To my surprise, learning French with Duolingo was difficult. Although I have lived long enough in California that I have switched my thought process from French to English, it is still a language that is embedded in me. Then I decided to explore the App a little deeper to understand what was happening. But I thought he was just bad at it not that what he was learning was wrong. I could relate to what he was saying because I felt the same way when he tried to speak French. On a motivated day, I would do over 200xp. I had completed the entire course and was fluent in the app. I had no control over my la and el, over my un and una, I could not count from one to ten. Every other word I used was awkward and cringe worthy. Yes, Coche is car in Spain, but not in the Americas. 'Coche? do you see a carriage in this parking lot? This isn't Cinderella.' That's until I asked him where he parked his car. I was positive that I was improving everyday. I would try to have full conversation with him in Spanish and I could see his friendly eyes trying so hard to be polite and struggle not to break my spirit. I wasted no time and completed the entire course in a record (see obsessive) pace.

Anything I learn from the Certified Duolingo Spanish class, I can immediately turn around and practice with my friends. In Los Angeles however, I have plenty of opportunities to speak Spanish. It's pointless to learn a language you are never going to use. She became my very first friend in this land of opportunity.

She rummaged through her purse and instead of giving me some gum, she handed me five dollars and pointed at the Pollos Camperos across the street.Īndrea was a generous stranger who understood not one word of English and I was a misunderstood foreigner who spoke little English and no Spanish. 'Oh, Comer?' she said with a smile and pointing at her mouth.

I made one last attempt pointing at my mouth, chewing invisible gum. I must have been saying 'Chewing gum ' in an accent too heavy for the girl sitting next to me to understand. I was new in the country and I was still thinking in French and translating the words to English in real time. I was on my way to my night-shift job as a security guard and the bus was late. It was past 10:30 at night in Los Angeles and the unfortunate graveyard-shift workers were starting to appear at bus stops. I was giving up but she was still looking at me, as if she was trying to make the effort to understand me.

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