Duolingo: you are on a 60 day streak keep it up if you want to see your children ever again

*she's wearing sunglasses because the lights were too bright* lmaoo what a queen

I am fluent in Dutch and English. Had 8 years of French, 10 years of German and am now on my 4th year of Spanish. I get so confused, I’ll start a sentence in one language and then midway won’t know a word in said language, but will know it in another language

Not gonna lie, this really touched my heart and hit home. As a Puerto Rican who doesn't know Spanish very well, I was shamed a lot by most other Latinos around me for being only English-speaking. I didn't get encouragement from anyone, just dirty looks followed by "You need to learn Spanish." I would try to pronounce what I knew and then it's "You sound so White." I used to be bitter about it and I actually stopped putting any effort into learning for so many years because, eff it, if they didn't like me for this one trait, they're just not gonna like me regardless so what's the point? But I realized that my culture is way more than just a handful of rude people. No matter how many times I get called a gringa, no one can ever take away my blood. This is my culture, and I have every right to be just as proud of it as any other Puerto Rican. So I've finally started learning Spanish again, but this time, for no one else but myself. And I think that I've been making more progress than I ever did when I was trying to learn for everybody else. Thank you for this video, Maya. It's a warm reminder that I'm not alone and that people like us aren't any less Latino.

Thank you for watching! I poured my heart and soul into this video. It was an experience but I hope you guys gained something from it ❤️

“Porque...... si.” 😂😂

Me: *forgets to open duolingo* Duo owl: you forgot your Spanish lessons you know what happens now 🔪 Back door: *opens*

The granny looks like the duolingo hit man for those who miss a Spanish lesson.

Maya's mom sounds exactly like her! I thought she was lip-synching for a second!

This makes me so grateful that my parents only spoke Spanish to me at home. I am beyond proud that spanish was my first language even though I was born in the U.S. I never had any problems growing up and learning English, I don’t have an accent either. I understand why parents wouldn’t teach them Spanish, but personally if I ever have children, I will teach them Spanish, without a doubt. I commend her for wanting to learn!!!!

This is literally me. I'm afraid to learn Spanish because I'm scared I won't sound good enough or I won't speak it well, but this is definitely motivating!

Honestly, if I, a German who speaks fluent Spanish and started learning it at just 17-year-old, packed up my bags and went to a country where it's spoken (Spain), practiced as much as possible with my latino friends, you as a Mexican- American or any Latin-American can do it, too. You already have a cultural connection to the language and it's like Julissa said: You need to stop second-guessing yourself when you want to learn a language. That's the key. Simplemente hay que hablar, sin importarse de lo que digan los demás!

The PeroLike team has such a unique, beautiful friendship! It’s so cool to see them help Maya. You can tell they care so much for their friend. 💜

Some people are naturally gifted at learning languages, and some people like Maya and have to put in a little extra work to really get it. But at the end of the day, as long as you try and are consistent, you’ll see improvement. Bien hecho mamita 😄👏🏾

Her accent picked up nicely.

I have a bachelor's degree in Spanish. And I work as a translator. I feel like my Spanish is so inadequate, but every time I'm working with a client they're so beautiful and I feel like many people, especially the elder Spanish-speaking community, they're just so nice and will explain things with such patience that it takes away a lot of the speaking anxiety

You got this girl. I think Mexican Americans have it the hardest cause you have to either prove your mexican enough or american enough. But you have to be comfortable with yourself girl. Im a first generation Mexican American and i still struggle with talking correctly and have call my parents to ask them questions. Its okay mamas you will learn your already half way there.

I think that Maya's shyness kind of impaired her from learning the language but she tried so hard and its definitely paying off! So proud of you mamita!

My spanish sucks. And my parents would always say "arent you embarrassed that you're mexican and cant speak spanish" but the thing was my parents werent around a lot because they would always work so I never really learned it well.

You know sometimes as Latinos we are so easy to judge how other Latinos don’t know how to speak Spanish. Watching this is an example of the other side of the story and we don’t know why they struggle in speaking their ethnic language. Good job girl!!!

