Episode Summary
In this episode of The Expat Files, Johnny Mueller explores the financial motivations of expats, the challenges of learning Spanish, and the cultural nuances of life in Latin America. He shares personal stories, including his father's financial mismanagement and his own experiences with language learning, offering valuable insights for expats seeking to navigate the region.
Johnny begins by introducing The Expat Files, a show that explores life in Latin America from the perspectives of expats, gringos, and locals. He discusses the common interest among expats in finding work, starting businesses, or making money in the region. While many expats initially have financial goals, their experiences often lead them to pursuits that are more about personal fulfillment and self-actualization. He emphasizes the importance of being on the ground in Latin America to discover unique opportunities and niches that are often overlooked. Johnny then shares a personal anecdote about his father's financial mismanagement and how it influenced his own views on money and advice.
He recounts a story about his father's financial habits and how they impacted the family. His dad was disorganized with money, often accumulating debt through credit cards and junk mail offers. After his father's unexpected death, Johnny's mom discovered he had accumulated significant debt, but he had also taken out credit card life insurance that ultimately saved the family from financial ruin. Johnny reflects on his father's advice about saving money by cutting his own hair, which he followed and found to be a wise investment. He contrasts this with modern spending habits, particularly the impact of fast food marketing on young people's financial decisions.
Johnny recalls his childhood experiences with his father's advice and the cultural context of retro barber shops in the 1970s and 1980s, highlighting the presence of adult content and the sexual revolution. He discusses the evolution of Playboy magazine, its literary content, and the societal impact of the sexual revolution. He then shifts to a discussion about gold and silver in Latin America, the history of mining, and the availability of precious metals and coins in the region.
In this segment, Johnny discusses the practical aspects of buying and selling silver and gold coins in Latin America, particularly through platforms like OLX.com. He emphasizes the importance of having a stake in precious metals as part of a diversified investment strategy, even though he acknowledges the future potential of cryptocurrencies. Johnny also highlights the value of buying silver coins directly from local sellers, as they may be desperate for cash and willing to negotiate. He warns against relying on the collectible value of coins during times of economic or political instability, suggesting that the market will instead focus on the intrinsic value of the metal. Additionally, he mentions the usefulness of OLX.com for finding silver and gold for sale and offers tips for non-Spanish speakers on how to use the platform effectively.
In this segment, Johnny discusses the challenges expats face when learning Spanish in Latin America. He highlights the difficulty of learning the language, especially for gringos, and emphasizes that it requires perseverance and time. Johnny shares his personal experience of learning Spanish over five years, noting that being off the tourist trail is crucial for progress. He also mentions that many expats struggle with Spanish despite their efforts, often because they remain on the tourist trail. The segment transitions into a discussion about the global significance of Spanish, including its growing popularity and the importance of learning it for expats moving to Latin America.
In this segment, Johnny discusses the challenges of learning Spanish, emphasizing that it requires effort, patience, and overcoming initial embarrassment. He contrasts the forgiving nature of native Spanish speakers with the perceived harshness of French speakers. Johnny also highlights the importance of immersion, communication, and not relying solely on language learning apps or books. He mentions the difficulty of maintaining fluency when surrounded by English speakers and shares examples of individuals who have successfully learned Spanish through dedication, even at an older age. The segment also touches on the phonetic nature of Spanish compared to English, and the shared vocabulary between the two languages.
In this segment, Johnny discusses the common belief that it's harder to learn Spanish at an older age, highlighting how expats often reinforce this idea by grouping together and complaining in English. He then shares a story about an older gringo lady who studied Spanish intensively but found it limiting, leading her to realize that the life of a student wasn't what she wanted in her retirement. Johnny then shifts to a broader critique of stereotypes, referencing how Native Americans often complain about Latinos not learning English, which he calls 'calling the kettle black.' He concludes by offering help with 'Plan B' through his services, including a free questionnaire and a course for expats in the U.S.
