One of my first “aha” moments in Costa Rica was realizing just how intense the language barrier would be. I had a very basic understanding of Spanish, and my host parents did not speak any English. I knew going into the program that communication would be a challenge, but I don’t think I fully understood what that would mean until I arrived. One of the first conversations I had with my host parents was on the day I arrived. We quickly realized that I spoke very little Spanish and my host dad spoke no English, so we turned to Google Translate. He asked if I was hungry and wanted a sandwich, and while I was eating, he asked me a few questions to get to know me better. It was a simple interaction, but it was also one that stuck with me. Even though we couldn’t communicate easily through words, he was making an effort to welcome me into his home and make sure I was comfortable. 

Throughout my time there, translation apps became a big part of my daily life. They made communication much easier than it would have been otherwise, but they also came with their own challenges. Sometimes things would get lost in translation, or I wouldn’t know how to express what I actually wanted to say. There were conversations I wanted to have with my host family but couldn’t fully participate in because I didn’t have the words. I found this frustrating at times because I wanted to build a deeper connection with the people I was living with, but the language barrier made that difficult. 

Despite the challenges, there were also a lot of moments when the language barrier became something we could all laugh about. We would joke around about translation errors and misunderstandings, and over time I became more comfortable trying to communicate even when I wasn’t sure if I was saying something correctly. Toward the end of the program, my Spanish had improved quite a bit. I could have simple conversations with my host family using a few words and phrases. Even if my sentences weren’t perfect, we could usually get the point across. They also learned little things about me, like how much I love their cat. Sometimes all it took was a gesture towards the cat or saying El gato with a big smile for them to understand what I was trying to express. 

This experience changed the way I think about communication. As a communication major, I’ve spent a lot of time learning about how people share information and understand one another. Before this experience, I placed a lot of emphasis on spoken language as a necessary part of effective communication. In Costa Rica, I learned how much can be communicated through gestures, facial expressions, and actions. My host dad offering me a sandwich on my first day is a good example of this. We barely shared a language, but I still understood that he was trying to make me feel welcome. I also learned that communication doesn’t always have to be perfect to be meaningful. Because I was there to learn Spanish, even conversations that didn’t go exactly as planned were still valuable. I was learning new words, picking up on context clues, and becoming more comfortable with the uncertainty of not understanding everything. Even when conversation wasn’t completely effective in the traditional sense, it was still helping me grow.