Everyone sucks to begin with

When I was around 11 years old, my good friend Alejandra, invited me to go to Disneyland with her and her family. On the car ride there, her little 8 year old cousin was marvelling over the fact that I didn't speak Spanish. She tried to teach me the word for bird--pájaro. But no matter how hard I tried, I could not say it right. I was embarrassed. I definitely sucked at Spanish.

In 2009, I was visiting my hometown in San Diego. Alejandra, had gotten a hold of my number and we were planning on meeting up. We talked on the phone for a while. It was different than any other conversation we'd ever had, because it was the first time we were talking to each other completely in Spanish.

After a while Alejandra remarked, "I would have never imagined that one day I would be able to talk to you in Spanish."

I would have to second that sentiment. Nor would I have ever imagined that one day I would marry an adorable Peruvian, whom I would nearly only ever speak to in Spanish.

But here I am, ten years after entering my very first Spanish class as a freshman in high school, prepared to teach others how to start the incredible journey of language learning.

Now, there are plenty of reasons to learn Spanish. Unfortunately, there is one enormous, flagrant reason not to learn Spanish. It is this:

Everyone sucks to begin with.

We live in a time and society where we want everything fast. We don't want to have to spend years and years, or even months, getting good at something. There should be a YouTube tutorial for everything that will teach us how to be masters of any subject. However, even with all of the advancements in technology and information, you are still going to suck at Spanish to begin with.

Don't let that scare you! You sucked at English to begin with, too. Ask your mom and dad. It's just that, as little children, we have a lot fewer inhibitions. We aren't worried what people will think when we pronounce a word wrong or use incorrect grammar or if our accent is weird.

So if the biggest impediment of learning Spanish is that you are afraid of sounding stupid, don't worry! We all sounded stupid at one point. You can't get better if you don't suck first. You won't learn a language without making thousands and thousands of mistakes. But it is worth it, and it is possible to do.