hispanic countries who were newly acclimating themselves to the United States. It can be intimidating when you are trying to take care of your health and do not know how to express what’s wrong with you. I loved that I was able to use Spanish to help.

I would say that right now, as someone who has been studying for about 14 years on and off, I’m at an intermediate level. This year has been the most progressive year yet. I plan to learn about 2 more languages after Spanish (Igbo and Wolof). I will make another post of what I’ve been doing to advance in Spanish. I’m excited for this journey!✨✨✨#polyglotcommunity #polyglots #aprendoespanol