Judith is a very important part of the Stripey Spanish community, not only has she been studying with us since level 1, and she’s already at level 5, but she’s also a volunteer at our student club almost from the beginning. That, and because of her interesting history, is why we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to write this blog with her.
Why learn Spanish?
Judith is a woman with a lot of knowledge and desire to learn, she is a retired lawyer who has decided to learn Spanish for two reasons. "The first reason is because of my stepson; he lives in Spain, near Madrid, with his wife and two daughters. They live in Spain permanently but they visit England every year. And the second reason is that I have a friend who lives in Panama and another one in Costa Rica. They are childhood friends and I really look forward to visiting them in Latin America.
To the question of how the learning process is being, Judith told me that it is not so complicated to remember names, adjectives, etc. But grammar and conjugations of verbs are the most difficult part of the language.
Putting Spanish into practice
Judith has very good reasons to learn Spanish and also very good resources to put it into practice. I asked her if she practises Spanish with her son and this was her answer: "My son speaks English with me mostly and his wife speaks very, very good English. I try to speak Spanish with his daughters, who are very tolerant of me, but their English is better than my Spanish. In the family we have a WhatsApp group and the grandparents write in Spanish, so I understand more and more everyday and occasionally, I write a few words in Spanish. Everyone’s so nice to me".
Also, Judith loves to travel, so I had to ask her about her adventures travelling to Spanish-speaking places. "I have travelled a lot in Central America. I’ve visited Ecuador, Panama, Nicaragua, Mexico, Costa Rica and Cuba. In addition, I have visited Spain, Florida and California". To the question of ‘what is your favourite place?’ She replied: "Granada, in Spain, is my favourite place. I love the Alhambra and the Generalife Gardens".
Having travelled to so many Spanish-speaking places, I was forced to ask Judith if she practised any Spanish during her travels. Judith answered this question laughing. "No, I only knew one sentence when I visited these countries. "Where is the luggage? 'I hadn’t started learning Spanish yet, so I didn’t understand people when they spoke but I could understand reading. I said this phrase so many times in my travels that it has become my favourite phrase, and the most useful, of Spanish".
As we all know, these years are difficult to travel abroad, but from Stripey Spanish we hope that Judith can return to Latin America and visit her family in Spain very soon.
Vocabulary and expresions
Knowledge - Conocimiento
Retired - Jubilada
Reasons - Razones
Stepson - Hijastro
Childhood - Infancia
Occasionally (Time to time) - De vez en cuando
Spanish-speaking - Hispanohablantes
Luggage - Equipaje
Check out the Spanish version of the story here
Did you like Judith’s story? Here we have some more stories about our students community!
Moving To Spain: The Experience Told By One Of Our Students
Learning Spanish To Speak With Her Family: The Story Of Christine
Why Buy An Apartment In Cadiz? Martina´S Story