Language Lost and Found

In an immersive course in Mexico City, Samantha Leal learns to take pride in speaking her mother tongue.

- Samantha Leal

WAS ONE OF 11 students staying at a boutique hotel in Mexico City. They included a mother-daughter duo from the Southwest, a woman from New York looking to volunteer abroad, two friends from Texas, and a California man who was between jobs. Though we had different backgrounds, we shared a single goal: to learn Spanish with Fluenz, a company that offers language-immersion classes in Barcelona and throughout Latin America.

My own relationship with Spanish was rooted in guilt and a bit of shame. I'm a Latina raised in the Midwest, but I have little proficiency in the language. My Mexican American dad was raised in Texas in the 1950s, the oldest of 11 children. Spanish was spoken at home, but not in school. My father, like other students, was banned from speaking Spanish there-he was scolded and even spanked if he did.