Vacations are one of the most exciting activities ever. From simple visits a couple hours away to trips around the world, there is always joy seeing a different region of the world. But going out of the country can always be a challenge. With passports, immigration policies, language barriers and additional stress, settling into a new area is not always easy. 

One of the most difficult factors when going to a foreign country is the language barrier. Most travelers don’t always know the language of the country they are in, and that can make the trip less enjoyable. I went to Cancun, Mexico with my family this past January. It was extremely fun, but I realized that if I hadn’t known Spanish the way I do, the trip would have been more difficult and stressful than it was.

My parents put my three siblings and I into the Spanish Immersion Program when we were in kindergarten. From this experience we have learned to speak fluent Spanish from a young age, which has really helped us a lot throughout our lives so far. 

At the resort my family stayed at, many of the workers barely spoke English, and if they did, it was difficult to understand them. My parents struggled as they do not know Spanish themselves. Luckily, with the help of my siblings and I, there was a clearer understanding of what was going on. In a way, the roles were reversed. Most of the time, you wait for your parents to give you directions on where to go, what to do, etc. But here, we were getting the information and telling our parents where to go and what to do. It was definitely difficult for my parents to not know what we were saying all the time, and it was very out of their comfort zone to obtain information from their kids; however, it was a good learning experience all around.

Spanish has not only helped me on this trip but in other places as well. I can recall an instance when I was at Olive Garden with a friend. It was really busy at the time and our waiter had been running around his entire shift. Once we got our food, we realized that he had forgotten to give us silverware, which was an issue at a pasta restaurant. We tried to get the waiter’s attention several times, but he was too busy. Luckily, I noticed that earlier he had been talking to another worker who was supervising…in Spanish. I waved her over and I could tell she was nervous, probably because she could not understand English very well. But she was very relieved when I started talking to her in Spanish. This way I got us what we needed without having to disrupt our waiter anymore. Later, I was thanked by the waiter, which kind of came as a surprise since I really just did it to eat my food. However it did make me realize that knowing a second language can be very helpful and this was only the beginning.

Going back to Cancun, there were a lot of opportunities there that helped me mature in my speaking skills. I absolutely loved the adventure I had and the practice I obtained by relying on my own knowledge of the language. It made the trip go smoothly and made me realize what a blessing it is to know Spanish. I highly recommend learning a second language because even if it doesn’t seem to help you now, you never know when it could come in handy.