Topics
Expats and gringos in Latin America, Finding work and making money in Latin America, Personal fulfillment and self-actualization, Unique opportunities and niches in Latin America, Personal anecdotes about financial mismanagement, Financial habits, Debt management, Personal finance advice, Consumer behavior, Family dynamics, Cultural context of barber shops and adult content in the 1970s and 1980s, The sexual revolution and its impact on society
Chapters
00:00:00 Opening 00:00:32 Discussion on Making Money in Latin America 00:01:40 Johnny's Personal Anecdote about His Father 00:04:34 The Financial System of the Family 00:05:59 The Financial Habits of the Father 00:07:37 The Financial Wisdom of the Father 00:07:54 The Impact of Fast Food Marketing 00:08:34 Discovering the Back Room of the Barber Shop 00:09:53 The Sexual Revolution and Its Impact 00:10:59 Gold and Silver Mining in Latin America 00:12:38 The Future of Cryptocurrencies and the Need for Precious Metals 00:13:08 Finding Silver Coins for Sale on OLX.com 00:13:37 Why Sellers Are Often Willing to Bargain 00:14:37 The Value of Raw Metal Over Collectible Coins 00:16:00 Using OLX.com Effectively for International Trade 00:16:53 The Role of Spanish in Latin America and the Challenges for Expats 00:19:29 The Importance of Spanish for Expats and the Global Reach of the Language 00:21:33 The Challenge of Learning Spanish and the Role of Native Speakers 00:22:04 The Supportive Nature of Spanish Speakers and the Contrast with French 00:23:17 The Reward of Language Mastery and the Importance of Persistence 00:26:29 The Challenge of Learning Spanish at an Older Age 00:27:32 You've Been Listening to the Expat Files Living in Latin America
Transcript
Automatically transcribed from the original recording; names and wording may contain errors.
[00:00] South of the border, down Mexico way That's where I fell in love when the stars above came out to play And now that I wonder Hello there all you expat wannabes I'm Johnny Mueller and you're listening to The Expat Files, living in Latin America The show that tells you just what it's like to live, work, play and or retire down here in Latin America It's a mix of the good, the bad, the ugly and the great And it's all right here so let's get started Alright so you know one of the major topics of discussion between expats and gringos and me Here in Latin America is, and it should be no surprise to you How to make some money, find some work, start their own business, whatever And I'd say right off the bat around 50% of expats and gringos and wannabes and gunabes
[00:49] Say they need to or express interest in making some money down here And as you've heard me say many times before, almost everyone Finds something to do and a lot of times it makes you money And sometimes believe it or not the money part was not the primary reason to get started on something For expats it's more about having fun and self-actualization and all that Having a job you actually like Hey you gotta do something, you're gonna have a lot of time on your hands And even if you originally started out with some kind of money making idea It almost never turns out to be exactly what you had in mind early on And most times you end up doing something that you never would have dreamed of Nevertheless, people are always pumping me for investment and job advice And what I always say is, the more you have boots on the ground down here The more your eyes will be open to the fact that there are just tons of niches
[01:35] That people don't even know exist yet Or that are staring you right in the face that need to be filled Which reminds me of something that happened to me when I was quite young When talking to my own long departed dear old dad By the way, people are always sending me emails saying Johnny, why don't you tell us a couple of things about your life, about your past Alright so I won't let out too much But a few stories here and there ought to fill in the gaps And here's one of them Now when I hit 16 I wanted what every red blooded American kid wanted A car Of course back then it wasn't like today where kids at 16 have the divine right Of having a new car in many cases Yep a new car, not a used one and it's gotta be a certain one too And you know even 30 years ago some of that stuff was starting to happen I remember being in a car dealership looking to buy a basic pickup truck And I was a bit annoyed
