Q&A Carrying out research in a new language

I recently received the following interesting question (edited for anonymity):

Dear Eva,

I have received your weekly emails for awhile now and they are always so informative! I am a doctoral candidate at XXXX University graduating this spring and hoping to expand my research into Latin America.

I have a basic foundation in Spanish but conducting research in Spanish feels intimidating! I wonder if you have advice and resources that assisted you in transitioning to life and research in Spanish.

Thank you for your help!

Here’s my answer:

Thanks for reaching out!

I must say that I spoke no Spanish at all when I moved to Ecuador and I never took a language course. I did Duolingo when I moved to Ecuador, and listened to the coffee break Spanish podcast.

What has served me most, is just trying as much as possible and to start replying emails in Spanish instead of English, as well as just live life and have to go to buy things and go to the doctor while speaking Spanish. Practicing as much as possible is key here, I think.

Do you have any colleagues or friends who are Spanish speaking, who could volunteer some of their time to help you practice?