RELATABLE. I'm Nigerian and I can understand Yoruba but can't really speak much. You get judged when you don't know how to respond in your native tongue. I'm learning too.

I'm not latina but I love Spanish and Pero Like so much. This one is probably my favorite video so far. Maya creo en tu mami 😊 - atentamente, una jamaicana 🇯🇲😚

I really like the attitude of 'try' even though you're messing up. In my house we welcomed my friends practicing spanish because my mom and dad found it endearing that people want to communicate and wanted to foster an environment of effort. Occasionally they would tease my friends (and me) but that was just a way of letting us know that they wanted us to keep trying to learn and practice spanish.

Maya, some advice: watch tv shows in spanish (maybe translated or original spanish-speaning show) with captions. Thats how I learned english, now im fluent in both. Also, to keep this up, Duolingo is great for daily excercises.

Being Mexican-American is one of the hardest things ever (for me). My parents are from Mexico and I was born and raised in the United States. I remember that in my house I would always speak Spanish, sometimes I didn't know how to say or translate a certain thing so I would have to say it in English. I had to translate for my parents the majority of the time because they didn't know English very well. My parents did teach me Spanish although I didn't speak it 100% correctly. In 2010 we moved to Mexico, it was a very difficult time for me because when I started school I suffered from bullying because I didn't speak Spanish correctly as everyone else. For them I was never "Mexican" enough, I was the "gringa presumida" which had nothing to do with me. I believe that they would say that about me because when we would have English class I would always raise my hand because it was the only class that I knew the answers correctly. My future plans for my kids are to teach them both languages and also teach them to be very proud of their heritage & to not let anyone tell them that they aren't Mexican or American enough.

Aww when she started crying 😭 don’t worry girl, you got this 💗

That excess baggage mindset is a very common choice for parents and I don’t get why. So many parents don’t teach their kids other languages, like Spanish, because they think they are helping their kids fit in more by hiding their culture as much as possible but in reality they are putting their kids at a disadvantage because knowing multiple languages makes you more likely to get jobs and even allows you not have to take a language in high school.

Because, yes

I usually don't comment, but this resonates with me painfully. As a afro-latina, I don't look as Mexican as some of my other family members since I'm on the browned side of the spectrum, but I have more pride about bring latina than they do. I've finally started doing Spanish lessons because I know that that is part of my heritage and it should be embraced more. I want my children, if I have any, to know what blood is in them and to be proud of it. Maya, thank you so much for making me feel not alone in this struggle. Thank you thank you.

Not being able to speak Spanish is very emotional for me too. I’m having to get over the same exact issues as I’m learning now. Gracias

I love that she had coworkers who speak fluent Spanish who were so willing to help her ❤

My mom and grandma never taught me Spanish and I’m studying the language, but I hate when people say it’s easy...when I see all the different conjugations for a single verb I start to have anxiety that I will never be fluent. The frustration settling in while studying is 100% true and my mom has seen it. But I practice with her whenever I can :) and hopefully I’ll have a full conversation with my cousins without feeling like I don’t belong 😭

*When she starts learning pretérito*- u wait for subjuntivo babe it’s a whole other beast

i would love to see you do a fluency by immersion documentary...like stay in a spanish speaking country for a week or two and see how much more fluent you become! way to go!!!! its awesome to see someone put so much earnest effort to learn the language of your ancestors. ♡♡♡♡♡♡

Same with Chinese... my parents are Chinese, both speaking fluent Cantonese but spoke to me in English because I grew up in the UK. They spoke little bits to me so I understand the basic/moderate Cantonese but I don’t know how to write and phrase most sentences. It’s hard and if I don’t learn now I know I’ll regret it.