[02:21] But you know it was certainly shapes of things to come I was in the showroom as a squeaking young 16 year old girl Was jumping up and down telling her mommy and daddy that she wanted a certain particular I think it was a Chevy back then Yep it was her sweet 16 birthday present And at the time I was thinking someone needs to get slapped here Not the kid, the parents I mean come on why do you think the millennials today have no idea of the value of things Anyway when I turned 16 I wanted a car and I said to my dad Can I have a car dad? And hey you know in those days anything that ran was good enough He said sure I'm 100% behind you all you gotta do is get a job Then he said by the way you have a particular car in mind I said yeah Oh it'll take a few years to come up with that kind of dough It's kind of a pipe dream
[03:07] And he said well what's it cost I said well I used one that you have to restore quite a bit it'll cost around 5 grand And he said 5 grand huh Well what is it I said it's a two seater Mercedes Benz 1965 280 SL A classic Mercedes Roadster Then he said hmm nice car But don't you think you should be buying American Hey those are the days remember that When 4GM and the American manufacturers wouldn't even let their workers Park a foreign car in their lots Man how things have changed huh Anyway then my dad said let me give you a little investment advice How would you like to turn 10 bucks into 5 grand and buy that car And that's when that little guy in my head said Johnny don't listen Hey we've all got a little guy or gal up there that talks to us once in a while don't we
[03:54] Anyway that little guy said don't listen to him I know he's your dad but don't listen to him Your mom says never take money or business advice from your dad He's all jacked up on his credit cards He's a gambler Go ahead and humor him but don't take his advice By the way I'm telling you this because he's long gone And there's a great little story that goes along with the fact that my dad was really bad with money In fact I remember in my house there were almost no arguments Except for money arguments And I remember quite well when I was around I think 10 or 11 years old Coming home from school one day Looking at my dad sitting at the kitchen table with all his credit cards Cut up into tiny little pieces And that was the moment my mother took over the finances of the whole family So my dad was what you might call one of those hand-packed husbands Who came home with his check on Friday and handed it right over to my mom And then she'd give him an allowance for the week
[04:41] Hey it worked man my mom could always come up with the necessary dough For emergencies and stuff without having to borrow Alright now flash forward maybe 20 years Now you're gonna like this When my dad died unexpectedly and young He was an orderly guy but he had a very disorganized junk drawer Where things, mostly useless things, had a way of accumulating I think most of us have one of those Old key chains, foreign coins and adapters and chargers that don't work anymore And lots of old crumpled receipts and business cards You know the drill Most people have a drawer like that Some people's whole house is like that So anyway a month or so after he died It was let's clean out dad's room Send his stuff to Goodwill and sort things out That's when one day I came home and saw my mat tearing up a little bit And it wasn't because of sentimentality you know Germans don't cry much or at least they're good at holding it in
[05:27] Well she'd found some disturbing things in his junk drawer Turns out over the years he had somehow accumulated some of his own credit cards You know back then they'd hand out credit cards like candy I remember in college they'd send me credit cards in the mail Ready to activate Remember those days? And that was before debit cards even existed Anyway my mom had suddenly realized that after the fact My dad was in debt to the tune of 20 or 25,000 bucks And that was when 20 or 25 grand was real money And of course my mom was now on the hook for that So that should give you a little idea of how my dad was with finances And my mom of course the exact opposite But the good news was, and it's really good news My dad was an easy touch, a box checker Meaning when junk mail would come with an offer of free stuff Or the deal of the century he'd check the box
[06:14] You name it RCA record club, wine of the month club Magazine subscriptions, encyclopedias, Franklin memorial silver plates And some of that junk would infuriate my mom But it's all good because he also checked the box for credit card life insurance So he asked for a half hour or so It was all bad news until we discovered he was suddenly free and clear again So in the end he checked the right box I know I'm rambling here and you're thinking What does that have to do with living in Latin America? Well just stick with me for a moment here You remember my dad said How'd you like to turn 10 bucks into 5 grand and buy that car? I said don't tell me you got a hot tip on the Daily Double at Arlington He said no no this is on the level He said take 10 bucks go out to Sears and buy a hair clipper I said what?
