“Immersion in English is the best way to learn the language” - Matias, Argentina
Today, we hear from Matias. Matias is originally from Mendoza, Argentina. He has lived, worked and travelled internationally, including North Africa, Europe, Asia and South America.
When did you start learning English? How did you learn?
I started at school when I was about 7 years old. Our school offered English language classes as a private optional service. Some years later, it became a mandatory subject for all schools in Argentina, but this is not enough, so students who want to really learn English use to go to private institutes in the afternoons. I went to a private institute until I was 16 but never took the First Level or Toefl exam to get the certificate.
How has speaking English helped you in business?
As we say here, the English language opens doors to the world. For working, English allowed me to seize opportunities in the USA, UK, Poland, Germany, and later Latin America. Now, even though I work in marketing and I might not be able to create communications for English speaking audiences, I can manage to negotiate, coordinate, elaborate reports, make decisions, and deliver value. Most of my international working opportunities would not have been possible without English. Recently, I´ve been working for DHL as a client, and all the meetings were in English with part of the team in Germany. I got the client partly for being able to speak in the same language, and to elaborate reports in English that could be understood by them. Thank you English!
What have been the benefits to you personally - in business and job opportunities?
For me it was really helpful to manage abroad with anything when traveling for fun. Particularly, I like to interact with people and unless you speak English, you´re very limited to connecting on the surface, but not really “connecting” if you know what I mean. I enjoy speaking English a lot. I find it exciting, cool, challenging, makes me feel part of the world and connected with the kind of people I like to know.
Anything else interesting to share?
I speak more fluently when I am in a relaxed, social setting. My English improves when I travel and stay for a long period in a non-Spanish speaking place. I remember when I came back from South East Asia, after staying almost 5 months there, my brother woke me up and I started to speak to him in English automatically. My mind used to think in English at that time!
If I had to attribute the learning to something, it would definitely be when I went to Morocco and nobody knew Spanish. I had taken many years learning, but nothing taught me like the immersive experience itself - being forced to interact in English in so many ways. There's no better teacher than the immersive experience itself.