Ahhh I wish you guys put Spanish subtitles for those of us who want to know what exactly y'all were saying! I love this video so much and connected with a lot of it. Buen trabajo y muchas gracias!

maya i totally understand how you feel. i’m half colombian and half chinese so growing up i wasn’t taught spanish by my parents, but i learned a lot of spanish from my grandma. but at the same time, i feel very embarrassed when i speak spanish so i ended up losing a lot of it. but now ive started learning again and i’m almost fluent. so maya if i could do it you could do it too! :)

"Oh actually I got that from Gadiel" I lost it XD

You did so good!! Im mexican so spanish is my first language and I'm also fluent in english BUT I studied english since I was 4 years old (Im 23 now) so the fact that you made that progress so fast is amazing, congrats!!

This is too real. I am going rough this right now (Soy Afroestadoudiense). Your lucky to have people around you to speak to whenever, I live in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Virginia and I have next to no one to speak with.

I loved this! My son is having the same problem with Spanish. He used to speak Spanish when he was a child but when he started school they put him in the ESOL program. The teachers told me if I didn't want him to be behind in school I needed to speak more English at home and we needed to watch TV in english. I followed their advice. As a parent, this is one of the biggest regrets of my life. (Although I couldn't go to straight English in the house, I spoke it 80% of the time... except when I was upset... it's haaaaaard to express myself thoroughly in English when I'm upset. The words don't make pictures in your mind like our words do😂😂😂). Anyway... my son graduated from High School last summer and is now really trying to learn Spanish again. You sound a lot like how he sounds when he talks. But as a mom, I'm just happy to hear him speaking Spanish again. Keep it up! You guys are doing great💜💜💜💜

I love this. I'm Nigerian and I don't speak my native language (Yoruba) and this has made me want to learn

So appreciative that Maya wears her heart on her sleeve and puts her insecurities out there for everyone to see. I relate to her as a Mexican American woman who speaks little Spanish and always gets shit about it. Trying my best to speak the language, but honestly, I've accepted that my connection with my heritage isn't anyone else's business. Love Pero Like!!

Vocab: easy Grammar: hard Hotel: trivago

I feel you girl! My mother came from Mexico and married a white american making me! As a kid I couldn't speak either language just bits of each others and I moved away from my mom who was my spanish teacher. I'm 18 now and I practice with her but to be f l u e n t is my goal

Who was waiting for this since Maya’s insta story 🙋🏽‍♀️

You did an awesome job Maya! As an ESL teacher, and former ESL student, I can relate to this video on so many levels. I’m so glad you overcame your fears and you were able to improve so much in such a short amount of time. Thank you for being real, these are the struggles of learning a second language. Your Spanish is already great, sigue practicando y verás que en poco tiempo hablarás un español fluido. Awesome job with this video, me encantó!! ❤️❤️

this gave me so much hope. i haven't really met/seen anyone in my situation regarding language learning. Everyone else on KZfaq in language were taught four languages as kids, so ofc its easier for them to learn. When they already know so much, its harder for me to have confidence in learning a second language. I've never seen anyone learn a language when they only know english. it just feels good to be represented.

I'm in the same boat as you Maya. I really want to dedicate myself to Spanish but my school also requires I learn Latin, and while I know basic phrases and all the tenses and I can read, write and understand mostly well, and I mentally know how everything is pronounced, I have this crippling fear that in public and even in private conversations, everything just comes out wrong. I know hindering myself from talking to people is counterproductive because it's the only way I'll get better at speaking but it's really straining to my confidence. It's nice to know I'm not alone, is all I'm saying.

Honestly, I don't know a word in Spanish.. But I love Pero Like. They are like a family and it warms my heart ❤️❤️❤️

I loooooove how supportive y’all are with each other and I love how much of a family y’all are.

Why does this sound like the title of a buzzfeed video??? 🧐😹 Edit: then I realised it was buzzfeed 😹

Maya came through with the vocals 😍

I am in the same spot... Seeing your progress is freaking AWESOME. I can not wait to get there

Thank you so much for sharing and being so open, vulnerable, and real about your struggles throughout this process, as well as for constantly pushing yourself outside your comfort zone and through your self-doubt. You and your experience are so inspiring for me and, no doubt, for others who are starting to learn - or relearn - this beautiful and powerfully expressive language.

Omg you sounded sooo good and confident towards the end of the video! I’d love to see an update video on how it’s going. How confident you’re feeling now.

