I started studying Spanish in 7th grade and German in high school. I loved learning foreign languages, so I majored in Spanish and German at UC Irvine, where I got a BA in both Spanish and German, and an MA in German. I also traveled to Mexico and Honduras in junior high and high school, spent a year in Germany at college, lived in Spain for a year teaching English in Barcelona, and finally lived from 1982-1992 in Hamburg, Germany teaching English at the University of Hamburg. That's how I learned Spanish and German!