How learning an additional language can present opportunities? | Ft. Lakshay Khurana ||Episode 14||

Today's guest is not from sales. After finishing school, when his friends were starting their own businesses preparing for engineering, he wanted to learn Spanish. In fact, he finished his bachelor's in Spanish, which is kind of, you know, unusual if you ask me. He then learned advanced Spanish, saved up money, took some from parents, went to Spain not once, but four times. Couched off with strangers. His command over the language led him to be a part of FIFA under 17 Spanish team a few years ago. An experience a lot of you I know will pay for today. He works at Amazon when he's not playing PlayStation. He teaches Spanish in his free time to students not only in India, but in Dubai, London and few other countries. He doesn't like to boost, but he modeled for a website recently. He recently started his own YouTube channel where he drops knowledge about the Spanish language and life. He's the reason my channel got a new look as he introduced me to my current editor. For a guy 26, I think his life is quite sorted. Without further ado, let's welcome Laksha Khurana. All right, welcome lakshya, to the 14th episode of Salespin. Thank you so much for agreeing to do this not once but actually twice. So really appreciate it. I think we both were kind of lacking in the lighting which I think we are trying to make up now. So I think it's looking good. So let's, let's get started. How are you today, man?

I'm good, I'm good. Way better than the other day.

Yeah, I know. So, all right, let's start with the simple things. I want to keep, you know, I will anyways be introducing you before, before this whole thing starts. But let's start with, you know, tell us about yourself. What do you do? Who are you? We, I mean audience would want to definitely know that.

So yeah, my name is Laksh. I am 26 years old. I'm a Spanish language expert. Currently I work for Amazon and I also teach the language when I get time. I have a bunch of students and recently I started making content around Spanish and languages. So my credentials are I have a BA Honors in Spanish from Delhi University and a B2 Delhi from the Ministry of Education Culture Sports Spain.

Wow. Okay, we're going to jump onto that in a minute. But I think you almost covered everything what you're going to cover in the whole show. So thank you for spoiling it. Okay, let's start with something very basic and I think Lakshya, this is a no brainer that you were kind of born with a silver Spoon. Right. What I, what do you want to talk about is. Let's talk about who you were as a student in school and then we're going to jump on to more important things.

So. So as a. I want to believe that yeah, I was a bad student, but I was bad because I was into sports. And at that age you don't understand the importance of formal education.

How old are you? I'm sorry to cut you short. How old are you?

26.

Okay, now go ahead. Sorry.

So yeah, back then you don't understand the importance of formal education. I, I only wanted to play. Did not care about what marks I was getting. I did not care if I was getting a 75, 80 or a 30 or a 13 out of 100 maths. I wanted to play. I wanted to be there. Play in my school, play there's a park in front of my house, play there, just be with my friends, enjoy life in general like any other kid. And I really don't understand the whole idea of putting pressure on kids so early. And I was one of those kids, like if you tell me right now I can kill it, I can. It was so easy. I like looking back at it right now. But back then I just did not want to study. I was a bad student. Out of five, I would, let's say fail in one or two, let's say science or maths. So if I could get a 60 in, in all five subjects, that would be an achievement for me. So not a good student, was always on the football field.

Nice. Okay. I'm sure there are a lot of people who I know in fact are like football fans. Of course I don't know anybody who are probably in that age right now where they have to make a decision or anything like that. But so we understand that, you know, you were probably not a studious one. You never cared about the score, which is fair. How did you get interested in a language? And before you answer that, I have a further thing which I want to add. Most of the people, I'm not sure what would happen today. For example, back when I was studying or I was in 12 or when you were in 12, I think there was a lot of pressure on students or especially kids, you know, to take those subjects like non medical because you have to become a doctor, engineer, you know, the normal profession. Right. Which everybody, which, which our parents would probably know, you know, which. Which I think most of the, most of the time now I'm thinking out loud most of the time. I think parents force the students to force the kid to adopt these subjects is because. So that. That's easy for them to explain. Hey, my. My kid is a doctor, my kid is an engineer. Finish, you know, so how did you start? How did you think about, hey, I want to learn a language.

