Learning Spanish in a Conversation Club by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Learning Spanish in a Conversation Club by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

I can do sales presentation in Spanish, answer questions in Spanish, ask for information in Spanish, and understand what I am told in Spanish, because I attended tertulías, or Spanish-language cocktail hours when I lived in Madison, Wisconsin.

Spanish tertulías are organized by the Cervantes Institute, a branch of the Spanish government and by Spanish universities in Spain to help promote the Spanish language, culture, food, beverages, fashion, and tourism in Spain.

Other European governments organize language promotion societies as well such as the Goethe Institute, Alliance Française, the Italian Cultural Institute, and various Greek organizations such as the Sons of Pericles and Maids of Athena.

Madison had a very good Cervantes Institute due to their strong Spanish-language program.  I was invited to these tertulías, because I organized French-language outings and parties for the Alliance.  I gave the Cervantes Institute ideas for programming.

I was learning Spanish on my own and loved having the chance to practice the language.  The University of Wisconsin – Madison had language dorms.  So, their Spanish speakers were quite good.  (Stanford University also has foreign-language dorms.)

The tertulías were held in various bars around Madison where we could buy tapas, Spanish appetizers, and chilled Tío Pépé sherry.  Most of the appetizers you find recipes for in The Food and Wines of Spain by Penelope Casas.

While we spoke in Spanish about local politics, the tertulía members’ time spent in Spanish classes in the US and Spain, and the best places to vacation in Spain, we sampled tapas, or appetizers, such as the following:

-egg quarters, folds of Serrano ham, and an olive on a toothpick

-mussels with garlicky mayonnaise

-toasted bread with tomato and garlic rubbed on it

-gazpacho shots

-bowls of white, almond gazpacho

-various kinds of paellas with mushrooms, mussels, shrimp, chicken, or rabbit

-San Isidro salad with ventresca tuna

-pickled peppers

-garlic shrimp

-red sangria

-white sangria

I was completely sold on the food.  I bought several cookbooks by Penelope Casas and have made Spanish food for more than thirty years now at home.  I think the Spanish Bourbons ate the food in Casas’ books, which was taken over by the Francoists.  Like the French Bourbons, the Spanish Bourbons also come from the Pyrenees Mountains between France and Spain.  The food in these two regions is similar.

I thanked the tertulía for my Spanish-speaking skills when I left Madison.  I have never studied Spanish in school except for one quarter in junior high school.  I can read Spanish with no problem, too, because I have read Spanish-language books and magazines for about twenty years. 

I think the Spanish government has promoted their language and culture in a most cost-effective method.  The Cervantes Institute uses bars where cocktail invitees buy food and drink from the restaurant.  They probably wanted me to buy many ready-made products at the grocery store, but I have gained a great cultural asset with learning to cook Spanish food as well as speak and read the language.

I am Mission Accomplished with my own Spanish personal goals.  I have even traveled to Barcelona, Pamplona, St. Sebastian, Figueras, and Puigcerda in Spain.

(For people who are interested in developing their language skills for work in the US Diplomatic Corps, I would recommend two books: The Complete FSOT (Foreign Service Officer Test) Study Guide including complete coverage of the FSO Selection Process by Robert Clark and Inside a U.S. Embassy: Diplomacy at Work by Shawn Dorman.)

By Ruth Paget - Author of Marrying France and Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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