[07:01] Now this is before the days of the internet and YouTube But he said just start trimming your own hair it's easy He had a buzz cut by the way He said you know if you cut your own hair Over a lifetime you'll save at least 5 grand on a $10 clipper investment And me being a kind of numbers and math-y guy I was good at it Hey it was something to do and I didn't much like sports trivia Anyway I made the quick calculation and he was right You go to the barber once a month conservatively You spend 10 bucks let's say That's 120 bucks a year saved Times 50 years for being conservative here And on average it turns out to be more like 6 grand Hell of a return on 10 bucks Almost like the early adopters of Bitcoin And you know what? I did that Now today with so much more affluence in the States Than it was way back when when I was a kid
[07:48] Or let's say vastly more credit and debt I think one of the biggest ways of money And why so many middle class people are broke By the end of the week is because they eat out all the freaking time Hey when I was a kid And I know I sound like an old stodgy grandpa But McDonald's and Kentucky Fried and all that stuff That was for the weekend maybe And special occasions Of course if you were a teenage kid And you had a side job You spent most of your dough on that stuff Which only proves that Ronald McDonald marketing crap Really works on soft young minds But you knew that already Anyway in the end my dad really did give me one great piece of advice But being the way he was He didn't take it himself And with his buzz cut Would have been a no brainer So every week Not month Like clockwork he'd go to the barber And you know when you're a real little kid Your dad often drags you along with him
[08:33] And that's a real treat And that's when I discovered why my dad didn't take his own advice You see in the back room of that little barber shop And I think it was true of all retro barber shops of that day There was a cooler with some beer And a pool table back there Kind of a man cave situation Before the term was even coined And I remember I was not allowed to go in the back room Why? Because they had girly posters and playboys back there And those were the days when the sexual revolution was just cracking open And most mothers would never let that kind of stuff into the house Even though all their little boys had them hidden under their mattresses Though I have to admit there did come a time I think it was in the late 70s, early 80s When my brothers and I actually got together And bought my dad a subscription to Playboy for Christmas And sure, my mom was pissed But she also knew
[09:19] Some people, like me, actually read the articles Because you see the literary component in that magazine had become legit Hell, they interviewed Nobel Prize winners Linus Pauling Noah Chomsky Malcolm X Jimmy Carter Ralph Nader Neil Armstrong even So my mother, even though she didn't like it, backed down And I'm still surprised She didn't put up more of a fuss And in a way, part of that subscription was to rock her boat a little too And I remember her saying All right, all right, just keep them out of sight I don't want kids and companies seeing them I don't know, would you call that Somewhat typical in American homes back in the 70s and 80s I mean, that sexual revolution thing really did break the mold, didn't it? But you gotta wonder if it was such a good thing When you think of the controversy of birth control bills Burning bras Cosmo Glorious item
[10:04] The G-spot Fear of flying Remember that book? Man, it seems so lame today, doesn't it? Especially when you've got 51 different gender options Allowing kids in kindergarten to select their genders And punishing other kids for not accepting that Meanwhile, you jump on any computer, public or private And up come those porno windows I understand even the Vatican's computers are loaded up with that stuff Though, I imagine, based on their proclivities, it's TNA without the T Oh my God, I'm living in Latin America Because you know what? Much of that stuff has not even arrived here yet Well, at least not the 51 flavors yet But the porno pop-up windows There, you're all right All right, now, backtracking a bit to a show I did a couple weeks ago Talking about gold and silver Bringing it down Buying it here We're up in the States And trying to have it shipped, whatever
[10:50] Now, as it turns out, Mexico, Central, and South America Are loaded with gold and silver mines And that's why, of course, a half a millennia ago The crown heads of Europe sent their minions over here To rape, pillage, and accumulate precious metals for the crown So, really, it was gold, silver, and precious metals That drove the conquistadores To kind of wipe out the civilizations here Pretty sad, but you know, history is replete with those kind of stories And these days just substitute the word oil for precious metals Anyway, because they produce so much gold and silver here in Latin America In fact, practically any time you're way out in the jungle or the boonies In Central and South America anyway You'll actually see or hear about local people panning for gold in the rivers So then, what do you think happens when they recover that gold and silver?