The biggest problem for people that are English native speaker when it comes to learning Spanish is *G E N D E R S* EVERYTHING HAS A GENDER. The moon is female and sun is male. The sea can be both (in poetry it can be female) and in normal conversations is male. Most gringos I've met have this problem, they speak perfectly except for that 😂

I’m a Spanish minor with NO prior experience with Spanish. This gave me so much hope. 😭

yoan y gadiel 😍 aparte de eso thats awesome that you didnt give up. I have 7 years speaking it even though iwas raised in a spanish speaking household. I just could never pick it up. Then i chose to learn because its a beautiful culture and i wanted to be able to be closer to it. I still suck at it BUT when i go visit in mexico they understand somethings dont come out right, but they understand me sooo much now. And its nice not having to go to my mom to translate everything for me when my tios woukd ask me stuff!!!! Keep up the great job!

Maya I'm so happy for you, honestly, thank you so much for showing such efforts and sides of you and it makes me smile that is never too late to get back on track or learning new things in life. This video honestly made me smile

This is makes feel so much better about learning Spanish so slowly and feeling so frustrated at the feeling of being so bad at it. Thank you for this video.

Love she is learning SPANISH! I am also trying to get my French fluent since this will be my 3rd language. I seriously don’t get why racist people in the USA want to shove only English when there are many countries who teach more than one language. We need to be bilingual it opens up so much more opportunities! It’s not easy but I know you will be fluent in no time! You got it! Si se puede!!!

This inspired me to pick up Mandarin, which I haven't spoken since I was 4.

I am currently taking Spanish lessons at 40, and I’m feeling all the same insecurities that you were. Thank you for this video because I felt like I was the only one feeling these frustrations!! I love learning the language, but it’s hard!! I’m jealous you have all the Latinos around you to help you along...wish I had that kind of support system

Yoán’s smile, damn. A snack

I knew I connected with Maya in some way. My family comes from Ghana and my parents spoke twi fluently but didn't teach us so it's definitely has been a struggle, with myself and my culture.

I love it! Its very hard especially where im from here in South Tejas to fit in or be comfortable where the majority of the people around you speak fluent spanish or even Spanglish and i cant communicate back unless its in english. Lo intiendo pero no hable bien is as good as it gets for me. Thank you sooo much for this video. Its a great motivator and im lucky enough to have good people around me to help when i do get the courage to ask. Keep up the good work mi bien amiga. Muchas Gracias!!!!!

This is so important to me! I’m 3rd or 4th gen, can’t speak Spanish, and it’s isolating. It’s awesome knowing I’m not alone. Now I want to learn Spanish (more than I already did). Y’all should start a series to teach us Spanish. I found this video on my Facebook. I knew pero like existed but I didn’t think it was “for” me because I can’t speak Spanish. Now I want to watch more videos.

maya you have no idea how much i relate to you. i’m 3rd generation cuban american and puerto rican american. i’m learning spanish but at times i want to give up because of all the bullying i get at school. for 2 years i’ve thought i was the only person who was dealing with this but i’m not alone. thank you maya for helping me not give up on a language that’s important to my family❤️

Dear, Maya. In really wearly occasions, I commented in youtube´s videos, specially, because I believe, there is a lot of people commenting, and mine will be just one of the tousand, that probably nobody its going to care or even read. Whoever, I cant let pass this oportunity, for telling you, I realeted to your experience. I´m a mexican college student and right now, I´m struggling with university, my intership job and learning english (Also I should probably mention, in Mexico, we go straight forward to are degree, so, This is my LAST year in college). I totally, uderstand what you bent through, I have a really great suuppor group in this experience, I have a lot of native english speakers friends, and teachers how help me, but sometimes with the school, myi intership job, personal life and everything else including self doubt, It makes really hard to get time for study. Listen to you, It motivated me, to keep trying it. I know spanish it´s a really complicated language, but also it´s a beautiful one. For example, we have a lot of ways to say I love you, and we joke about with certain doble meaning on almost everyting. If I can keep learning about conditionals and perfect tenses, Im sure you will be able to "el pasado" , the "copreterito" and also You dont make me start with APA regulations about papers in spanish (lol) So keep trying concha! Sincerly, I really mexican girl with a very broken accent in english

Oh my gosh! I love this video so much! I feel the exact same way! I'm 1/4 Puerto Rican and rest is a big mix of Spanish, Italian and Apache. The story about how Spanish was gradually lost is exactly the same for me on all sides of family and now I feel so disconnected from a part of my identity. Thank you for making this video, because it makes me feel better that I'm not alone.

