Learning a foreign language is a great way to add a marketable skill to your resume, no matter what stage of your career you may find yourself in. The ability to speak Spanish can help new college grads beat out the competition for their first job just as easily as it can help workplace veterans seize a coveted promotion or switch to a new career.
At ECELA, we are lucky to have a variety of students of different ages and from all different walks of life coming to our schools. Just recently, one of our ECELA alums shared a little bit about her experience learning Spanish to boost her career as a travel agent. Here are some translated excerpts from her story, originally published in “Tip,” an Austrian travel industry magazine.
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After nearly 20 years in tourism so I decided to back to back to school. Learn a new language, discover a different world, and get some distance from the everyday work was the motivation for my “summer vacation” in South America. The first stop is Santiago de Chile, the safest capital of Latin America.
My host mother Nancy welcomed me into her family and into her cozy apartment in Providencia, a lovely residential neighborhood. She has experience with students from around the world and of all ages and knows how to interpret my improvised international “hands and feet” sign language perfectly.
But from this stammering to Spanish I must progress, therefore every morning I visit the ECELA school…First class is with Francisco, the master of sneaky irregular verbs, a grammar-crammed two hours. Then in the conversation course we apply our new grammar. The teacher has a mischievous smile on his lips to motivate us and rewards our efforts with a “esto es super perfecto!” …
My “Mama chilena” Nancy is a fantastic cook. She prepares humitas (a maize leaves parcel filled with corn and onions), salmon from the south of Chile, pastel de choclo (a casserole of corn, meat and cheese) and cazuela (a stew of meat, pumpkin, potatoes, chickpeas and corn). I’m always surprised by the variety of flavors in this hearty cuisine and I acknowledge her cooking skills with a “Que rico!” (“How delicious!”).”
Muchos Saludos
— Ina Hauer