How Learning Spanish Changed My Life #BaseLangStories

BaseLang student Jack explains why he started learning Spanish, how this process has positively impacted his life, and about his hopes of living in a Spanish speaking country in the near future.

BaseLangStories series puts the spotlight on BaseLang students – asking them about their motivations for learning a foreign language, what impact learning Spanish has had on their lives, advice they have for fellow students, and more.

Let’s start with a brief introduction..?

My name is Jack Huntress, and I am from Dallas, Texas. I am currently living in Florida. I am 24 years old, and aside from Spanish, I love to run, travel, the great outdoors, and the fall season.

Why did you want to learn Spanish?

Languages had always been something that I thought were very intriguing, but it wasn’t until I visited South America for the first time that I decided that I was seriously going to sit down and take the time to learn one.

I went to Chile in January of 2020, and it was during this trip that I had a strong desire to learn Spanish. I loved the culture and the beauty of Chile, but most importantly, I really wanted to be able to communicate with the people. That is basically where my journey with Spanish began. Chile gave me a little motivation and the resolve to finally start, and since then, I have never looked back. There is nothing I have personally done that has been as influential and life-changing as learning Spanish has been. I will add more on this later on in the post!

In the past, what did you use to learn Spanish?

Technically, I started learning Spanish in elementary school, as I took courses throughout my years of schooling up to university. Unfortunately, I did not have near the same level of commitment and drive as I do now, and ended up like the majority of people after years of schooling in Spanish, only remembering greetings coupled with some basic vocabulary words. I definitely could not speak or understand the language at all. In January of this year, when I started seriously learning, I worked with some language learning apps, a generic grammar textbook, and some beginner podcasts. I believe everything that I have done with Spanish has helped me in some way, however looking back, I definitely was not learning to speak the language in an efficient way.

Finally, around May (2020), I began talking with people online that were living in Spanish-speaking countries, and was using another tutoring platform where you pay by the hour. I was starting to converse a little in Spanish, maybe 3-4 hours a week. These things definitely helped my Spanish speaking abilities. Then, in late July, I discovered BaseLang. It was the first time I had heard of the program, and I was instantly intrigued. I signed up that night, had my first class in BaseLang, and since then, my Spanish speaking skills have skyrocketed.

Before BaseLang, which part of learning Spanish did you struggle with the most?

Before BaseLang, the main struggle I was facing was that I was only talking about the same things every time. I was nervous to break out of my comfort zone and try talking about new things. Previous ‘pay-by-the-hour’ tutoring services helped me get to a basic conversational level before BaseLang, however, I was really only able to talk about basic things such as where I was from, my favorite food, and why I wanted to learn Spanish.

These are all great questions and fun conversations, but it wasn’t until BaseLang that I quickly advanced past these introductory-level topics and began conversing over a wide variety of themes, all the while increasing my fluency, vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation.

What obstacle would have prevented you from signing up for BaseLang before?

There is really not one obstacle that would have prevented me from signing up for BaseLang. The price is amazing, the course is phenomenal, the teachers are incredible, and the hours are unlimited. Fortunately, during my first two months with BaseLang, I had more time off than normal, I was able to use the program a lot. Even as I get busier, I can always find at least one hour a day to practice my Spanish with BaseLang, and this alone makes the program extremely worth it.

What did you find as a result of signing up?

I found a lot of things upon signing up for BaseLang. First of all, I have found what I consider to be the greatest invention in the history of language learning. BaseLang is seriously on par and in a lot of ways better than total immersion in a Spanish-speaking country. Talking with natives one-on-one is as good as it gets for learning. More importantly, I have found myself, my inner passion, and my confidence with BaseLang. BaseLang has given me the tools that I need to dive deep into the Spanish learning process and emerge improving day after day.

I have made amazing relationships with various teachers from Latin America. Everyone that I have had the pleasure of meeting has been extremely influential and makes me look forward with excitement to every class. I could not speak Spanish with the level I currently have without their amazing help.

What specific feature of BaseLang did you like the most?

Regarding the Real World program in BaseLang, I especially like the fact that I can schedule classes anytime between 5am and midnight (US central time zone). While I typically like to schedule my classes a few days in advance, there are times when I randomly have a free half hour during the day, and literally one minute before the hour I can schedule a class. This feature has helped me to maximize my free time, moving closer and closer to my goal of learning and improving my Spanish.

How has learning Spanish impacted your life?

