What one conversation with a polyglot taught me about adult learners, assumptions, and the realities behind learning a new language I was having a conversation with a polyglot. I was amazed when she said she knew 6–7 languages. She admitted her French was slipping since she didn’t use it much, but still—six languages? We were talking about learning languages. I’m taking classes to learn Spanish, and another person there was trying to learn Arabic. I love hearing how other peo

What is that sound?  It was the first day it had rained since I arrived in Málaga, but the noise was coming from inside  the apartment. I rushed toward it and realized water was pouring through the light fixture in the laundry room. There was no time to process it. I grabbed a bucket, towels—anything—and started cleaning. Four floors above me… there was no way this was from the rain. Something else was wrong. I messaged my landlord and the liaison as quickly as I could in Spa

Week one of my Spanish class in Málaga felt hard but manageable. I understood my teacher. I recognized the vocabulary. I was learning. I belonged in B1. But in week two they moved me up to B2. And everything unraveled. One day we were assigned a worksheet on the subjunctive, and I stared at it with no idea where to begin. The teacher had a thicker Spanish accent, switched to vosotros (a form I had almost never used), and introduced vocabulary I couldn’t even look up because m

I didn’t take a “gap year.” I had my first child on my 23rd birthday, and then life moved fast. Three kids, back-to-back, and all the responsibilities that came with that. I always longed for adventure though. I first started tutoring international students in English when I was 20. It amazed me that they would travel to a new country to learn English and take on that kind of challenge. I think part of me always wished I could do the same. Years later, we took a job in Mexico