I was intrigued to see firsthand how much Western culture and the English language are spreading around the world. While I am learning more about how and why this is happening, I still find it a bit sad. The concept itself is not bad, of course, because it enables more people to communicate with each other, but I personally don't want to see the whole world become more and more homogenous. I feel that as the world becomes more and more of one culture, we will lose the richness, beauty and diversity that makes this planet unique. In Spain, as Castellano Spanish was being pushed more on all parts of Spain during Franco's dictatorship, Gallego (the language of Galicia) was pushed to the side. Today, Galicians are working hard to teach it to the next generation and preserve the language. I have loved to see this celebration of the uniqueness of Galician culture and language. However, it is still seen by some as synonymous with the uneducated.
I would say that my Spanish is still at the intermediate level. I still lack an extensive vocabulary, often conjugate verbs incorrectly, and rarely (successfully) incorporate the subjunctive into a sentence. However, I think if I saw myself now when I began studying Spanish, I would be impressed. Fluency is relative. I am learning to better define fluency for myself. My goal as I continue to learn Spanish is to know more than I knew before, to speak better than I spoke before and to always keep learning. I don't think I will ever sound like a native speaker because I could never be a native speaker, and I didn't start learning Spanish at a young enough age to get to that point. Because of this, I am trying to stop comparing myself to native Spanish speakers.
