Marjie Morgan, Troy University

My name is Marjie and I had an amazing TalkAbroad experience! TalkAbroad is a wonderful website were students who are learning another language can really challenge themselves to get immersed into a culture when they are not able to physically immerse themselves by going to another country. This semester I was in a class called “Selected Topics in Spanish.” In this class, we talked about different subjects like technology, human rights and health and how the subjects were viewed in a Spanish speaking country versus the United States. My teacher incorporated TalkAbroad, so we were able to speak about the differences in culture with native speakers of Spanish, rather than just discussing amongst ourselves.

Throughout the semester, each student had to schedule five different conversations with someone from a Spanish speaking country, and each time our teacher would choose a topic for us to discuss with our partner. To get a broader perspective of the Spanish speaking world, I tried to talk with someone from a different country each time. That is just one of the many things I love about TalkAbroad: it gives you such a wide variety of people to choose to speak with, which gives you a chance to hear and grow accustom to multiple dialects and perspectives. I talked with people from Honduras, Costa Rica and Argentina.

Leading up to my first conversation, I was very nervous. I had never had a deep conversation about a topic like human rights with a native speaker of a different country before and I did not know what to expect. One of the best parts about all the people I spoke with was that they were all so helpful and welcoming! As my first conversation started, my partner was able to calm my nerves and lighten the mood as we began to talk about ourselves and get into our topic of human rights. I was able to learn so much about the differences and similarities of our countries, and my perspective and knowledge on the subject was able to grow. Through this talk and all the other conversations I had, I gained confidence in my speech, more knowledge about important topics in the world and a broadened perspective of what it means to live in this world in harmony with everyone, not just those around you. I recommend that everyone give this site a look!! Thank you TalkAbroad for this wonderful opportunity to practice my Spanish and become a better-rounded person!