Learning Spanish has been the single greatest impact on my life. Period, end of story. As I mentioned above, the idea of learning a new language was always appealing to me, however I never took any of my Spanish classes from school that seriously and didn’t ever try to turn that idea into a reality until this year. My trip to Chile definitely gave me the desire to start, however, I definitely did not know where this road would eventually take me. What started as an initial love for the people and the culture of Chile, and a simple desire of wanting to have the ability to speak with them and other Spanish speakers, became the journey of a lifetime. After diving head first into the language,

I realized more and more how amazing Spanish is. I would say that Spanish has changed my life in a lot of ways. First of all, through BaseLang, and the Spanish language in general, I discovered that I love the language learning process. BaseLang has helped me significantly, and is by far the greatest resource for learning Spanish. I have made amazing improvements, and I still have a lot of room to improve. While this idea used to slightly overwhelm me, it now excites me, and that is because I have fallen in love with the process. I have learned how to make mistakes, and that these mistakes are a part of the process, that they are only a guide telling me how and where I need to improve. My confidence has risen. The feeling of carrying a natural conversation about an extremely interesting topic for 2 hours straight with my favorite teachers is incomparable. There is nothing else that I can do for multiple hours each day that brings me the same joy that I receive from learning via BaseLang.

It literally never gets tiring. Simply from the point of view that BaseLang is extremely enjoyable and learning Spanish is so fulfilling is enough to extremely raise my quality of life and say that BaseLang has changed me. Learning Spanish has been the single greatest hobby and challenge that I have undertaken. The second, and more important, way that Spanish has impacted my life is that it has allowed me to gain an amazing new world perspective. Learning the language has enabled me not only to learn how to speak Spanish, but also about different peoples, cultures, and countries around the world. My mindset on life has changed, and now my greatest desire is to live in Latin America, and make Spanish permanently a part of my life. I had no idea when I first started that I would be at the point I am now as far as both the language and my world view.

Charlemagne once said: “To have another language is to possess a second soul”.

I can think of no truer words to describe my Spanish journey. I have BaseLang, and all of my amazing teachers, to thank for this wonderful adventure

Would you recommend the Real World program, and if so, why?

I would, and in fact do, recommend this course to anybody that wants to learn Spanish. I also recommend BaseLang to many other people that are not currently learning Spanish, telling them excitedly about the incredible journey and joy that learning a new language can bring. Having started BaseLang with a basic conversational level, I was able to jump right into conversational-style classes. I can say with a lot of experience that these classes are exceptionally great, with 100% consistency. I have not had classes with the set lessons, and have only used a few of the electives that BaseLang provides, so I cannot speak with a lot of personal experience regarding this use of those courses.

However, from what I have seen, heard, and observed, there is no better way to kick off the Spanish-speaking journey than with BaseLang. Perhaps my only regret with my Spanish learning journey is that I had not found BaseLang sooner. Instead of reading the same grammar textbooks from high school and maintaining a “streak” in language learning apps, BaseLang would have been the perfect way to jump straight into learning the grammar the right way, by actually using it. This is exactly what I tell people when I recommend BaseLang. A lot of times, people say that “well, I don’t really remember any Spanish from school”, or, “I would need to learn a little by myself first before paying money for a program”. And my response is always the same, that the beauty of BaseLang is that you can start from zero, from square one.

Had I known about BaseLang back in January when I first started learning Spanish, I would have without a doubt signed up then. And I plan to stay in BaseLang because I love it and through it can only improve my Spanish skills. My only advice to other students is that BaseLang is the perfect place to improve your Spanish.

Anything else to add before you go?

Finally, I would like to end by thanking the BaseLang team, or better, the BaseLang family. Thank you to my teachers, those who are regular that I have had the pleasure to talk with daily/weekly, y’all have no idea how much you have meant to me and impacted my life for the better.

BaseLang is filled with amazing teachers, and those I aim to schedule weekly are among the greatest of people. If you are reading this, you know who you are. And thank you to the 20+ other teachers that have helped me in the past 2+ months, sometimes with literally only a minute’s notice. In the countless hours I have spent in BaseLang, I have not had one experience that wasn’t amazing in a class.

Thank you to the BaseLang staff, for being the most professional, consistent, helpful, and responsive team I have ever seen from a business. Whoever created BaseLang is a pure genius, and the high level of competence and respectability of the staff is extremely evident. Thank you for everything. Jack.

 

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Want to read more #BaseLangstories?

• How I became conversational in Spanish
• How I broke my Spanish plateau
• How I passed DELE’s C1 Exam
• Learning Spanish in Quarantine
• Becoming a confident Spanish
• I’m moving to Mexico