Meet Jess, the new friendly face at our front desk in Northcote! When she was just 15, she headed off to Costa Rica for a year-long exchange with only beginner Spanish — and before long, she was dreaming in it. From full immersion to studying in Guadalajara, her journey is proof that curiosity (and a little courage) goes a long way. Read on to hear her story and her tips for learning Spanish.

When did you start learning Spanish?

My introduction to the Spanish language was at 15, when I arrived in Costa Rica to begin a high school exchange. Apart from the beginner classes I crammed in right before I left, I had no previous experience speaking Spanish. Since the family that I would stay with for a whole year spoke very minimal English, my Spanish had no other option but to advance, and quickly.

Before arriving in Costa Rica, I knew I would be attending a bilingual school, which comforted my little Spanish. That comfort was short-lived, as on my first day of class, I quickly made A LOT of friends in English class – as I helped them fill in the blanks of a colour chart. I’ve truly never been as popular as I was in those high school English classes.

My Costa Rican host family

How long did it take you to become fluent?

It is hard to say exactly how long this took me. I would say that after about 4 months of full immersion and carrying a little notebook with me everywhere to write down any new words and phrases, I remember feeling that I could comfortably hold a conversation and express most of the things that I needed to.

It was around this 4-month mark that I no longer went to bed utterly exhausted from all the mental exercises that happen whilst learning a new language, and I started dreaming in Spanish. I will never forget how rewarding that felt.

Mi casita en México

What was, for you, the most challenging thing about learning Spanish?

The hardest thing for me about learning Spanish was how different its structure is compared to English. My head nearly exploded when I first heard that ALL nouns in Spanish have a grammatical gender, even inanimate objects! Verb conjugation was also something very foreign to me, and I found it quite challenging. Since Spanish has lots of grammatical structures that don’t exist in English, it took me a lot of unlearning English language patterns.

My advice to anyone at the beginning of their journey with learning Spanish is not to get stuck trying to find directly comparable grammatical structures to those of English, and don’t fixate on finding direct translations because sometimes they don’t exist! Letting go of these things helped me a lot!

Do you use your Spanish now?

Yes, as much as ever! Learning Spanish has opened so many opportunities for me, so I hope to always keep practising. I am studying International Relations and Spanish at university, and last year I was fortunate enough to study for a semester in Guadalajara, Mexico. Studying tertiary education in another language was a challenge, but a very rewarding one and because of it, my Spanish is the best it has ever been.

I strongly believe that curiosity in the cultures that are associated with the Spanish language will be the biggest motivator for your learning. My curiosity and love for Latin American culture continue to inspire my learning, and it makes me so excited to keep improving. It is my dream to work professionally in Latin America.

How do you maintain your Spanish?

I am lucky to have lots of Spanish-speaking friends, so I keep in contact with them as much as possible. I find video calls great because I can practice speaking, which I think is very important to maintain!

Outside of that, the most sustainable way for me to maintain my Spanish is to find resources that I really enjoy and that spark my curiosity. I try to find music, movies and podcasts that I am passionate about – that way I never feel like engaging in Spanish content feels like homework (Even though I am always a student, forever noting things down and researching new words and concepts).

I listen to lots of Spanish-speaking artists. Some of my favourites include Silvana Estrada, Natalia Lafourcade, Rosalía, and Reyna Tropical. My favourite Spanish podcast is Radio Ambulante, which tells all kinds of fascinating stories from Latin America. When I was studying in Mexico, I took a film studies class, and I watched a lot of Mexican movies. Some of my favourites were Güeros, Temporada de patos, and Roma.