One requirement of being an Honors student at Minnesota State University, Mankato, is becoming intermediate competent in a second language. I believe this is a crucial necessity in being a global citizen, for it creates an increase in knowledge about a different culture and the ability to communicate with non-English speaking citizens in a more effective manner. Having two years of Spanish in high school, I decided to continue to grow in my capabilities of this language by taking classes at the college level. Since I believed I did not retain much from my past experiences, I thought it would be best to start in the introductory course, Spanish 101, my first semester of college. Much of the vocabulary in this class was review for me, but I learned more grammar and was able to put my speaking and listening skills to practice through various activities in class and online homework. The following semester I took the next Spanish course in this beginner sequence, Spanish 102. This course challenged my listening, writing, and speaking skills, for it was much more interactive and demanded extra practice outside of the classroom. Along with tests and quizzes, there was also an assigned project for each chapter that related to the overarching theme. The projects ranged from making an itinerary, to writing a paper, or making a PowerPoint and presenting it to the class only in Spanish. Because of these various assignments, my Spanish speaking and writing skills along with my knowledge of the culture greatly increased. The document below is a story I wrote about a famous, deceased person in Costa Rica, Jose Figueres Ferrer. At the bottom of the story is an attached link where I have read the story aloud.
I believe this experience of taking two beginner Spanish courses helped me to meet Level 1 and 2 of Communication. Level 1 is “demonstrates an emerging level of understanding of cultural differences in verbal and nonverbal communication,” while Level 2 is, “identifies basic cultural differences and similarities by demonstrating verbal and nonverbal communication in the target language.” These levels were achieved by watching several videos where Hispanic individuals were interacting with one another, completing several projects, and practicing the language almost every day both in and out of the classroom to become familiar with how it sounds and is conveyed to others. I learned the language appears to be spoken quite rapidly from an outside perspective and has many words that sound the same but have different meaning, which is similar to the English language. I think this shows that although each language is unique and has distinct differences, there are also commonalities that all languages share, such as having specific grammar, spelling, and pronunciation rules. The Spanish language is also much more phonetic than English, but the verbs are quite different and have multiple conjugations depending on whom one is speaking to. This makes pronunciation easier but grammar often more difficult for this language. I also learned that nonverbal communication, like facial expressions and gestures, are crucial within the Spanish language to express one's message and show respect to others. For example, it is common in many of these cultures to greet one another with a kiss, which is a way of saying hello in a friendly and proper manner. Being familiar with these nonverbal cues is important to better understand the language, and as a result, the culture. I believe much insight can be provided by what one does or does not say, and it takes studying the language and different customs to be familiar with this. Learning a second language has been challenging and time demanding, and I have realized that it takes a lot more effort when it is attempted in the later stages of life instead of during childhood. I believe this is related to the capability of the brain to grasp and understand new things easier and more efficiently as a child. Nonetheless, I have greatly appreciated growing in this capacity and increasing my confidence to communicate with those who speak the Spanish language.