Millionaire Librarian

Part of the reason we chose Ecuador as our home is the language. Spanish is a Romance language, and English has some Latin roots, so many words between the two are similar. This was a welcome change from my time in Korea, where almost no words overlapped with English.

I had also taken some Spanish classes in high school and college. However, that was decades ago, and I have never been the strongest language learner.

Though I was initially worried about the language barrier, my experiences in Korea taught me how little of a language you actually need to handle basic tasks. There are also excellent translator apps available now.

One thing to know about Ecuador is that very few people speak much English, so knowing some Spanish genuinely helps. Some older expats have lived here happily without learning much, and that is certainly possible, but learning the language opens up the culture and the inner lives of the people around you.

My wife speaks Spanish better than I do, though we came to it with a similar background. We also take regular lessons with a teacher who comes to our house. By the end of each session, my brain hurts from all the mental effort.

Our three-year-old daughter has been in a Spanish-speaking preschool for about nine months now. She understands a great deal of Spanish but speaks very little. We had her Spanish assessed by a speech therapist, and she is now attending speech therapy a couple of times a week to help her catch up with her peers. Her therapist says she is already bilingual.

Though challenging, learning Spanish again and conversing with Ecuadorians has been one of the most rewarding parts of living here. I have conversations in Spanish with multiple people every day. Sometimes I won’t catch something and just roll with it. I often sound like a toddler — and ironically, I can understand Ecuadorian toddlers pretty well. My wife likes to say this experience has probably staved off dementia by a decade, given everything we have had to learn.