A letter from Aug 29, 2022

Dear FutureMe, My name is Sasha Rodriguez, I am 23 years old, I am Mexican, and my native language is Spanish. I also speak B2 in English and A1 in Italian. My mother has always told me that I spoke before all my siblings, I was babbling at 5 months, at 6 I said “papá”, at about 14 months I said small phrases. I was too young to understand that other languages ​​existed, but I imagined that they spoke differently in other places; Until I was approximately 5 years old, when there were American cartoons on a television channel, I asked my mother what they said and she replied "I don't know mija, it's another language, they speak differently from us". My mother is from the south of the republic, the cradle of most of the indigenous languages spoken in the country. When we used to visit my family, I remember that in certain towns I came to hear groups of people speaking their indigenous language, I think that opened up a bit more mind about the linguistic variety that exists in our country. At home, only Spanish was always spoken, until my sisters entered middle school and were taught English, so I heard words or phrases in English. At that stage I listened to music in English every day, so I became familiar with some phrases and words. I remember that when I was 8-9 years old I looked for translations on the internet of the songs that my sisters listened to and I told them what they means, then throughout elementary school I acquired the foundations of my second language. I hadn't taken English classes at all, until in sixth grade, during the last day of school and we didn't have much to do, our teacher taught us in an hour to say “Hello, how are you? ”, to answer “Fine, thanks, and you?” and to say “School”. Instead, I received Spanish classes throughout my academic life, which has always seemed wonderful to me. Upon entering middle school, I was formally taught English for the first time, it was not difficult for me because of what I had already acquired years ago by myself. The English classes continued until 6th grade, and I think that between those years I acquired the next two levels of English. During those years (middle and high school) I was working in a place, where sometimes I received foreign clients, and there I could practice my English a little more often. When I finished high school I was away from everything academic for 3 years, until 2020 when I took some private English classes. In 2021 I entered the university, where I am currently, and I think I acquired the B2. Also, I started Italian classes a semester ago. I really like the 3 languages ​​in my life, and I take it upon myself to share a little with my friends and family. I am working on developing my skills and reaching more levels in these languages. I hope to learn some more in the next few years.