New achievement

A couple of weeks ago I attended C1 Certification exams at the EOI (Official Language School) with the humble intention of assessing my level the same way I did back in 2011. I was not really sure I had the skills needed to pass all the exams, in part because of the lack of speaking practice, to give an example. However, that was the point of signing up for it, to test those skills. That's what exams are for, right?

Well, the exams were all on the same day. In the morning, I had the speaking related evaluations (they took me around 25 minutes in total, and they were carried on in pairs). In the afternoon took place the rest of the exams (reading, writing, and listening), and they lasted for around 4 hours. All things considered, I must admit that I really enjoyed it.

In my view, my worst performance was during the first part of the spoken part (mediation). I didn't even know what that was before that morning, but I did my best, and in the end, I realized that it had been my weakest point. During the afternoon, I felt quite inspired, and I left the place with a feeling that my results on those 3 skills should be good enough to pass.

A couple of weeks later, the grades were published and I got really surprised. Apparently, I had missed two of the exams. I couldn't believe it, I knew I had been there, and it hadn't been a dream. The other results were the way I expected, but I would have to wait until the exam review day to find out what had happened.

After a long weekend waiting, on Monday I went to the EOI building to check my exams and to ask for an explanation. And the explanation was easy, there had been a human mistake while passing the data to the computer. The teacher who made the mistake apologized repeatedly, and we went to the head of the department to explain to him the situation and ask him to change the grades. Then, after all, I had passed the exams, and now I have a certified C1 level of English.

The exams made me realize how much I still have to learn, but at the same time helped me to see how far I have gone with a lot of self-learning, and some external help to practice speaking, get confident, and enjoy having conversations in English. This means a lot to me!

Languages are worth their weight in gold

According to different reports, the English level in Spain is not good, and it has not improved in the last decade. In contrast, other countries with a similar level 10 years ago have increased their numbers. These same sources suggest several factors that would explain this situation.

First, Spain's low GDP per capita affects the way people are interested in foreign languages. As a relatively poor country in Europe, Spaniards do not consider learning foreign languages as a priority. Furthermore, the size of the country is against the improvement of performance just because of the large domestic market that reduces the need for people to find external opportunities to make a living.

Finally, speaking the 4th most spoken language in the world also represents a drawback because dubbed movies, translated books, subtitled songs, etc. are widely available reducing the need to acquire a foreign language.

All the previous reasons should encourage young Spanish people to try harder to master a foreign, or at least to get a decent knowledge. However, the data shows otherwise. As a way to encourage them to try to change this trend is a good idea to remember some of the advantages of knowing at least a second language.

A person proficient in a second language can have the chance to meet more people and enjoy a good conversation with them. This is an amazing opportunity to have friends from different nationalities and cultures, and all the benefits in terms of learning and interacting with disparate/opposed views in relation to vital subjects in life that this implies.

A second language also increases the number of sources of information available. For instance, on the internet, there are plenty of resources in hundreds of languages and some of them are only available translated to just a few languages or even with no translation at all. Then, the more languages a person is familiar with, the more amount of information will have accessible. Likewise, options to choose where to study and job opportunities, and their quality in terms of salary, work environment, extra benefits, etc. will expand considerably.

In terms of leisure time, there are also several advantages in knowing different languages. It is possible to enjoy films, books, videogames, etc. in their original version without any translation or subtitles (these options are not always 100% reliable). Reading newspapers from various countries or watching local TV programs when on vacation abroad are also feasible possibilities. Besides, to have the chance to have conversations with natives and learn about their way of life and the cultural peculiarities is a plus that no money can pay.

As a curious fact, it is also relevant to manifest that according to some research works the knowledge of more than one language affects the way brain connection is set, and this alternative configuration makes it more difficult to develop some illnesses like dementia and Alzheimer's.

The only drawback is that the process of learning a new language takes time, and sometimes people get frustrated when they do not see results in a short time period. However, integrating a new language in our daily routines will help remarkably to shorten the learning curve, it will increase the fulfillment, and the task will become pleasant.