Gloria Jimenez is a multicultural contributor for Community Link on WISH-TV. Gloria opened up with us today on her experience learning the English language.

Gloria is originally from Peru. She moved to the United States in 2002 to Los Angeles, California. When Gloria first came to the United States she did not know any English.

Living in a large Hispanic Community did not help her learn English because she was speaking Spanish a majority of the time in Los Angeles.

“I couldn’t practice my English at all because I worked with a lot of Hispanic people” Gloria said.

In 2012 Gloria decided to move to Indiana because at the time the Hispanic population was very small, and as a journalist Gloria knew she could help change that. Moving into a city with a smaller Hispanic population made Gloria realize she needed to practice her English. This was difficult because she didn’t even know where to start.

“For many years I struggled on my accent and pronunciation, I wanted to practice personal development, learn about finances, and elevating my self-esteem so I started reading lots of books” Gloria said.

Gloria would listen to audio books, since she was new to the English language she was not able to read the books but listening to them helped her learn. Gloria also enjoyed watching YouTube videos on finance and self-esteem.

“I have listened to more than 100 audio books in the last 2-3 years, I can say that I learned a lot about finance, wealth, wealth management, becoming a business owner, self esteem, and how I can help others,” Gloria said.

After lot’s of practice Gloria was finally able to feel more confident when speaking English. Since overcoming her language barrier, Gloria was also able to see personal and professional growth within herself.

“I recommend if you know someone who is struggling with their accent or they want to learn more English, start changing the channel and have them watch more video’s in English and even listen to music in English because it will develop their ears and make them understand better” Gloria said.

Learning the English language made a huge improvement to Gloria’s life and career. She now encourages and helps the growing Hispanic Community in Indianapolis learn the English language.

If you or someone you know want to learn the English language, click here to find English courses near you.