I love the United Kingdom, but one of my biggest gripes is our misled expectation that wherever we go abroad, there’ll be people local to that area able to conform to our requirements and communicate in English. Arrogance? In some cases possibly, but in the majority of instances, I believe mis-education reigns supreme. I’ve never really known the learning of different languages to take precedence in the British education system; in my experience, they were never really promoted as an essential skill in comparison to other subjects throughout my time at school.

I’ll be the first to admit that whilst I was attentive in my French and German classes as a child, I didn’t truly take enough interest in learning as I never really thought the skills would come in use later in life; unless I moved to France or Germany, why would I need them? As children we were never told languages could open up fantastic career opportunities in future, let alone allow us to open our horizons speaking to new and interesting people.

Ultimately, it was Slovenia that proved to be an awakening for me. That aha! moment in life when you think, “you know what, I’m just going to go for it”. I’ve always had a sense of inner embarrassment wherever I’ve travelled at relying on the local people to speak English, and I’d been mulling over this topic with my friend as we sank a few beers following another long day of walking and exploring. That night as I retired to bed, I thought I’d google local night-time courses teaching Spanish near to my home in South Birmingham. Bingo. I found a local college offering a 10-week beginners course; two hours per lesson, all for a price of £100!