So I have two sisters. And both of them were doing different things. One was into art, and the other one, you should do dance work. So even I was given the liberty to do whatever I want. I tried swimming, dancing, I had. I tried drums. I had a drum kit at my house, that massive drum kit. I tried everything, everything. And then suddenly, in 2008, Spain won the European Championship Euro Cup. That is happening right now. Spain won that in 2008. And when Rafa Nadal was just bursting onto the scene, Fernando Alonso, all these Spanish athletes, they were just popping up. And then Enrique Iglesias coming up with the song for the Euro Cup. So everything that I was watching that I'd like for Spanish. And suddenly I decided, okay, I. I learned Spanish. So I tried so many things. Let me try Spanish also, because at times I had to stream football matches and the commentary was in Spanish. So I can find. Just so that I could understand. I learned Spanish, so I went to an institute, Instituto Hispania, which is. Which is in hostel right now. I'm hoping it is still there. So I went there and this was 11 standard 2010.

Now.

Now the classes were on Saturdays and Sundays. And because of Commonwealth Games, my school decided, okay, the classes during the Commonwealth Games, they had to close the school. And now my school is like, okay, we conduct classes on Saturdays because we had missed a month of classes because of. Because of Commonwealth Games. Now imagine I was missing the Saturday class, going to Sunday class to less. And I remember I gave the exam. I just appeared. There were three exams. I appealed for only one of them. I knew I did not learn anything. I quit that time. And then came after. So how. How did I get. I got 86 in. In 12th. And how did I get that? I went to play football and I did not warm up. I just jumped. Jumped into the game and. And suddenly I dislocated my bones. So I was. This is just before my pre birds and I was on bed rest. So my sister was like, now you cannot even go to the washroom on your own. Why don't you sit and study? Just give it a try. And I had no other option. I had books lying all around me.

And there was no way. There was no Netflix at that time, right?

No, no, nothing. We had Internet. Internet was some Internet was still there, but we had those huge desktops and one laptop. Laptop my elder sister had. So I was not getting it. So broke my dislocated my bone and I started. I don't remember did I really study, but I get it. But I got 86 and now the opportunity to go to Delhi University opened. My parents were preparing the money for a private university. And suddenly now the options have opened for Delhi University. My cousin's sister, she was doing her graduation in Spanish. So I thought fine. And I was, I was also preparing for law. So now I get law.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay.

I had no idea. Somebody told me, why don't you do law? Everybody was doing law. And back then in 2010, you do things what your friends are doing, right? So I was, I was one of them. Now in I appear for the exam, I clear the exam with the 86% that I have. I clear a bunch of other colleges, BCS in football, science, honors Bhavat Singh for regular BA and also a bunch of private law colleges. Then I had to make a choice. And it was so easy. It was something like God was giving me another shot at Spanish. And in 2012, doing your honors in Spanish or making your career in languages, unheard of. And I had nothing in my mind that I want to make my career in Spanish. The whole idea was I want to go to Spain, I want to watch matches in Madrid and Barcelona. And the money that my parents have saved for the private university I spent there in Spain. That's it.

Wow. Okay, that's. That's an interesting take. At the same time. Yeah. Better use of your parents money. I think I am probably at a stage where I've talked to number of people who are probably of your age who have spent, I don't know, maybe up to 20 lakhs on their higher education, non education. And that has not amounted to anything. So I think that's a better use of probably using your money.

And my fees, my fees was 1200 rupees per semester. So I was so happy that I wasn't spending that much money. But by the second year of my college I did join Institute of Cervantes. For people who don't know, Institute of Cervantes is your institute by the Spanish embassy. It's the cultural hub where you learn language, where they have an auditorium, where they have movies, they have play. Basically the culture center for the embassy. So I joined it. By my second year, 2014, I was starting.

