Last week one of my friends gifted me a book on relationships. It wasn't an actual book or ebook: it was a gift card to buy one he recommended. I appreciate that even more than the book, because it gives me options: I can get the ebook, the paperback or the audiobook I can get the original or a translation I can even get a different book I ended [...]

I have people in my life I consider to be very well-read who aren’t very smart. The reason is because even though they’re very well-read, they read the wrong things in the wrong order. Naval Ravikant ​ I like this quote by Ravikant. In the section learn to love to read of the Almanack, he recommends establishing a reading habit. Just start reading anything. But then, it gets more nuanced. After [...]

"What should I read after completing the Spanish Novels?" I get this question often from my readers. You can read anything you want. And maybe you wanna read content that's somehow familiar or that doesn't feel so intimidating. Harry Potter might be a good choice for many of you. It was written for teenagers, it has nice life lessons, multiple books, etc. Even if you haven't read it in [...]

I recently read an email by Matt Archer (from Matt vs Japan). It was about how our native language gets in the way of our second language, especially when consuming content such as video, social media, etc. Here's the YouTube version of it. His point was that language learners tend to avoid using native fun content in their target language, because there's more interesting content to watch in their first language. [...]

Native German speakers, in my experience, have a view of their own language that learners don't always share. They're convinced German is hard to learn. Most people, they assume, are not going to get very far in it. I ran into this in the German-speaking part of northern Italy, in South Tyrol. I said I spoke German, and a German immediately said, "Oh, you speak a little German!" A few days [...]

Last weekend I asked a German man an atypical question: ​ “Would you like to practice cross-talk? You speak German, and I respond in Spanish.” He said Yes. I’m staying at a co-living called Franz & Mathilde, in South Tyrol, Italy. Beautiful place, fantastic views. English is the common language here, but the place is very popular among Germans and Austrians, with some Italians and other Europeans too. Most [...]

I just came back from a pharmacy shop in Tisens, Italy. Had quite a unique intercultural experience. This is in South Tyrol, 15km from Bolzano. Here, most people speak German, and some speak also Italian. Culturally, this is pretty much Austria. I’m not here on vacation. And it’s not entirely business travel. It’s both: a workation. Part of that experience includes using and practicing different languages. This place in [...]

Last week I’ve been to Austria. I spent a couple days in Vienna and in Innsbruck. The main reason I visited Innsbruck was an AI event. It was all about learning, connecting and networking to leverage AI at work. In German. I registered in advance. ‘What a cool opportunity to practice my German skills on a topic I like!’ I thought. I welcome and appreciate these occasions when I’m [...]

Most people learning Spanish have no idea what reading at their level actually feels like from the inside. They know the label, but they haven’t taken a placement test (no judgement). They’ve been told they’re A2 or B1. But that doesn’t tell them much about the experience of sitting down with a text and trying to make sense of it. This is that map. And if you’ve already made [...]

When I was a teenager and took private English lessons, my teacher assigned me a short story to prepare before an exam. I was supposed to use it for the “speaking” portion of the test. And it better be a reasonable choice. Something “easy” and manageable. She picked an uninspiring book. I said no, and picked A Clockwork Orange instead. It was longer and harder. Full of invented slang I had [...]

I recently had a business coaching session with an American client, in Spanish. As we talked about the vision of his business and what's his role there, I noticed a pattern: the gerund was showing up more often than expected. As in "(quiero) teniendo un equipo sólido" instead of "(quiero) tener un equipo sólido". His Spanish skills are already very good (his comprehension is getting better and better and [...]

Todos los años algún lector me pregunta: Walter (o "Paco"): ¿cuándo vas a escribir más Spanish Novels? When are you going to write more Spanish Novels? Mi respuesta suele ser: Por ahora no tengo planes de hacerlo. Es que mi intención con las Spanish Novels fue escribir libros para estudiantes que luego quieren leer contenido auténtico. Es decir, A1 > A2 > B1 > B2 > C1 > C2 [...]