[11:37] It's got to go somewhere, right? And they don't ship it out raw Well, you know, there are refineries down here in Latin America Stamping out gold and silver coins And bullion ingots, too Just like the US, Australia, China, Austria, and South Africa Et cetera, et cetera Well, some Latin countries do, too Including Mexico, Peru, Ecuador Just to name a few For example, there's a refinery in Ecuador called the Inca Refineria That stamps out different denominations of silver coins And of course, we're talking about collectibles here and bullion None of that stuff's in common circulation There's specialty coins, you know Just like US gold and silver eagles And Canadian gold and silver maple leaves, too So what does that mean to gonna-be's wanna-be's and expats with a plan B? Well, that means if you go to any coin or stamp shop here in Latin America
[12:25] You should be able to buy some of that stuff Then you won't have to ship anything down Especially when it comes to silver, if that's your game And you know, I've been a silver and gold bug since my teens So although I certainly believe cryptocurrencies are the future I think you have to have a stake in precious metals, too Hey, I'm not giving investment advice now I'm just talking about a nice insurance policy here If you know what I mean And you know if you go on OLX.com Of course, you have to speak Spanish Or at least rewrite it a little bit You'll often find individuals who have gold and silver to buy or sell And you'll also see some of that action going on In classified sections of gringo English-language newspapers and internet sites For example, just today, I'm looking at a gringo internet rag coming out of Ecuador And there's a guy who wants to sell 35 incament 1oz silver coins
[13:13] Hey, that's a good start And he wants 800 bucks for them Now, if you divide that out, it comes out to around 23 bucks a coin And if you go right now on the internet and check out, for example, a common silver 1oz maple leaf from Canada You'll find you can get those anywhere from around 18 to 20 bucks a coin Plus shipping, so let's say 21 or 22 bucks a coin So you're right in the ballpark there However, you have to know one thing When someone's advertising that they're going to sell some gold or silver coins I don't care where they are It's usually because they're in a kind of a desperate spot So you know they need the cash So that means they're more than willing to bargain with you In fact, if I was in the market to buy these 35 incament 1oz coins from this guy I'd just go to the internet, pull up one of the usual suspect bullion sites
[13:59] And show them the spot price of a silver Canadian maple leaf or panda Whatever, and say, look, silver is silver, that's what I'll pay for them Or not Now, you've heard me say it's a bad idea to ship silver down for a lot of reasons Mostly for the weight But all is not lost because they mine silver like crazy here in Latin America Especially South America and Mexico So here and there, you will find sellers Just got to kind of keep your eyes open Oh, and by the way, when you're buying little hoards of silver gold coins And the seller tries to tell you that they're worth a lot more than spot value Because they're a special strike or a limited edition Or from the Franklin Mint or some crap To me, that just means that person got taken when he bought them Because you know what, when the crap hits the ventilator No one's going to give a damn about the dates or the limited editions
[14:47] They're going to care about one thing The content of raw silver or gold in the coins Fact is, I've been a coin collector for a long time since my teens And I'll tell you this In times of chaos and trouble, when the crap hits the ventilator Nobody cares about the blue book or the red book value of your coins because of their scarcity What I'm saying is there will not be a collector's coin market It will be a coin market based on only the pure meltdown value of the silver or gold Or platinum, palladium, whatever In those coins or ingots So, quoting the famous words of that great philosopher Mike Tyson, quote Everyone's got a good plan until he gets punched in the face Hmm, Mike Tyson, philosopher? Who'da thunk, huh? Anyway, then I suppose after a while Who knows, how many months or years
[15:34] After the lemmings and non-believers have all gone over the cliff And things come back to somewhat normal and maybe they never will The collectible market will return Which reminds me of another fine saying Intelligent people are full of doubts Stupid people are full of confidence Charles Bukowski said that, man, could that guy drink? Isn't it funny how drunks and madmen are sometimes the best philosophers I mean, look at the Irish Oh, and speaking of olx.com, I really like that site It's in practically every Latin country now And it's more than a Craigslist, believe me And it's free for the basic service anyway And whatever you've got to sell, you can upload five or so photos And have an active chat going with anyone who's interested in bargaining and dickering with you
[16:20] That way you can sift out the tire kickers and such Not only that, if your Spanish really does suck Then you could use any translator app and cut and paste Then you can still have a reasonable ongoing chat with the Spanish speaker you're dickering with And I'm the subject of learning your Spanish Got a short email from a repeat offender at one of my previous seminars He's back here in Central America now He says, Johnny, at our hotel room right now The World Cup is going strong Yep, that's right, all the fanatics are out there yelling Goal, goal, goal, and all the bars are packed And all the Latin guys are drunk And the Latin ladies you see in those places are only there Because if they didn't pretend to like soccer Their men would be AWL for weeks Anyway, William says, Johnny, of course, the World Cup's all announced in Spanish
