By Theresa Bourke — Republished with permission from the Brainerd Dispatch
BRAINERD — If Erin Strachan could have one wish granted, it would be to speak every language in the world so she could talk to anyone and everyone.
“I think that’d be the coolest superpower in the world,” she said during an interview on May 7.
While every language might be a tall order, Strachan is bilingual, and her knowledge of a second language saved a life.
A recent trip to South Carolina for the Nisswa nurse put her Spanish skills to the test and proved more than beneficial.
A loon watch program through Jocassee Wild Outdoor Education took Strachan and other volunteers to Devils Fork State Park in Salem, South Carolina, where they tracked and monitored loon migration patterns in February. She heard about the program through her volunteer work with the National Loon Center in Crosslake.
While on a boat doing a loon count in the park, Strachan and her companions heard what sounded like a loud whistle. They steered their boat toward the sound and found a person calling for help up on the rocks along the steep gorge. Strachan could tell by the man’s accent that English was not his first language. That’s when her Spanish instincts kicked in, and she was able to communicate with the man, telling him their boat would come to rescue him and asking if he was OK or needed food and water.
She quickly learned the man’s name was Luis and he had been separated from his group and lost in the wilderness for five days after his phone died.
“And where we were, to call it remote would be a service,” she said. “It was beyond remote.”
Strachan and her crew had food and water for him, along with a portable charger for his phone. She tapped into her nursing training as well, making sure the man did not appear injured or ill.
The boat took Luis back to the information center at the park, where he was able to call his family and tell them to meet him.
All in all, the story had a happy ending and illustrated the power of language.
Not half an hour before the rescue, Strachan and a friend who spoke German happened to be talking on the boat about languages. The topic of Concordia Language Villages in Bemidji came up, as that’s where Strachan learned Spanish.
“And then 30 minutes later, I had to implement what I learned at Concordia,” she said.
While growing up in Texas, Strachan spent summers traveling to her family’s cabin in Nisswa and took advantage of the month-long summer camp programming a little farther north at Concordia Language Villages. Living in Texas, she figured Spanish would be a beneficial language to learn, and she got high school credits in the process, too.
Without that immersive experience at camp, Strachan would not have been able to communicate as well with the man, learning how long he had been lost, whether he was hurt and that he had people to call once his phone was charged.
“Just learning that second language and being able to communicate with people literally helped us save this man,” she said.
Now she plans to continue that learning each summer by working as a nurse at Concordia Language Villages. Last summer was her first year there as a nurse, and she plans to return for the foreseeable future.
And with programs operating in several languages, attracting people from all backgrounds, Strachan learns about much more than just Spanish culture.
Last year’s camp connected her with a counselor from Egypt and a cook from Palestine, both offering unique perspectives on the conflict happening in the Gaza Strip at the time, which she likely would never have otherwise learned in her everyday life in Minnesota.
While she might not know every language in the world, who knows when Strachan’s bilingual ability might next come in handy.
Read More:
- Concordia Language Villages is a recognized leader in global education, offering language and cultural programs in 14 languages. Every year, Concordia Language Villages engages thousands of youth, educators and adults from across the United States in language and cultural learning. Our world-class immersion camp settings in the North Woods of Minnesota provide unique environments in which youth and adults at all levels of language proficiency can truly live the language.
- Employment | Concordia Language Villages. Share your passion for language and culture with the next generation and beyond by working with us! Concordia Language Villages hires both year-round and seasonal staff. Year-round roles include administration, culinary arts, maintenance and more. Seasonal roles work directly with our villagers in overnight and daytime programs at our locations in northern Minnesota.