Day 23: I wish I spoke Spanish

So here’s the deal right… at INSEAD you need to prove that you know at least 2 languages (1 being English) to enter and you need at least the basic grasp of a 3rd language to graduate. Most Europeans I know easily fit this bill given the similarity of various romance languages to each other. The Brazilians too have a good deal with this because Portuguese and Spanish are quite similar but different enough to be considered by INSEAD to be 2 different languages.

Now I’m not advocating lying but I know some people who’ve put various “Native” languages down that they only “kinda” know. I guess you could say that they are stretching the truth somewhat. It’s true that it may be their “Native” language but they certainly can’t speak it like a native speaker. Still, no one ever really checks your native language so you do get away with it. Add on another 2 languages that you are more confident in and voila! You’ve automatically achieved your exit requirement for languages.

I’m in the unfortunate situation though of only really knowing 2 languages and needing to learn a 3rd while at INSEAD so that I can graduate. Little did I realize that I would be one of only a very small handful of people who have to take language classes from scratch! Now when I think about it, I really should have done some intensive studying at a local language school before starting. That would certainly save me the headache of trying to juggle language lessons on top of an already packed schedule. As someone put it on the very first day, “Your days are already all over the place, language classes only screw that up even more”.

None of my classmates seem particularly keen to learn Spanish with the official language schools. To be fair, they are quoting a pretty expensive fee for the classes. I figured that there’s got to be someone out there whose partner is here in Singapore and possibly a native Spanish speaker who might be keen to give a couple of people language lessons on the side for some extra cash. Turns out that there is such a person! Hopefully we’ll get started soon as I know that languages are not really my forte and I’m keen to put in some effort to make sure I get the basics right.