[17:07] But after a while, I'm thinking, how do these Latinos living here Not get a headache from yakking in Spanish all day long I know, that's the effect it has on us gringos Well, thanks for that, Bill And you know there is something to be said about that It's true, as you're learning your Spanish You're trying to pick out the important phrases and such when people are speaking Man, at first it really is hard work At least it was for me Because by the time you've figured out one little phrase that seems important More than likely that Spanish speaker you're trying to converse with is miles ahead of you And you're still trying to suss out something he said two paragraphs ago Hey, I feel for you, Bill, I've been there But one day, believe me, if you keep going at it Even after you've thrown in the towel a couple of times Something will click in your brain, even if it's for three minutes
[17:55] You'll have an apocalyptic moment for that three minutes And you'll actually start thinking in Spanish Do you know how we've got this ongoing conversation going on in our heads all the time I mean, we're talking to ourself and we can't stop Everywhere you go, every move you make, with every shift of your body, your eye movements We've all got this ongoing conversation going on with ourselves in our heads, right? Hmm, you do have that going on, don't you? Or is it just me that's on the edge of madness? Well, I think it's happening to most of you, and it's always in English, right? But like I said, if you keep at it, there will be a moment when suddenly You're actually thinking and talking to yourself in Spanish And it'll be automatic Hey, and it's me, Johnny, telling you this now from my own experience And I'm a complete language dunce Took me a good five years before it started to click
[18:41] Of course, the first two and a half years didn't count because I was in Costa Rica And nobody wants to speak Spanish to you there Why? Because there's no tourism dough in it for the locals So, as for me, it took me about two and a half years A hundred percent off the gringo tourist trail to get my Spanish to kick in Not counting that two and a half years wasted in Costa Rica And you know, I still write texts and emails and compose letters in Spanish like a fourth grader But the point is, with perseverance, and as long as you're someone off the gringo tourist trail It'll happen to you Then again, I know so many gringos and expats who've been down here for years Whose Spanish absolutely sucks They've got 20 or 30 words down And it's not that they're particularly lazy or unmotivated It's just that they're on the gringo tourist trail
[19:26] All right, speaking of Spanish, which everyone wants to speak, but most can't I want you to listen to some excerpts from an article that kind of tells it like it is Regarding expats learning Spanish here in Latin America All right, first, first some background It says roughly 650 million people speak Spanish as their first or second language And Spanish is the native tongue in 21 different nations And believe it or not, it says it's the second most popular business language in the European Union Then it says unlike all of the other European languages like German, French, Italian, etc The number of people speaking Spanish in the world is growing rapidly Whilst the others are stagnating And whether you like it or not, in the US, Spanish is the second language Spoken by 40 million people Now that's more than doubled since 1990
[20:13] Hmm, how'd that happen? And it says right now there are 6 million American students studying it in high school and college And get this, the US has the world's largest Spanish-speaking community outside of Mexico That's even larger than in Spain, the mother country, where the language originated Where they've got 47 million people Then it says if you're thinking about planning to move anywhere in Latin America And have a hope or a prayer of communicating with most of them Some knowledge of Spanish is essential Problem is, there's no secret key to unlock the door to Spanish And if you think you're going to speak like the locals anytime soon, that's just not going to happen Then it says a lot of people use Rosetta Stone But that won't do it for you Nor will the other computer and audio programs, grammar textbooks, verb workbooks, dictionaries, and phrasebooks
[21:04] Nor will those internet Spanish sites or daily e-letters Nor private lessons with native speakers And intensive immersion clashes at language schools And watching movies with subtitles and telling novellas soap operas Nor will listening to Spanish talk radio or using Google Translate help much either The thing is, for us gringos, in the end it's all about the hours and the determination you put into it Now of course there are always some gifted linguists out there who pick up things extremely fast Don't you hate those people? But alas, if you're listening to this, you're probably not one of them The truth is, all those aforementioned vehicles in helping you learn Spanish No matter what they promise are just beginning steps, a lot of them baby steps Because it takes old-fashioned sweat and tears to study and actually learn how to converse