Your parents could never tell you, hey, you know what? We're spending so much Money on you. You could always say you're not spending money on.

No. So the other thing was we are sending you to Spain. So make the best. Make the best of it.

Yeah, that too. Yeah. All right. Awesome, man. I mean, this is a very interesting story. I'm pretty sure a lot of people who are probably at your age or probably even who are your age, right, they can probably look back in their, you know, go back to your, their career or their time and say, hey, you know what? Yeah, I could have done that. Or, you know, I'm sure there's still time, right? A lot of people probably want to learn the language right now, but they probably don't know, for example, if there's a future to it or what else can you do? Let's say if, I mean, I'm sure that you can always get a job based on a language, but again, that's something you can always talk, talk about more like. Okay, let's, let's start with that. Let's talk about that. So let's say if somebody wants, wants to, somebody is in 12th standard right now. Okay. No matter, you know, what stream they have chosen. Humanities, medical, non medical, doesn't matter. They decide, hey, I want to, I want to follow Lakshya's path. Because that seems exciting. I mean, I can easily score good marks. I mean, that's what's required to get into, let's say, du. Or like you said, if people do not get into du, they can always go to the Cervantes, you know, pursue the whole thing. You know, get, get into that culture, imbibe the whole vibes, right? And learn, learn the language. So what happens after that? So let's say you have a language at the same time. I'm sure it's not that, you know, you have a degree and you get to get a job. I think it all depends on how much, how much command you have over the language. Correct.

Yeah, that's true. That's true. You can have all the degrees in the world, but when it, when you go for an MNC job, let's say for an interview, if you cannot speak the language, if you're going to write in that language, it is not going to happen for you. I have examples in my, from my, from my class from Delhi University. It can, it can 100% happen. But what I suggest would, don't take my past, please pursue something else and study language on the side. Don't make Spanish. Luckily, I could with, with all the experiences, all the passion that I have, could navigate and do things which could take me to other places as well. But, but I would say, let's say you're doing engineering. You have to follow your parents and what, what they are saying. Do that. But if you like the language, go to that private institute and learn on, on the weekend, because I was also learning on the weekends. You can do that and you have time. Because three years is a lot to learn a language. You can do it in one and a half, two years and you have enough time. Do whatever you want. You want. You want to become a pilot, doctor, engineer, want to do a regular ba, does not matter. Do that and go to Cervantes or any for alliance for French or Maximum for German or whatever. Whichever language you want to learn, go for it. Because I'll tell you, before learning Spanish. Yeah, before learning Spanish, Latin America, South America did not exist for me and it does not exist for most of the people who speak English. Once you learn a language, a new world will open for you. Imagine you learn Japanese and then you go to Japan. It is a different experience altogether.

So lakshad. This is getting even more exciting than I actually had anticipated. So I think, viewers, I'm sure a lot of people are football fans here and I'm sure we can all see the jersey at the back. You want to talk about who jersey is that? Like you want to get some history?

Yeah. So that jersey belongs to Antonio Blanco. He is a real player. A month ago he made his debut for Real Madrid and that is one of my T shirts that I had and it has autographs of every. All the 21 players that came to India for the FIFA under 17 World Cup. I was the. I was a part of the support staff of the Spanish national team as the team license officer. Team license, in easy words. I was the first point of contact for the Spanish national team during the Under 17 World Cup. That was. That happened in India. So any information would flow through me. If they wanted to contact anybody, if journalist, FIFA, anybody, if they wanted to contact the team, they would come up to me and. And then I'll find the right guy, the manager, the coach, the physiotherapist, the doctor, players, anything. So it was. They needed a focal point to contact somebody and I was that person for, for this session.

How did you get that opportunity? Because I'm sure there are millions out there who would probably die to have such an opportunity where you got to spend time with FIFA under 17 players. Is that right? Yeah, yeah. Tell us about, like, how did that, how did that happen?

