Why you should learn a second language

I am White and not Latina or Spanish. My native language is English, but I am also fluent in Spanish.

I learned Spanish in school starting when I was about 7 years old, and decided to stick with it, mainly per my parent’s request. But, Spanish classes are not the central contributor to what really made me fluent; my own teaching, interest and love of the language is what really made me a true Spanish speaker.

In order to effectively learn and master a language, you have to love it. If you want to learn a second language just to seem “smarter” or more interesting on your resume, that’s not going to work. You have to really enjoy it.

For example, outside of Spanish classes, I consistently listened to Spanish music and watched Spanish film and TV. None of these activities were assigned as homework; I genuinely loved hearing Spanish and listening to the language. I wanted to learn.

Today, at 23 years old, native Spanish speakers tell me my accent is perfect and that I sound like a native speaker. They ask me where I’m from and say my accent sounds Colombian or sometimes Spanish. This makes sense, of course, because the telenovelas I watch are primarily Colombian and much of the music I listen to is Spanish.

Why do I recommend that everybody learn a second language? Because it expands your social world. If you speak English, wonderful – that’s the most popular language in the world. But, what about some of the lovely people who are in Italy, France, China, India or Greece that you could possibly meet one day? Even if you can’t travel, there are plenty of people in the U.S. who speak languages from all over the world.

If you only speak one language, that limits your opportunities to get to know thousands of people and cultures from around the world.

Another reason I am glad I know Spanish is because of the entertainment aspect. I can watch all of the Spanish film I want to, without subtitles. Most of my favorite musical artists are from Latin America or Spain; I hardly listen to English music anymore.

If you speak more than one language, more film and music are at your disposal. Imagine all of the new genres of music you can learn about. All of the wonderful musical artists. You would have an endless abyss of film and music ready for your consumption.

Although the above reasons are my primary incentives for why someone should learn a second language, here are more reasons to further convince you:

• easier when traveling to countries that speak the language
• advancing your career
• freedom of communicating with more people
• surprising people when they realize you speak the language
• increased attention span
• expanding your vocabulary of your first language
• deeper connection to other cultures
• able to read and write in another language
• talk sh*t about people without them knowing

Gracias y buena suerte!

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Your hatred comes from fear

You are afraid. Of many things. You may also be confused on why I am saying this. And you don’t want to hear it; you don’t want to keep reading. You are uncomfortable, maybe even a little angry and bothered. But, for the sake of your own self-revelation, I suggest you keep reading.

Have you ever wondered why you have so much hate, indifference, disgust, disapproval, or disassociation with other people who are different than you? And maybe you don’t know why? Or if you do, do other people think your reasons are ignorant, or maybe crazy?

In this article, I am going to specify the type of hatred, as unfortunately there are many people who harbor hatred towards many different things (age, gender, language, disability…etc). We are going to talk about the hatred people like you hold towards people of other ethnicities. Yes, I am talking about racism.

Maybe you rolled your eyes, maybe you didn’t. Either way, if somebody sent you this article — it most likely applies to you. If you did roll your eyes, well, then it definitely applies to you.

I want you to know that your hatred does not make you look strong, better, or simply someone who is just “proud” of their heritage. It makes you look weak, afraid, sensitive and angry. You are so angry, scared and full of hate inside that you don’t know how to handle it. And why?

Because you can’t handle that you are wrong. That you are a hateful and ignorant person. That you are not in the 1800s and your race is soon to be overpowered by people of other races. You are angry that people call you racist, when deep down you know that you are. Or, maybe you say you are racist loud and proud.

You so badly want to be in control, to be powerful, to be accepted and in turn you don’t accept people of other races; you use your words and actions to minimize and bully others for simply being different because secretly you hate yourself. You hate that you are so insecure that you use your physical complexion to esteem your power. You hate your hate, and you love it for making you feel and look powerful. But guess what? It doesn’t.

It. makes. you. look. weak.

Your love for power, for White supremacy, and for being superior has made you the monster that you are, whether people see you for that or not.

Maybe these views were instilled on you since you were younger, through generations upon generations of racist ancestors. Given the USA’s history, that is a highly plausible situation. Yet, you seem to not have made any effort to stray away from your families lineage of hate and racist ideology. You are a follower, and that makes you feel comfortable.

My advice to you is, get uncomfortable.

We are not in the 19th century anymore, not even the 20th. There are a huge number of us who love diversity and people of all ethnicities, sexual orientations, religions, genders and everything in-between.

We will not stop loving people who are different, so if you are to be a part of this world, I can promise you this — your hate will be outnumbered. People like you will be outnumbered.

Your race is not the “supreme race”, and you are upset that people know that now.

You see, people like you are unhappy at core. Hateful people aren’t happy, and happy people aren’t hateful.

So, you should try looking in the mirror. What do you see? Are you truly happy with your hate? Do you like what you see? Who are the people in your life around you? Do they all look like you? Do you have any friends who are different?

If not, that must make for a boring, culturally limited life. I personally pride myself on the amount of diversity I have in my life. I have gotten to know and understand the world so much better just by being around different cultures. In fact, none of my friends even remotely look like me. I am the only White woman in my friend group.

What about you?

Start questioning yourself, start loving yourself, start working on uncovering why you have so much hate inside of you for other people. Because at the end of the day, we are all just souls and our physical traits are nothing but furniture.

Signs you have a racial fetish

Let me start by explaining what exactly is a racial fetish, as it is not often talked about.

A racial fetish is the sexual fetishization of someone based on physical characteristics pertaining to their race, stereotypes, and/or cultural attributes.

I will name some concrete examples to further your understanding of this very real concept.

• The Latina girl as spicy, fiery, exotic
• The White girl as the “Snow Bunny”
• The Black girl as sassy, gangster
• The Asian girl as innocent, dainty, foreign

When you reduce human beings to characteristics, often stereotypical of their race, ethnicity, or culture, you’re objectifying them to fulfill your own personal wishes and expectations for how they should look and/or behave. 

You’re expecting something of them before you even get to know who they are.

There’s a fine line between thinking someone is attractive as an individual and lusting after someone for their skin color and the attributes you assume come with it.

Here are some primary differences between having a racial fetish and simply appreciating someone’s race/culture (but that not being the primary source of attraction for you).

Signs you do have a racial fetish

• You are attracted to someone primarily because of their skin color/culture/language
• You find yourself attracted to a certain type of person based on stereotypes in society…(such as, Latinas being “chula” and “exotic”)
• The type of porn you watch is limited to “interracial”, “white girls”, “latina”, “black girls”, “indian girls”, “asian girls” etc.

Signs you don’t have a racial fetish

• You find the person attractive, but their skin color/culture is not the reason for your attraction
• You did not initially find interest in this person based on stereotypes/their race/their culture
• You prefer a person of a certain ethnicity based on your own cultural customs, not based on your attraction to their race or culture.