[21:52] It also requires overcoming your initial intimidation and embarrassment And sounding dumb when you speak Boy, we've all been there But thankfully, native Spanish speakers are not like the French Because you see, native Spanish speakers are very forgiving and will help you along And always with a smile Whereas with the French, sometimes you just want to slap them And tell them that civilized people take baths more than once a week and trim their nose hairs too By the way, that goes for Greek men too So have we offended enough people yet? Alright, me, Johnny here again You know, I'm kind of injecting my two cents in here and there without saying it's me You're kind of getting that, right? Okay, let's press on Then it says, you have to accept and be patient with the feeling of being lost for quite a while Maybe years
[22:38] Finally, only by talking to everyone you come in contact with and listening hard And not being ashamed or feeling stupid to question what you don't understand Even if it takes ten repetitions Then, and only then, will you start seeing some progress Now, some people take what you might call a no English pledge They say, I'm not going to speak English at all today Which includes not even thinking in English Which almost never works because you can't force yourself to think in another language It's going to come when it's going to come But the thing is, when you finally achieve an ability to communicate at whatever level However haltingly, there's no feeling of accomplishment quite like it in the world But then, of course, you'll backslide
[23:25] And there's no faster way to backslide than to hang out with gringos or go back to the States for a couple of months However, when it clicks, a whole new world expands exponentially, right before your eyes Now, the good thing about learning Spanish is it's not like learning Russian or Chinese Where alphabets are pretty much completely different Sure, Spanish has accents and a couple extra letters and vowels thrown in But the cool thing is, the Spanish language is almost perfectly phonetic With the exception of a couple of silent letters thrown in Which is more than you can say for the English language Which, in only some cases, is phonetic Not to mention, you have a huge head start on vocabulary Because English and Spanish cognate with each other With many similar words, especially when they're scientific
[24:10] And the same goes for modern, recently added words And technical words like computer Electricity, electricity, television, television Cell phone, cellular And, of course, every North American is completely fluent in the Taco Bell menu So, you got that going for you Now, people always say it's so much easier to learn a language when you're young Because your brain is more plastic, that's true For example, here's an email from a gringo who's been living in Ecuador for 10 years He says, Spanish made simple and a number of books After 10 years, I can certainly get across what I want to say But, believe me, I could not carry on a conversation with the average Spanish speaker on the street
[24:57] So, am I just thinking ahead? No! I was a national merit scholar And Dean's List in the U.S. for many, many years So, I'm not stupid nor lazy So, just know, if you moved to Latin America Even giving it your best shot, you still might never be fluent Alright, it's me, Johnny, again The problem here is, Ecuador's loaded with gringos This is a problem if you're trying to learn your Spanish Then, here's another guy in Ecuador He says, look, I got tired of not being able to speak Spanish to the people down here So, for nearly three years, I've been using online Duolingo, Spanish dictionary Madrigal Spanish, Primslers, Spanish for dummies I recently added online Babbel and I have tried Fluencia I am now over 50% fluent and my spelling is far better in Spanish than in English, I think
[25:48] So, am I language-retired? No My PhD was in special ed And it took me three years to be 50% fluent And I feel good about that, so really there's no excuses for anyone not to learn Spanish And the benefits, he says, are priceless Then we got another guy from Ecuador says, the problem is It's difficult here in Ecuador, especially Cuenca Where you can get by reasonably well by speaking only English It allows us to be quite lazy And, it's a big handicap Because you'll never be able to truly communicate with the locals And get involved with their lives and the community The problem is, he says, everyone falls back on that excuse It's much more difficult to learn Spanish at an older age
[26:33] But, the problem is, we always seem to find groups of other gringo friends to hang out with And we all sit around and talk, in English of course, about how it's so difficult at our ages to learn Spanish And finally, this older gringo lady pretty much says it all Get this Man, I've heard this one a million times What a lame excuse Now, she says, look, I've studied Spanish five days a week for six months And guess what? I couldn't travel, I couldn't socialize or shop or join clubs Or do things with my gringo friends because I had to be home every day with my tutor I came to realize that I wasn't getting any younger And the life of a student wasn't what I came down for here in my retirement age That doesn't make me lazy, it makes me practical
[27:18] Alright, me, Johnny here And you know, up in the States, you hear all these Native Americans complaining that Latinos who migrate to the States don't or don't wanna learn English Well, look who's calling to Kettle Black You've been listening to the Expat Files living in Latin America If you need some help with your own Plan B, you can schedule a one-on-one phone call with me But first, download my free Plan B questionnaire at www.thenewexpat.com Better yet, if you want to get your Plan B going from right up there in the States, just sign up for my 9-hour Expat Essentials course Get the perfect Plan B blueprint by going to theexpatfinals.com slash academy Los bemos