Leg Up

Sunday, January 26, 2025

I am experimenting with my learning ability by signing up online for a beginning Spanish course.

Here’s why Spanish: My few years of employment in local retail businesses show Central Oregon’s sizable Spanish population. Many local Spanish are articulate in English, and many others are barely articulate or don’t speak any English.

Retail workers who understand Spanish have a leg up on communicating and selling. I hope to at least gain listening skills. That would give me insight into what customers may discuss among themselves when deciding whether to purchase.

I will again be challenging myself, and mightily. Often, I’ve attempted to learn left-brain skills like math and languages, but unsuccessfully. Taking math and language courses has challenged me, usually unsuccessfully, to comprehend specifics well enough to retain them. I can more capably understand right-brain skills like psychology and communications.

It is daunting to try again to learn a foreign language. However, this time’s different because I am clear about what I want to achieve. Having specific goals might overcome what previously were abstract wishes to learn.

I am tiptoeing into this by committing only to one month of immersion. If I am active, feel involved in the course, and discover that I am learning to any noticeable extent, I’ll re-sign up and take the entire course.

Dear Friends: So, “Hasta la vista, baby!” Diana