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 abroad. And I also feel anxious, unsure, unprepared, and many other things. Both excitement and fear can coexist.
As I considered joining this event (and as the day got closer) these were the other thoughts that went through my mind:
“This is not for you: you’re not a native German speaker”
“This is not intended for tourists, it’s for locals”
“AI is not your niche, you’re not a developer or business owner using Claude Code and agents all day long. What are you even doing there?”
“Your German is not good enough for this”
“You don’t know essential AI vocabulary in German. What makes you think this is a good idea?”
“Why are you wasting your time going to an event in a foreign language when you could go to a proper activity or excursion in the mountains (in English)?”
“Why do you need to stretch yourself like this?”
I could go on, but let’s leave it there.
I could also agree with some of these thoughts and voices. There might be some truth here. And that doesn’t mean that I should follow these thoughts or stop doing it just because the voice says it so. I can create distance and space, and consider it calmly and slowly. Also, I can interact with these thoughts.
“This is not for you: you’re not a native German speaker”
Says who? The event organizer? The part of me that loves selling me short? The perfectionist, the purist? Nobody said this is only for Austrians or for native German speakers. It could well be the case that +95% of the participants of past events were native German speakers, because this is a networking event that takes place in Innsbruck (Austria), in German, and is on a specific topic. The day I participated, I think I was the only person who wasn’t from Germany, Austria, or Switzerland. I was up for the challenge. With fear and everything.
My German is not at the level of my English and I certainly lack the depth and variety of language I have in Spanish (my native language). I can handle everyday conversations on light topics and I can be curious, ask questions, and share about myself. But I cannot have long or complex discussions on AI technical topics (yet). I participated in the event nevertheless, and it was great.
What made the biggest difference in the experience I had was not how wide my vocabulary was (it wasn’t very wide). What was more important was how deep and how strong my confidence was in my ability to deal with this. This is something all of us can practice and get better at. I certainly did it, by putting myself in front of uncomfortable situations over and over.
Are you willing to mingle with locals in fun, authentic activities in Spanish?
This is how you get started:
- Think of an upcoming trip to a Spanish-speaking country this year (if you’re not traveling, find spaces/activities in your city or country)
- Look up interesting events and topics that you like, in Spanish (if you’re a beginner, choose something where you can just listen without much interaction)
- The day of the event, actually go!
If you have been practicing the language for +2 years and have been thinking about joining something fun in Spanish, stop thinking and start doing it.
The next step is getting exposed to something that you really care about and mingling with native speakers.
Find something you like.
And consider that you are not going to be on the spot. You’re not going to deliver a long speech, or give a course. You’re just going to join something.
Relax. It’s going to be fine.
Pick something and put it in your calendar.
Reach out to the organizers. Let them know you’re going to join them (no need to ask for permission or apologize for not being a native speaker).
That’s going to increase your levels of enthusiasm and motivation to participate.
And lastly: don’t talk yourself out of it.
Here’s another invitation for you: reach out to me and share one fun activity in authentic Spanish you’d love to join this year (Spanish classes in Madrid don’t count, ¡lo siento!).
By the why, reading and listening to Spanish Novels does help in this process (even if it’s not an activity with locals, it’s good preparation). If you’ve been meaning to grab a bundle package, you can now pay with Apple Pay or Google Pay:
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