Who Really Taught Me Spanish - Was It My PLN?

I've been blessed with being able to speak Spanish for a long time now. It's a real kick being a gringo and knowing my way around this wonderfully exotic language. And it may not have happened if it weren't for The Midnight Special.

Back in 1975, there were two Friday night concert shows on TV--The Midnight Special, first hosted by Wolfman Jack, and Don Kirshner's Rock Concert.

One night, two extraordinary acts hit the screen. One was David Bowie back in his glam rock days--the other was a British-American, flamenco-rock group called Carmen.

These days, you'd probably call Carmen's style world music or worldbeat. All I knew at the time was that they sang in English and Spanish and their sound really rocked.

So, I enrolled in Spanish lesssons at the International Centre and met Soñia Amaya, my Spanish teacher. Sonya taught us hapless Canucks how to trill our Rs and do various other pronunciation gymnastics which anglos have such difficulty with.

During the coffee breaks, I would sit myself down at a table full of Chileans--this was three years after the coup in Chile, so there were lots of them around--and test my halting Spanish. I'd ask if they had the time or invent any other excuse to start practising my rudimentary Spanish skills.

Well, I had a ball.

I got such a warm reception and made so many good friends that things snowballed from there. Setting foot into the Chilean world made mine so much bigger. They fed me and helped me learn their language. I heard their stories and grew to love them pretty quickly.

There were other Canadians who were just as adventurous and who were rewarded in the same way. And right about that time, I discovered that there was a small Spanish-speaking branch in my church.

I had hit the jackpot.

I was so excited. In fact, the first talk I gave in church was in Spanish, after I had spent eight months reading Condorito magazines, buying Chilean newspapers, listening to Radio Havana Cuba on the short-wave and working through a book called Spanish Made Simple.

Because of my association with Chileans, I learned all about the coup in '73, saw the movie Missing many times and tried to understand what my friends were telling me when they said they were in Canada as refugees--that they were forced to leave their country.

What an eye-opener.

The benefits of speaking Spanish have been extraordinary. But first, let's be clear. The language itself is not hard to learn. People talk about having a universal language and sometimes point to Esperanto. Well, Spanish has Esperanto beat hands down.

It's easy to learn, the grammar makes sense--I don't even have to know the meaning of a word to pronounce it properly--and it's already spoken in 21 countries. I love keeping a foot in each world--the Canadian and the Chilean. They really do complement each other.

I know my wife, who was born in Concepción, Chile, wouldn't have married a gringo who couldn't speak a word of Spanish, so I was lucky there. And that's the biggest blessing.

But it has enriched my life in other ways, as well.

I've learned that there are other ways of looking at things, other ways of thinking, other points of view. That the North American way of doing things is not the be-all and end-all. That has been a major benefit to me.

I like to think I'm more tolerant, more sensitive to racial issues, less patient with racial slurs, and more understanding of other people and cultures because of it.

I love this quote from anthropologist Wade Davis:

"The world in which you were born is just one model of reality.

Other cultures are not failed attempts at being you;

they are unique manifestations of the human spirit."

I owe a lot to this ability to speak such a warm and inviting language, to rub shoulders with such wonderful people, to have my world view broadened and my life enriched.

But my question is, who taught me Spanish? Am I really self-taught?

I could say I spent countless hours listening to La Voz de Los Estados Unidos on short-wave and many more dedicated to working through Spanish lessons on LPs, cassettes, and in manuals. I could give a nod to the excellent PBS sit-com Que Pasa USA--and to the many newspapers and magazines I pored over. Surely my own hard work combined with media and technology (such as they were) played a big part.

But even more important was the friendship of wonderful people in the early years. Recent immigrants who had little but shared their hospitality, friendship and their homes with me. Instructors who really cared about my success and the way I sounded. Church members who reached out to the Chilean wannabe in their midst. The Columbian woman at the Cosas Lindas Boutique who ran the local Hispanic radio show. My good friends Ivan and Victor. Later, my wife and my in-laws. All were huge influences.

