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4 Unexpected Ways That My Spanish Has Improved

• by Srinivas Rao
• on March 23rd, 2011
• 2 Comments

Two weeks into my transition to the life of a digital nomad, I’m starting to believe that the best way to learn any language is to keep getting yourself into messy situation in the country you live. Amazingly enough, these situations cause you to really step up your game when it comes to your foreign language skills.  Every situation below caused me to dig deep into my memory banks for every little thing I learned in high school Spanish and as a result my Spanish improved a bit.

Traveling by Bus

Bus travel in central and Latin American countries can be an adventure. Our very own Colin Wright once thought he was going to die on a 72 hour bus ride across Latin America. Bus drivers don’t know the difference between air conditioner and meat freezer  (if you’re lucky enough to be on an air conditioned bus). Otherwise be prepared to melt. On my very first bus trip out of my small 100 person town here in Costa Rica, I headed to Tamarindo for the weekend. I got some great instructions from the people I’m working with here, and I made it to Tamarindo with no problems.

On the way back however I decided to take the exact same route home only to find myself in a situation where I had to wait 2.5 hours for my connection. So I decided that I would walk what I thought was 3 kilometers, but it turned out was 13 kilometers. I only learned this after making a quick stop to by some water and the lady I bought the water from told me I was crazy and I should just wait for the bus because it would be there in an hour and I’d never get home walking in one hour. The town I was catching the connecting bus in probably had no more than about 100 people living there, so it was safe to say there was nobody that spoke English there. So I was forced to step up my game.

The next bus fiasco involved missing a connection. I was returning from a weekend trip and bought my ticket in a town where I was connecting. When I asked how much time I had to catch my bus, the driver said 2 minutes. The bus that was at the depot in that moment had a final destination different than where I was headed so I assumed it was the wrong bus. After the bus left, the ticket guy asked me why I didn’t get on the bus? It turns out that I missed the bus that was right in front of me, and I had to wait another hour. This time I remembered four letter expletives that I learned in Spanish.

Automotive Failures

Since I’ve been in Costa Rica, automotive failures have made me crazy. First I bought a scooter that wouldn’t work on the dirt roads. Then I exchanged it for an ATV and its battery died. As a result, I’ve spent more time talking to mechanics than almost anybody. Fortunately I’ve had a translator for all my purchases.  When the battery on the ATV died, I had talk to the mechanic about getting a new battery. Thankfully there was somebody to do some translating. But the morning I had to pick up my ATV, I was on my own and I found myself in a conversation with the mechanic about the cost and all the work he’d done.

Limited Access to Cash

In the town I live in there are no ATM machines, which is kind of a blessing and a curse. Since there are no ATM’s, I don’t end up spending much money on anything. But when you need cash it’s a hassle. So, I’ve had to tell the guy at the supermarket to overcharge my credit card and give me the difference in cash. Google translate has turned out to be a big help for situations like this.

The Night Watchman

The night watchman where I live seems to be a nice guy. He’s been living a few towns over for most of his life and seems to be very chatty. One night I decided to go grab some beers from the grocery store and sit on the outside steps drinking them. It wasn’t long before the guy started talking to me and I found myself in a lengthy conversation mixing Spanish and Portuguese. After about an hour chat with him I figured an evening chat with him every day might be better than any Spanish class.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned about languages, it’s that no matter how much you study them, it’s only immersion and practical application that will really improve your skills. When you’re put in a situation where you have no choice, it’s almost as if survival instinct kicks in.

Srinivas Rao

Srinivas is an avid surfer and personal development blogger at The Skool of Life. He's also the host and co-founder of BlogcastFM, a podcast for bloggers.