I'VE always been a football fan. And then in 2014 it was announced that India would host the Under 17 World Cup. And then came 2017. Delhi was one of the venues and I wanted to be involved in the tournament. So I went to the FIFA website. I was looking for anything. Could be a volunteer, volunteer job as well. But I could not find anything. But in my class and all my teachers knew how big while learning Spanish, half of my answers would involve football. So one of my professors from the university, she tagged me on a post which said Spanish language expert required who also knows football. Something in those lines.

Okay.

And I sent my CV email, I sent my cv, I got a call from Javana Nehru Stadium where they had the FIFA LOC office. I went there, gave the interviews. And back then I was teaching Spanish at Amity University. So the head of, the head of the FIFA LFC was from Chile. He took my interview in Spanish. He liked it. One thing he asked me, are you available on these days? I said yes without even thinking that I have other commitments like Amity, where I have to teach. And in my head I was like, doesn't matter if I have to quit Amity. This is something I'm not going to.

Once in a lifetime opportunity.

Once in a lifetime opportunity. Back then I, then I was able to manage. I had a word with the, with the head of the department at Amity. He, he was a very kind person and he said, okay, you adjust the classes, you take those classes before and then you can go for the tournament. Yeah. So one, one Facebook post getting tagged onto that and then that's how I got the opportunity. Just me being very vocal of how much I love Spanish and football.

So basically your love for the language and football led you to be, to have the best moment of, you know, anybody can have in the probably in a football lover. I might say, yeah, yeah, 100%.

It's not just football. For anything, anything you're doing, if you have real passion, other people can see it.

Wow, nice. This is like absolutely exciting. So tell us about this. Like you said, there are people, for example, who might have a passion for language. And for example, this could be a possibility. Like you said, a lot of people give in to their parents wishes, right? Okay, you know what father says, hey, pursue engineering. And the guy starts, guy or girl starts pursuing engineering or doctor, whatever, lawyer, you know, this lawyer thing. Sometime down the line they realize, yeah, you know what? This is not probably for me. There are other exciting options. I want to live the life Lakshya has probably Lived. So I started learning languages on weekends and sooner or later I develop like more passion. Like I start liking it. What are my career options once I've completed the language and how do I, how do I find those options?

Basic. Firstly MNCs companies like Amazon, Amex, there are so many companies depends on the language that you learn, right? You have a lot of MSCs in Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, all these cities where you can find job. But. And then other options that if you get a B2 Delhi. B2 Delhi. Delhi is like IELTS but it is for lifetime. It is your exam that is conducted by the Ministry of Spain, but it is for lifetime. Once you get a B2 Delhi, you can apply for your embassy jobs as well. Embassies that, that are here in Delhi, Spanish Embassy, Colombian Embassy, Mexican Embassy, or there are around 20, 20, 26, around 30, I would say the Spanish speaking countries.

Okay, so you can apply for MNC job. So you said there is an exam which you have to, which you have to take. And.

Mnc, basically if you have a graduation mnc, they would hire you for your embassy jobs you need to have. Because they only, they don't. They only accept a Delhi certificate, which is because it is the official certificate by the Ministry of Culture Sports Spain. So they ask for that. Not a degree from Delhi University or, or any other certificate course.

Got it, Got it.

And the other other options that you have is freelance people. A lot of, I know a lot of people who do freelance work, translation work, but that is, that is part time. That is not something, it's not a permanent job.

Right?

And then the fourth option would be you can teach the language that I was doing in 2017. I was teaching the language. People who like to teach can pursue that option. But again, the options are limited. That's why I always say do whatever you want to do engineering, you want to become a doctor, whatever. And learn language on the side. For instance, for imagine I'm a graphic designer. Now I'm getting business from Latin America or Spain or let's say I learned I can speak Japanese now I'm getting business from Japan just because I can speak Japanese or just because. Yeah, so learn whatever skill or study whatever you want to do and then do language on the side. Because not everybody would get, get, get an opportunity or not everybody would make a YouTube channel or not everybody would like to teach you. You will limit your options.

