I grew up in DePue, which is a very diverse community.
I feel very fortunate to have grown up in such a wonderful community and my family and many friends still live there, so I visit often.
As a student, I took four years of Spanish in high school. We had a wonderful Spanish teacher and many of my friends were fluent in the language, so I had a lot of help. However, even after four years of Spanish, I could understand more than I could speak.
For me, as a second language, it’s something you have to practice.
It’s been a few years since high school (maybe more than a few), and I had not been practicing. My boyfriend and I love to travel. In the past 13 months, we have been to Punta Cana once, and Mexico twice. We usually stay at all-inclusive resorts but love to go into town as well.
Whether we are at a resort or in town, the staff and people we meet everywhere are so friendly and so easy to communicate with. I am always amazed how I am in their country, but they are the ones who have educated themselves in my language. There are times of course, when the language barrier can be difficult on both sides.
These past trips made me realize I could do a better job of trying to learn their language to communicate while in their country to make things smoother for the both of us.
After my last trip in January, I downloaded the Dulingo app and started learning. I was amazed at how quickly I flew through the courses. My high school Spanish was not completely forgotten! It seems I just needed a refresher.
I am really enjoying learning Spanish this second time around and it is my plan throughout our travels to use what I have learned and hopefully pick up at least the basics for future visits around the world. While more than the basics are not needed for these trips, I am hoping to someday become fluent.
Whether you travel or not, I encourage you to try something new and learn some Spanish, Italian, whatever suits you. It has been a fun and rewarding experience for me and there are so many free apps out there to get you started. I have a friend who’s using the app to learn Russian, just for fun and my mom and I have used it to learn some basic Italian, in hopes for a trip in the future. Either way, I encourage you to try something new!
Angie Magnuson, a DePue native, has resided in Putnam County for the past 20 years where she lives with her two daughters and their dog. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her daughters and traveling or doing anything outdoors with her boyfriend.