How I learnt English 8 years ago

Do you need to be bilingual to work in localization?

From the bottom of my heart mind

Fresh stories from a Spanish Copywriter.

Last time I did an English test was 8 years ago. I wanted to apply to an Erasmus + internship program abroad and needed at least a B1.

I failed.

I wasn’t even close to pass it, to be honest.

My English was bad. Very bad. Spain is not an example of learning and speaking English and I was not an exception.

So I decided to change that:

• I started watching movies and TV shows in English (with Spanish subtitles at first, then with the English ones).

• I read some books in English (as a Harry Potter fan, I eventually read all of them in English. Since I knew what was happening, it was easier to follow).

• I attended a private English academy couple of times a week to get better in grammar and pronunciation.

Just a few months later, I got the opportunity to do a volunteer program in Prilep (North Macedonia) as a Spanish teacher in a high school. My English was still pretty bad, so I’d attend some languages exchanges and still do some studying at home in the afternoon.

From there, I was able to make friends from Macedonia, Italy, U.S. or France. I was able to think about living in other countries and to think about jobs I couldn’t take before.

After Macedonia, came South Korea. Then Azerbaijan. Then 2 years in South Africa.

Now I just finished a 3 months stay in New York, 80 % of my clients are from outside of Spain and my main language is English.

• My grammar is still far from perfection (I’m sure you can spot some mistakes in my newsletters).

• If you listen to me, you’ll notice I’m from Spain after 0,00001 seconds (that accent boy, it never leaves).

• I still need to check words, expressions and phrasal verbs from time to time.

And, to this day, I have 0 titles to prove my English level.

But I know so many people with the B2 and C1 certification that would struggle having a conversation or writing a newsletter like this one.

From my point of view, your goal is to master the languages you work in (in my case Spanish). English is a tool, and the better you use that tool, the best.

You must be able to be professional, understand as much as possible from the source content and be fluent enough to share your ideas.

Do you need to be bilingual? No. Do you need to pretend you are native? No.

At least this is my take. Would love to know yours ;)

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Market-in

Resources to reach your peak level.

💡 When is Christmas? Depends of your country (and the name might not be “Christmas” btw. Take a read and find it out.

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Outside the desk

Where the magic really happens.

🌊 A “cenote” is an underground chamber or cave which contains permanent water. They are all over the Yucatán area (México) and I was lucky enough to swim in one of them.

🎒 Traveling alone is a great opportunity to meet new people. I had lunch with F, an ex entrepreneur who created a start-up and now is running his own department in one of the largest video security companies in the world.

🏋️ Working out is an important part of my life: is something I enjoy and is also great for my body. Over the last days, “Crossfit Fibonacci” has been home for me.

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Make it global, baby

If you want to work with me, this is the way.

🚀 Want to take your brand to the next Spanish level? Hit the “reply” bottom and let’s talk.

📬 Want to appear in one of the next issues? Let’s see how we can work it out.

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Thanks for reading today’s newsletter. If you enjoyed the content, feel free to share it with your workmates, friends, family and pets so we can grow together.

You can also reply to this email and let me know what you think about it. We are in this together, compa.

All the best for the rest of your week,

💙 Ricky from Textonality.com 💙