Attached above is a recorded presentation for my final project for my Spanish 201 class. In this recording I talk about the city of San Salvador, El Salvador. I chose this city because my good friend Michelle is from El Salvador and so I’ve taken an interest in this country (as you can see from my Spanish 102 project as well). In the presentation, I first talk about some little facts about the city of San Salvador. I then get into what you should bring/pack to prepare for a trip to San Salvador. Next, I talk about the climate and location of this city. Lastly I discuss things to do in San Salvador while you visit. I believe that this displays Communication levels 1 and 2. Communication level 1: “Demonstrates an emerging level of understanding of cultural differences in verbal and nonverbal communication” and level 2: “Identifies basic cultural differences and similarities by demonstrating verbal and nonverbal communication in the target language.” In this video, and for this project as a whole, I needed to do some research about the city of San Salvador and also the country of El Salvador to get some background of this country. While I only talk about the thing’s tourists can do in this country, I found out some not so good things going on in El Salvador. El Salvador is ranked #3 of the 20 most dangerous in the world by Independent. It is very well known for having one of the world’s highest homicide rates and for a lot of gang activity (gangs there are known as 'maras'). I began to research this city and country more and more because I became interested in how a country becomes so crime ridden. Learning this second language has exposed me to learning so much more about other countries’ cultures. Although learning Spanish has been a struggle, I plan to continue to learn it throughout my years here at MSU. It has helped me learn how Spanish differs in different Spanish speaking countries and the different cultural practices in these countries. For example, I learned in my Spanish 301 class that the dialects in certain countries differs greatly from others. The pronunciation of words differs because of this and you can hear it when you listen to a native speaker from Spain versus and native speaker from Ecuador (Communication, level 1). I have thought about how much harder it is to learn a second language (especially when you're older) compared to a first language. When you're learning a first language, you have nothing to compare it to because it's all you know. However, when learning a second language, you find yourself comparing it to your first language which makes it much more difficult. Often times, I will compare my writing skills in English to my writing skills in Spanish. When you are trying to directly translate, it becomes more difficult because your proficiency level in your first language is obviously much better than in your second language. I think in order to excel in a second language, it’s important to not compare your abilities and let yourself make mistakes so you can learn more (Communication, level 2).