Hey Maya, I don't know if you'll ever see this but I just wanted to say thank you. Thanks for sharing your frustrations and being so open about what it feels like to try and reconnect with a part of you. I am not even latina, but you've helped provide a framework for me for when I learn my own languages.

I went on this same journey in high school! Mom from PR But she never taught me Spanish... Long story short after several years I've finally learned! Keep trying you got this!

Your talk with Gadiel made me cry. I my self am struggling to learn Spanish in school and not forgetting my first language, which is Russian (please don't hate on me). I live in Sweden, where Swedish and English are the languages that I use most of the time, which stresses me because I want to learn more languages yet still keeping and perfect my Russian. Language is a powerful tool that I believe is as important as math or physics. Tú es increíble, con o sin español.

Ayyy Maya I understand what you’re going through!! Keep going, we’re all so proud of you and supporting you! ❤️

I have an argentinian grandmother and she spoke spanish to me most of my life but for the last couple of years we are not speaking as much. I started to learn spanish again because I forgot everthing as well and I coud really connect with the things you were saying. It really helps to see more people going through the things I am going through so thank you for posting it and I am so happy for you that you did it

Is nobody really gonna focus on the fact her grandma said "estoy cagando" that shit cracked me up 😂😂😂 pun intended 😉

people don't get fluent super fast. look at how long it takes children to learn how to really talk even thougj they hear it all the time. studying a language takes times and practice. a good thing to learn is reading manga or comic book in that language. becaise it's short conversation sentences. and you just keep seeing the same words. keep a dictionnary with you and take the time to search every word you don't know or the ones you kibd of know but can't translate exactly. series in the language too. with subtittles BUT subs in the same language so you can't cheat but that still helps!^^ and use a paper dictionnary. not internet one. you remember it better when you actually search for it. childrens books cak be usefull to learn little by little with easy stuff ( like a child actually learn his mothertongue) bit it can be boring so manga are more entertaining i feel. and lots of different stories, style and alsp level of difficulty. and the most important! be patient and compassionate toward yourself!!!! you didnt learn how to walk in one day and you fell quite a lot on the process^^ it doesnt lower you value as a person. remember that you're not a pro, you're learning^^ 😙👍

This video has been soo inspirational for me and my language learning journey! I use to speak Spanish fluently, but then I moved (military family) and it just went to the wayside, but for years I have been wanting to learn Spanish again, and I am telling myself 2019 will be the year for me

I'm not Latina but I have been studying Spanish and I really connected with this video so much because learning a new language is scary and you make a lot of mistakes! I think it is amazing that you continued to push through despite the challenges you faced! This has really inspired me to dedicate more time to learning Spanish and i'm glad i'm not the only one feeling this way.

Omg this video is so relatable. Im boricua & Dominican. Both my parents speak English & Spanish fluently, but somehow i can't speak Spanish well. Makes me feel less connected to the Hispanic culture & community. Nice to know I'm not the only one struggling with this

Mayaaaaaa boooo we love you!!!

reconnecting with your roots, that's the main reason. You did a great job and I hope you continue to learn the language, because it's part of who you are. As sons and daughters of immigrants we can't help but instinctively look for that part of our identity, I understand to a certain point why our parents wanted us to be part of the new culture they were in. They didn't want to make us feel "foreign" but many of us...embrace our origins, learn the language, speak with an accent but what the heck! We do a good job. Sigue aprendiendo.

