For many students, knowing another language serves a greater purpose than just testing out of a foreign language requirement in college. Whether engaging in a casual conversation in Spanish with their coworker at a local restaurant or communicating in Hindi with farmers in India, language connects students to new communities. Multilingualism can open the doors to unique jobs, internships and volunteer opportunities.
Some students use their knowledge of Spanish to engage with the local Spanish-speaking community, such as senior Annika Talwar, who helped Spanish-speaking students learn English when she interned at Belle Haven Elementary School during MTerm in her junior year. Because many students did not speak English, Talwar helped translate the material on the board.
“The students who didn’t speak English felt isolated from their peers. There was a table at the edge of the classroom, and it was a table of kids who only spoke Spanish, and so they were separated, almost, because they couldn’t connect with their peers,” she said. “By knowing Spanish, it was just easier to build community and make them feel more comfortable and welcome.” Talwar also found it useful to learn Spanish when she volunteered for food distribution at the Boys and Girls Club.
Senior Marcia Santos volunteered for a church in a Spanish-speaking community and distributed homemade food to raise money for the church. “When we were volunteering there, it just made them feel more comfortable [when we spoke Spanish too],” Santos said. “You felt like you were a part of the community if you were able to connect with them by speaking something that they felt more comfortable in.” Santos could take on roles involving interaction instead of those behind the scenes because of her Spanish-speaking abilities.
Santos also used her Spanish to communicate with customers while working a summer job at In-N-Out in 2023. “When you know Spanish, you see the relief, and it’s kind of nice,” she said.
Similarly, junior Matthew Franc interacted with his coworkers in Spanish when he worked at Galata Bistro, a Turkish restaurant in Menlo Park. “It’s simple things. I can say ‘hi’ and talk about if there’s a soccer game going on. There was a dishwasher who I talked with a little bit,” he said. Franc’s Spanish-speaking skills also improved when he listened to his coworkers’ conversations.
Senior Katie Bischof, too, uses Spanish when conducting mock interviews to help immigrants — most of whom are Spanish speakers — prepare for their citizenship test. “It’s very rare that someone speaks fluent English, so being able to speak Spanish avoids that complete language barrier,” she said. “It’s a little bit of Spanglish on both sides.” Without a basic understanding of the language, interacting with those who only spoke Spanish would have been difficult.
However, Spanish isn’t the only language students use for extracurriculars. Seniors Rhea Nandal and Navya Nandani received the HAND grant to study farmer suicide and mental health in India. While Nandal does not consider herself fluent in Hindi, her basic knowledge of the language allowed her to conduct comprehensive interviews with farmers in Hindi. “[If I hadn’t known Hindi], the people we were interviewing would be less comfortable,” she said.
When senior Sophie Lenart’s employer, an American 3D printing company, partnered with a French software company on a project, she helped write a press release about the partnership and translated it into French. “Given that I speak both English and French fluently, that was a really useful skill, because in marketing, it’s all about nuances of words,” she said.
