The Best Way to Learn New Things

It was a hot summer evening in southern Spain when I put my foot in my mouth repeatedly while talking to my host parents about my family back in the states. After only a few years of serious Spanish studies, I was 17 and stumbling through a conversation with two people who had spoken Spanish — and only Spanish — for their entire lives. The embarrassment I felt in that moment has stuck with me (as shame tends to do), but the other thing that has stuck with me is how gracious they were. They admittedly couldn’t imagine sitting in an American dining room attempting to speak English to foreign hosts…