While tonight's Game 5 of the NBA Finals is deservedly getting all of the headlines today, this is also a big week for those of us who are golf fans--it's U.S. Open time, which begins on Thursday. At this morning's press conference, the English language was a point of discussion for the tenth-ranked player in the world, and recent Arizona State University grad, Spaniard Jon Rahm. Rahm has not only adapted nicely to the professional game in his first season on tour, he has also developed an excellent grasp of English in just a few short years. He wisely figured out that if you want to be successful not only in America but around the world, becoming proficient in English is absolutely vital. Learning a new language is a common struggle for many of today's immigrant and first-generation college students. Rahm tells us how he did it:
REPORTER: This is not a U.S. Open question, per se, but is it true that when you first came over here to ASU, you didn't speak much English? How did you get so good at English so quickly?
JON RAHM: Well, I didn't know much English. I did make some extra effort in Spain to learn English, but my level wasn't good enough to be able to live a life in English. It was hard. When people talked to me it was a long process for me to translate that sentence from English to Spanish, understand it, think what I wanted to say and translate it from Spanish to English. It was at least a 10 to 15 second process where I just felt really awkward. A lot of times I responded yes or no when the question was nothing related to yes or no. And it really was a struggle.
I mean I'll never forget my first class, I went to micro economic principles, the class had about 365 students, the teacher was speaking with a microphone, I could not understand a single word. The first month, yeah, it was a little bit uphill.
Funny enough I was in business communications and I changed to just communications, as ironic as it may sound. One of my first classes was public speaking, and that helped me out a lot. All I had to do was just speak in public. It was a little harder for me, but I've never been shy to speak in public. So having to practice and all the reading I had to do in communications and all the writing helped me out to develop my English. And again, as weird and funny as it may sound, one of my teammates really got me into rap music, and memorizing those lyrics helped out with enunciation and pronunciation. Having to be able to say those words at a fast pace helped me out a lot. I'm not kidding.
Speak, write, and listen to music--pretty good advice for developing your English skills.
REPORTER: This is not a U.S. Open question, per se, but is it true that when you first came over here to ASU, you didn't speak much English? How did you get so good at English so quickly?
JON RAHM: Well, I didn't know much English. I did make some extra effort in Spain to learn English, but my level wasn't good enough to be able to live a life in English. It was hard. When people talked to me it was a long process for me to translate that sentence from English to Spanish, understand it, think what I wanted to say and translate it from Spanish to English. It was at least a 10 to 15 second process where I just felt really awkward. A lot of times I responded yes or no when the question was nothing related to yes or no. And it really was a struggle.
I mean I'll never forget my first class, I went to micro economic principles, the class had about 365 students, the teacher was speaking with a microphone, I could not understand a single word. The first month, yeah, it was a little bit uphill.
Funny enough I was in business communications and I changed to just communications, as ironic as it may sound. One of my first classes was public speaking, and that helped me out a lot. All I had to do was just speak in public. It was a little harder for me, but I've never been shy to speak in public. So having to practice and all the reading I had to do in communications and all the writing helped me out to develop my English. And again, as weird and funny as it may sound, one of my teammates really got me into rap music, and memorizing those lyrics helped out with enunciation and pronunciation. Having to be able to say those words at a fast pace helped me out a lot. I'm not kidding.
Speak, write, and listen to music--pretty good advice for developing your English skills.