7. English

During my trip to Santiago it really hit me just how little English is spoken outside of Buenos Aires. In most countries (I think) English is offered to youngsters at a very early age. It appears not to be the case in Argentina. I am yet to find a fluent English speaker in my town, but what really surprised me was that the younger generation (<25) speak hardly any English at all. I live next to a carpentry shop that employs around 4 youngsters work for them and none of them really speak any English. What is even more surprising is the fact their girlfriend, who sometimes come over for Friday night drinks, speak better English than their boyfriends!

I am blessed with being born in a country that speaks English (well sort of) as a first language and now that I am learning Spanish it really emphasises how hard it is to learn other language. Some of my friends speaking 4, 5 or even 6 languages mainly because of their parents or being stationed in various countries around the world when they are young. I learned Japanese as a teenager and if I would keep it up I would have been conversational without a doubt – now I can remember nada!

The ability to speak English is a game changer for people that want to create new opportunities for themselves and in some cases, their families as well. I have asked some of my friends here why they don’t teach English more proactively and the response is surprisingly simple. People don’t know the opportunities that exist if they were to learn English. The vast proportion of people here have limited prospects, not because they don’t want to, its because they don’t know what is on offer if they learn English!