The Spanish Language.
After the most popularly used language to help the world understand each other, English ... I believe Spanish is the next most important language to learn.
Yes ... I understand that French could be the second most important (due to its cultural influence), or Mandarin Chinese (due to its population size) ... but at the end of the day, and at least in the Americas (from North America down to South America) ... there's many more countries that have Spanish as its first or secondary language.
Why am I attempting to master the Spanish language?
I've realized that I've been traveling to many Spanish speaking countries quite often. It all started since February 2012, when I landed in my first Spanish speaking country of Nicaragua.
I was on a surf trip, so I travel from Nicaragua, to Costa Rica, and then to Panama.
What I love about the Spanish language is its ease of pronunciation. What you see is what you pronounce (in most cases). I grew up studying French (and that was because there was no room left in Spanish). In French, the pronunciation is definitely way more difficult.
But what I love most is the Latin/Hispanic culture ... it's very much about "life", and living it with food, dance, and laughter.
Other Spanish speaking countries I've frequented quite often include Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and Spain.
This year, I will go to Madrid for first time, and then off to Barcelona for the 3rd time.
And all the time ... I just feel bad that I can't have at least a basic to intermediate Spanish conversation ...
It really enriches your experience and makes your travels much much easier if you can converse in Spanish.
I don't want to be in a situation again for the 5th time not being able to understand or speak it.
I'm giving myself this April intensive month of practicing and learning Spanish.
And how you might say?
Well being in Hawaii, there aren't many Spanish speakers ... so I will rely on using YouTube.
I did a search and found Spanish Sessions with Pilar based out of Madrid to be an excellent source of watching, listening, and building up my vocabulary. Her YouTube videos are "strictly" done in Spanish, with only Spanish subtitles. I don't want any "English" ... as I need to completely immerse myself in the language.
(check out her YouTube channel)
We'll see if I can keep it up.