Sarah Winkel, Ohio State University

TalkAbroad is an amazing opportunity to talk to new people from other countries who speak Spanish. I had to complete a few TalkAbroad conversations for my Spanish II class, but there was one conversation stuck out to me in particular. I talked to an extremely nice woman named Ana Latorre Peralta and we talked for 30 minutes about anything and everything. It was a real, genuine conversation and Ana was very patient with me. Before the conversation I was really nervous because I did not know what to expect, but Ana made me feel so comfortable. At one point, it didn’t even feel like an assignment for Spanish class, but like I was talking to a friend. We talked about our families, pets, favorite foods, favorite Netflix shows, etc. Our conversation flowed really well. A funny story that happened during our conversation was Ana told me that her favorite singer is Shakira, and I think I sound like Shakira in her song “Hips Don’t Lie.” I sang the song for Ana and we both laughed about it, but she said that it sounded really good!

If I had to give some advice to anyone that is nervous about their TalkAbroad conversation, my advice would be to be confident because these people are very nice and patient. Have fun with your conversation! TalkAbroad is a good way to advance your language speaking skills because of the real-life interaction with others. How often do you get to speak with people from other countries? Usually not very often for most people. You should use this as a way to gain experience and learn new things. It is a unique opportunity and you should be excited about it! TalkAbroad is a fun experience and I enjoyed it so much. I recommend that everyone should take advantage of these conversations as a way to learn more.