NEWSLETTER

WHY DON’T THEY JUST LEARN ENGLISH?

       All my life I’ve wanted to learn a foreign language.  In high school I took 2 years of Spanish.  While studying to be a doctor, I managed to take one elective, a semester of Spanish.   At the age of 45, I finally had some free time (after raising 4 children, and practicing medicine for 15 years).  I decided to really learn Spanish.  After all, I had 2.5 years of Spanish classes under my belt.  How hard could it be?  Medical school only took four years.  I signed up for a year of classes at PNC.  My plan was to study 10 hours a week.  At the end of the year, I could barely ask my way to the “bano” or order a ham sandwich correctly.  So I signed up for another year of classes, both at PNC and Valparaiso University.  Surely I’d be fluent by two years.  My Spanish flash cards went everywhere with me—kids’ swim meets, waiting for a baby to deliver, etc.  While I could read Spanish with effort, I could not carry on even a simple conversation.  It was a humbling experience.

      Finally after 5 years of devoting every free minute to studying Spanish, taking classes from Sandy Ohlund, Sylvia Murphy, and professors at Valpo, my Spanish skills are adequate.  I hear my grammar mistakes every time I open my mouth.  No doubt I have a terrible accent. People say I sound like a book instead of a human.  Repeatedly, I have to ask people to speak more slowly. It took a huge amount of determination, effort and money to learn Spanish. So when I hear people asking “Why don’t they just learn English?” I know the answer. IT’S HARD!

 Aileen Stiller, MD   Dec. 26, 2007

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