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[–] 6 points 12 hours ago (1 child)

Speaking Spanish. Haven't needed it in years and my actual grasp of the language is tenuous at this point but every native speaker I interact with says my pronunciation is great. Understanding the differences between English and Spanish phonetics helps a ton in that regard.

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  • [–] 4 points 9 hours ago

    I hear you on this, I spent my late teens through my 20s and 30s living abroad and learning other languages. I’ve since moved back home and had kids. I had to break out my Spanish a few times in the past year or so and both my kids did a double take/didn’t know what the hell was happening when they saw me speaking passable/semi-fluent Spanish to native speakers.

    I’m just your average stay at home Dad living in a small town nowadays but had a wildly international life before settling down. When they saw me speak another language the questions started to come out about where I had been or what I had been doing.

    I hadn’t spoken about it much to my kids when they were younger but now, based on their questions, I half suspect that they think I was some sort of international spy. Nope, just a lot of wanderlust, a knack for languages and learning about the psychology of other cultures first hand.

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