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Nadine Hura's avatar

Huge topic! And one of my faves. I learnt Spanish as an exchange student in my final year of high school and was forever changed by it. I really don’t like feeling like a tourist!! Even now in England with no apparent language barrier I’m reminded of how we haven’t really known a place unless we can speak with locals in their language, preferably living in the culture and daily life. In Argentina I used to look at English expats in bars and think; why bother coming if you only hang out with each other and don’t learn Spanish? Later, living in Samoa, I struggled to learn the language and ended up living quite an “expat” life there and always felt a bit shit about it. Loved Samoa so much (four years there in total) but I would never proclaim to “know” the country or the people. I just visited. In Abu Dhabi I didn’t manage to learn Arabic either, but I made friends with some Emirati women which was at least a bridge. Being on holiday now I’ve thought much about this topic. I am so hungry for history, for story and culture. And so often it’s just “regular people” who can offer you that, usually well away from the tourist areas. I must write a substack about this!!

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