That is, that is insightful. So let's say you recently started your own YouTube channel. And from what I remember it's all started from Instagram, where you started with talking about words which are similar in Hindi, which are pronounced similar in Hindi and Spanish, but have like different funny meanings. So talk about that. What led you to start it? Like, if somebody, let's say, is in your shoes, maybe who is. Let's know the language. It could be Spanish, it could be French or Mexican or whatever. Sorry, it could be Portuguese or any other language, right? And they want to start a channel, let's say, on something. Something similar. So what one I want to understand is why should they start a channel? And what led you to start the channel? So that they can probably be motivated.

So I'll answer the question why I started. I'm working from home because of COVID We all know we are working from home. And then my work gets over by five, five or six. So I have a lot of time on my hands. So one fine day I got up and like, okay, let me. And please. They were getting very popular. So I got up and I was like, fine, let me make videos in Spanish and try to attract more students. The idea was to attract more students so that I can fill up that the time that I have and I'll also make money. And suddenly then I started relating. That's how I learned few words. For instance, dedo is finger in Spanish and pan is bread in Spanish. Makeup in Spanish is makiake. So I learned Spanish in this manner where I was relating words in different languages in Hindi, like sin. Sin. We all know what is sin in English, but sin in Spanish is without. So I could, you know, I could relate those words. I already know these words. I just have to add a new meaning to them. And then I was making myself. I was making life easy for myself in Spanish. So I had a bunch of words. I wrote them down and started making reads. And suddenly I had gained a bit of traction. A lot of students have. They wanted to learn. Then I, like, I had five to six. Six students. I think I'm still teaching six students. And then I decided, fine, this is going great. But now what? What's next? What should I do? And then while I was making those videos, I was sending them to all the Instagram or the YouTubers that I liked. And one of them, Vinam, his YouTube channel is shattered. He replied and like, hey, I'm interested in learning Spanish. And we had a conversation. And then I went to meet him. Then he motivated me. Why don't you make a YouTube channel? Nobody's doing. It will be great. He told me by a mic. He Gave me the. He gave me a bunch of numbers for the editors. I hired one guy, and that's how it all started. Somebody motivating you enough to do it. And anybody can start a YouTube channel. You just need a decent camera, a microphone. Bad video can work, but bad audio cannot work. People would just. Just go away.

So.

That'S how. That's how I started.

That's interesting. Yeah. And, yeah, I think I will be telling everybody that you are the one who introduced me to the editor. So our editor is kind of same, which is. Which is good. So thanks for that. All right. I think we probably, you know, reaching to the last stage of the podcast and where I want to talk about a very difficult question. Okay. Some of the viewers might feel that, hey, and I already said that, you know, you were born with a silver spoon. You come from a privileged family, so a lot of decisions you made was kind of easy for you in a way where, hey, you said, you know what? I'm not going to study the, you know, go and go a natural route, which could be engineering, doctor, lawyer, lawyer or whatever. Right. You said, I'm going to. I'm going to learn the Spanish without even thinking whether you have a career after this or not, because you always had at the back of the mind, hey, that doesn't work. I can always pursue later. I mean, it's not that I have to start supporting my parents or, you know, supporting my family, you know, immediately. So if you do it in a way, people might feel it was kind of easy for you. Right. So what would you say about that?

In simple words? I would say if it comes to learning the language, then if you are interested, it is easy. If you're not interested, then even 12th or 11th standard would be difficult for you. But I had to put the effort right. You have to understand that I was learned. I had to learn the language. What people think, what people think learning language would be just replace those words with English and that's it. It is done. That I am just replace them, and that is English. But they don't understand that grammar works differently in all the languages. You can't even translate Hindi to English directly. How can you expect to translate Spanish to English in the.