In short, I had a large social network that adopted me just because I showed an interest in them, in their culture and language.

So, did I really "teach myself" Spanish?

Far from it.

I had a lot of people who mentored me, guided me and cared about me. People I enjoyed being with and who enjoyed being with me.

And even though we didn't have Twitter, Facebook, blogs, Livemocha--or any other social media tools to study languages with--we all shared and learned so much from each other.

To me, that wonderful network of friends sure sounds a lot like a pre-web PLN.

Your comments?

Open Letter to the Tech-Shy

Many people are scared of technology or fear there's nothing in it for them. If that sounds like you, consider this.

Finding value in new technology is always a matter of trying it. Unless you have the curiosity—and courage—to start playing with it, the value won’t be obvious.

That’s certainly the case with social media and the digital devices that feed them. But with a little pluck and experimentation, you can turn “why would I ever want to do that?” into “you know, I could really use this.”

Three tech blasts from the past illustrate this beautifully. All are commonplace now, but they all came with concerns when they were launched. If you're old enough, perhaps you had the same fears I did.

Debit Cards
Before debit cards (or bank cards as some people call them) were rolled out, many folks, including me, were uncomfortable. "You mean to tell me, I'll swipe my card at the cashier and that money will be instantly ripped out of my account? What happens if I make a mistake and want a refund or exchange? I already have cash, cheques and credit cards. Why would I ever need a debit card?"

Well, I certainly got over my fears. And you've got a debit card in your pocket or purse right now. In fact, if you're a Canadian like me, you're among the highest per capita users of debit cards in the world.

Microwave Ovens
At the age of 14, I witnessed a miracle on a Grade 8 train trip to Ottawa. In the dining car, I ordered a small can of chicken a la king. The middle-aged cook behind the counter dumped the contents into a bowl and popped them into a new type of oven. A minute later he handed me a hot snack. Now, get this, after watching my job drop, he delivered the punch line, "that oven didn't even heat up."

Microwave ovens were only available commercially then. But before they made their way into homes, people were a bit uneasy. "Hold on, you’re going to pass microwaves through my food? Is that even healthy?"

Most of us got used to cooking our food by jostling the molecules with microwaves. Even the $45 machines are perfectly safe. We may not be thrilled with eating microwave fare, but the idea that we'd avoid cooking our food that way because of the process itself would seem silly.

Email
Do you remember when email was introduced? In many workplaces, people were intrigued by the possibilities. But many were nervous. "What if I send something confidential to the wrong person? What if I hit reply all instead of reply? They say copies of my email will reside on a bunch of servers before it even gets to its destination. What if they all read my stuff?"

Well, we no longer pore over articles like 12 Email Safety Tips and Test Your Email Intelligence. Yes, we've made our share of blunders along the way, but we've lived through those and all made our peace with email.

So, as much of a technophobe as you think you are, imagine yourself at a social event exchanging some witty repartee with someone over appetizers. Your new acquaintance says quite proudly, "I’ve never used a microwave oven (or email or a debit card) in my life and have no use for it."

You'd respond politely perhaps, but what would instantly run through your mind? It might be, "how quaint, but wildly out of touch" or maybe even, "goodness, how did you make it into the 21st Century?"

Embrace Value, Discard the Rest
It's obvious the benefits of those technologies far outweighed the initial concerns. Many people are finding the same holds true for social media. There are tremendous benefits they can bring to your professional and personal life. But only if you're willing to push past the fear and invest some time in them.

We limit ourselves as individuals if we don’t adopt those technologies that help us—even if we’re scared of them at first. I'm not suggesting you embrace any and every new technology, medium or tool for its own sake. Only that you select a few to start, discover which ones bring value, even joy, to your life, and discard the rest.

Ten years from now, do you really want to be the person at the party who says: "You know, I've never joined a social network for my profession, or uploaded my vacation pics to a photo sharing service, or shared my favourite sites on a social bookmarking service. I'm still too scared of all that high-tech stuff."

Make the effort. Get started in this new year. You'll find so many people willing to help. I promise you it will pay off both professionally and personally.

Raman Job