"My UW language classes were my FUN classes. I ate great food that my professors shared with us, was exposed to musical artists that I still listen to today, and watched excellent films that widened my world view."
Major(s) and Certificate(s): Majors in Communication Sciences & Disorders and Italian; Certificate in Chican@ and Latin@ Studies
Language(s): Italian, Portuguese
Graduation Year: 2015
What motivated you to study this/these languages?
Spanish because I grew up speaking it at home with my family but wanted to learn a different language and always thought Italian sounded beautiful. When I got to UW I skipped all the grammar and language classes available for Italian and jumped straight into a literature course so I could get retro credits but when I found out that I was already halfway to a full Italian major, I decided to just keep going! I really enjoy learning foreign languages and Italian was similar enough to my native language of Spanish, which made it fun and stress free, but also different enough that I felt very accomplished and proud of myself to be able to speak it so well. I also took Portuguese 301, Advanced Portuguese for Speakers of Other Romance Languages, in my last year as a student because I always thought Portuguese sounded really pretty and fun. I was so grateful to be able to take a course that took into account that, as a speaker of other Romance languages, I already had the foundation for the language so I was able to learn A LOT.
What do you remember about your UW language classes? How were they different from other classes you took?
My UW language classes were my FUN classes. I ate great food that my professors shared with us, was exposed to musical artists that I still listen to today, and watched excellent films that widened my world view. The history, culture, and literature courses made me a better rounded individual. Since they were so small and we often took the same courses at the same time, I felt like I had a little family.
What have you done in a professional capacity since graduating from UW-Madison?
As soon as I graduated from UW in 2015, I enrolled in the Speech- Language Pathologist Masters program at the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign and completed it in 2017. I have been a bilingual speech language pathologist, SLP, ever since. For the first 5 years of my career, I worked as an SLP at an elementary school. Last year, I went independent and started my speech therapy private practice, Palabras Speech Therapy LLC.
What are ways, either expected or unexpected, that your language study has benefited you in your career?
I haven’t used any Italian or Portuguese in my career at ALL, which is a bummer, but I am sure that someday sooner or later I’ll get a client who needs speech therapy for their child in either Italian or Portuguese and I’ll probably be one of the only, if not the only, one who speaks it in Chicago. I use Spanish every single day in my career. While I have never taken a Spanish course, I speak it and write it with great proficiency and I know that my Spanish benefited indirectly from my Italian and Portuguese studies because as my grammar improved in those languages, it also transferred over and helped my Spanish, as well. I can speak Spanish clinically and professionally and I know this is partially due to my Italian and Portuguese courses.
How have you maintained or improved your language(s) since graduation?
Making friends and finding pen pals who speak my target languages i.e. Tandem app. Watching YouTube videos in my target language.
What advice do you have for students who are studying language(s) about how to incorporate their interests and skills into their future goals?
Find internships and mentorships and apprenticeships with people who speak your target languages so you start to incorporate yourself into their circles.
Find out how needed your language is in whatever sector you plan to join professionally and become confident in marketing yourself and your unique skillset.