That's probably a myth which people have, you know, learning a language could be easy to know one language. So if that was as easy, it was just all about remembering the words. Right. So which. Which is. But you're saying it's not.

Yeah. So the enrollment at Cervantes is highest at the A1 level. And the drop rate is also the highest at the A1 level. Why? Because they think, oh, my God, language is so easy. We'll just go there with repl. Trace those words from English to Spanish, and that's it done. And we don't have to put the effort because you have to remember those words in Spanish. It came very naturally. English came naturally to us because we are surrounded by English. From our keyboards to our TV to our textbooks, everything is in English. But what people don't realize, we are not surrounded by Spanish or any other language for that matter. If you want to learn that language, you have to surround yourself. People go to different countries, they learn the language there. Because imagine somebody who do somebody go to Germany or Sweden, they would learn the language because they're hearing it. They're seeing it everywhere. To create that atmosphere. I created that atmosphere around me, but I was only. Only watching Spanish content. I was only listening to Spanish music. I was only reading in Spanish because in, like, generally I don't read, but I was reading in Spanish. I was watching a lot of stuff on tv, which I changed to Spanish. So I created that atmosphere around me where I. When I was. I wanted to study, I was surrounded by. I felt that this. This bubble is only Spanish.

Wow. Okay. So I think I am getting a gist of what you're trying to say. So, number one, I'll address what. What you are trying to probably say. So you're kind of acknowledging that, yes, I was born with a silver spoon, but at the same time, the effort is something which cannot be substituted. Right. Let's say even if somebody has the money, you know, they still have to work hard. They still have to. You still have to go to the college. You still have to learn the language, remember the words, learn the grammar, everything, whatever, whatever. It's there. Right. In order to learn a language, so you have to do all that. And that cannot be substituted no matter where you come from. Right.

And yeah. It is not. It is not an easy process. It is not. It is very difficult. People thinking, oh, my God, okay, language. Because they just said, okay, learn a language. Because it is just thrown out there. Learn a language. I would say, try. Try it once. And then you will realize I have so many students who just come to me and they'll just quit after two months. Because once the class is over, the book never opens and words will not come in dreams. You have to put the effort.

Yeah, yeah, got it. So what I'm also getting is it's not so people might think hey, learning a language could be easiest thing. It's easier than maybe pursuing engineering. It sure might look like. But what you're saying is it's not because you have to put in the effort every day. It's not about just reading the text. It's also about understanding the audio, understanding the video, understanding the grammar, understanding the nuances, the culture. So it is like much more than just remembering the words or transliterate translating. So okay, yeah, thanks for all this knowledge. I think. Appreciate your time, Lakshya. So let's. Let's do a quick rapid fire round. Okay. I think I'm going to make it a little tough for you. Okay. Ready?

Yeah.

One, two, three. Choose one player. Messi or Ronaldo.

Messi.

All right. Your favorite city in the world. Sevilla, your favorite drink in the world. You have 10 crore rupees to spend in one month. What would you do?

I'll travel. I think I travel.

Right. Okay. I think given knowing you. Yeah, I'm sure travel should be in the cards. Last question, last question. Okay. One advice which you would probably give to your 22 year old like four years ago, if there was one advice which you want to give to yourself, what would that be?

Things will be better at 25.

Okay. Let's say if you were to give an advice to all the viewers who are watching, like a general advice, life advice, which has really helped you, this could be something which could have, which could come from your own. This could be something which let the other people, your parents, your siblings might have given you, which really helped you a lot.

Something that I developed and I would say would be do whatever you like. Money would come. Money 100% comes. Do whatever. Don't pursue a career that you do not like because after one year or two years you'll be fed up. And once you don't have the motivation.

Got it.

You're not going to make it.

All right. Thank you so much Lakshay for coming on the show. Really appreciate it and I'll keep you posted on when, when this goes live. Okay? Sure.

Thank you.

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