Hello! I am Paul White, a student of Old Dominion University, with a Bachelor of Science in Cybersecurity. I have registered in this Spanish course to expand my cultural communication skills, increase my professional resources, and self-develop. I have selected Spanish among many other languages that I could choose since Spanish is one of the most commonly spoken languages in the U.S. and other parts of the world, which coincides with my professional objective to seek employment in cybersecurity among a wide range of people and my personal desire to expand my cultural boundaries. In the world of today, where all things are connected, the knowledge of other cultures has become not only an asset, but a must: danger, frailty, and vulnerability can all cross borders of countries and languages. Studying Spanish not only prepares me to speak another language, but also to open up new cultural horizons, the way other people of other backgrounds consider technology and security, and how they can work together better. In addition to language, I will continue to use Spanish in my future environment, be it talking to Spanish-speaking clients and colleagues, writing reports that will be translated to Latin American markets, and taking part in cross-border cybersecurity efforts. Cultural awareness through learning new languages, in my opinion, will not only develop me personally, making me more open, flexible, and world-aware, but also expand my career opportunities in a sector where technical expertise is relatively minor and communication and context are equally important.

Experience

Learners Since I started this course, I have already had a few experiences inside and outside the classrooms when I became more conscious of the Spanish and Hispanic culture. I experienced another lesson in class, when we did a project about cultural norms in Spanish-speaking nations, and realized that language and culture are closely connected to each other, that there is a difference in greetings, tone, and context between one culture and the other. When I went shopping at Aldi or Food Lion, outside the classroom, I heard Spanish speakers, and I could not stop listening to them, also, to the sound and social interaction–they are my neighbors as well. I also experimented with new Hispanic-based food and inquired about the traditions behind them, which further influenced my thinking regarding how I approach the topic of culture in my daily life. I have some specific objectives in my mind as I am still learning Spanish: by the end of this semester, I would like to be able to have a full 10-minute conversation in Spanish with a native speaker; by the end of a year, I would like to visit a Spanish-speaking country and feel like I am using Spanish in my daily life; and by the end of my work on the topic of cybersecurity, I would like to write a short report or a presentation in Spanish. With these objectives fulfilled, new possibilities become available: I might be engaged in cybersecurity ventures benefitting Latin America or Hispanic communities in the U.S., organize the work of bilingual teams, or be a communicator between English-speaking and Spanish-speaking stakeholders. The course has also helped me be more self-aware: I am starting to trace my assumptions on culture and language, and how my identity as an African American student in the cybersecurity field is intertwined with cultural learning. The more I interact with the Spanish and Hispanic culture the more I notice the parallels between what I am studying and the varied world of people that I will be serving in my future career.

Transfer

I think that Spanish skill will be a competitive edge in my professional life in the future, in the sphere of cybersecurity. I have studied job opportunities and discovered that many job ads are asking or seeking bilinguals (Spanish/English). As an example, an advertisement of a bilingual Spanish-English Cybersecurity Analyst at GM Financial states that one has to understand Spanish to effectively work in teams and with Spanish-speaking stakeholders. The other position at Tenable is the bilingual technical support engineer, who should have the ability to speak the Spanish and English languages to assist the cybersecurity products in windows and Linux servers. The presence of these jobs shows that employers are not interested in technical skills only, but also in the skills to interact in a second major language. Some of the things that I have done during this course include translating a cybersecurity- terminology exercise into Spanish, undertaking a conversation lab where we discussed security best practices in Spanish, and a cultural case study concerning the way Latin American businesses manage risk. These elements of the course correspond to the skills that those employers are seeking: language fluency, technical vocabulary, cross-cultural awareness, and the possibility to express complicated concepts effectively. Once I proceed, I will use the Spanish language in the context of writing documentation to Spanish-speaking users, taking part in incident response exercises with Spanish-speaking stakeholders, or even conducting research using Spanish-language resources. I eventually aspire to become a competitor candidate in the sphere of cybersecurity: having knowledge of the language gap, working with diverse teams, and bringing the technical activity to the cultural level.