Girl I needed this. Thank you for opening up. I'm Dutch and Dominican and my mom couldn't learn me Spanish so I'm taking courses right now. But speaking Spanish in a group is sooo out of my comfort zone. I feel so insecure when I don't know how to make a certain sentence or how to ask something. So thank you, we'll get there eventually!

Damn that tutor is HOTTTTT

People like Maya and Selena Quintanilla are such an inspiration to me to learn more Spanish and connect more with my culture. Thank you Maya for showing me to ups and downs of learning Spanish and showing me that it can be done, no matter where you start.❤️

I relate so much to this video ❤️ I’m a 2nd generation Maltese/Australian when I was a kid I spoke fluent Maltese but as I went to school I lost my Maltese ☹️ now at 25 and a mother myself I’m trying so hard to re learn my Maltese so I can teach my daughter. You should be so proud of yourself Maya ❤️

I'm so proud of you for working towards learning the language 👐. Some people don't realise what a commitment and emotional strain it can be especially if you are afraid of being embarrassed, failing or letting down the people who help you ❤.

Tbh I tried not to cry whilst watching this. I’m in the EXACT same boat of trying to practice my Spanish since I lost sooo much of it. I got this app called HelloTalk that lets me speak with others who want me to teach them a language whilst they teach me one as well. As much as I enjoy it, i need more practice. I’m always so discouraged and embarrassed when it’s my turn to speak because I’m so unconfident with my Spanish. The way that you pushed yourself out of your comfort zone really encourages me. Thank you for showing your journey, especially the hard parts. It’s really uplifting.

I adore that on all other levels everybody in pero like is completely equal but when Maya starts to doubt herself everyone get protective and supportive and loving they really are a family

I can relate to this with my father's family being from Guatemala. Trying to acquire Spanish now!

Honestly, this is one of my favorite videos from you. Thank you for sharing your feelings. I’m dealing with something different but have similar feelings of failure. I wish you the best in your journey! ❤️

I can relate!!! Im 100% hispanic and struggle putting sentences together correctly and not being slow.

The interviews with your family members are essentially the story of most first-to-second generation immigrant families. It's unfortunately a very difficult decision to make as a parent in terms of what would make their child's life easier and to help them fit in. I'm a heritage speaker as well, and I totally agree with Julissa: Spit it out, get it wrong, learn it right. Let pride take the back seat. Friends and family will be your best asset in understanding you, your situation, and fixing your little problems. Don't forget to make it enjoyable too - consume target language music, TV shows, and movies that you would normally enjoy in your dominant language.

This whole journey is super relatable to me. I want to learn Spanish as all my grandparents speak it. My parents also didn’t learn it due to how the schools beat the language out of my grandparents in school and they didn’t want the same thing to happen again. My grandmother went through only knowing Spanish to only speaking English to going back to school for Spanish and education so she can help Spanish speaking children in schools. Because of this (and other family members) I know that I can get help from my family and I want to be closer to my culture and family but I’m so scared of failure. Thank you for sharing your journey with us and thank you for making me try my best.

This has given me so much confidence in learning Spanish for my GCSE’s, I’ve been learning Spanish since I was three but recently have been LAGGING BEHIND my class mates that have been speaking Spanish for 4 years... imma work much harder. Muchas gracias por las ayudas en mi español ☺️

Omg you sing amazing!! And the spanish got so good! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

YAS!!!! I loved this video! I have actually made it a goal of mine to practice my Spanish more this year. It kills me when my grandmother says I've lost my Spanish. I don't want to lose communication with my grandparents because I feel like the language barrier creates distance between us. This video has me so motivated! Maya you did amazing!

Thank you for making this video because I saw all the problems that I have with speaking Spanish and to know someone else is going through the same thing and is tackling it made me inspired to do the same !

I have this same struggle with French. I've felt ashamed for a long time for not being able to speak it. But you should totally keep going because recently I've been able to actually communicate with my grandmother for the first time ever, and nothing's more important than that. It took two years of study in my case, because I didn't have a teacher or a practice partner or anything. But it's so worth it. Keep going!!