A fair number of foreign exchange students attend my high school, all of whom speak English fluently. I’m amazed and a bit jealous at how quickly they picked up this new language.

Like many teens, I thought the golden window of opportunity to learn a different language would be long gone by high school. But recent studies show that the ability to learn new languages stays strong until the late teenage years.

This summer, my companions and I found ourselves in a Spanish speaking country. Since I, like many teens, have studied a few years of Spanish, I was designated as the communicator after a member of our group exclaimed “buenos morning” to a passerby on the street. Figuring that I got all A’s in my Spanish class, I accepted the position without thinking twice.

My first brush with this new country was the food. Stopping at a restaurant in the airport, I ordered sandwiches for my group. My confidence faded as I stuttered my way through the order in what I’m confident was very broken Spanish.

When trying to pay for the food, I realized that I didn’t know any Spanish number over 15. Although I easily passed my high school class, I never experienced putting my Spanish into practice. Regardless, I left the restaurant unduly proud, food in hand.

Although I learned the basics of the Spanish language in school, I never practiced the conjugations or vocabulary that I learned, and never broke through the barrier of self-consciousness. I knew that I had poor pronunciation and presentation, but in the classroom, this never really mattered. None of my peers cared that I wasn’t rolling my r’s properly, or that I was pronouncing the “h” in Spanish vocabulary words when it should be silent.

However, throughout the trip, I remained terrified that I would sound like a fool in this new country. And I’m certain I did.

I remember saying something in what was likely a bad accent to a shop owner that caused him to burst out in laughter. But most of the people I met appreciated my effort.

Though my trip lasted only a few weeks, my Spanish continually improved and I was able to meet amazing people and experience the vibrant culture.

One in five teens — around 12 million people total — are raised bilingual. So the rest of us teens who want to speak a second language have to struggle through a high school language class just like anyone else.

Many teenagers will graduate from high school and let those four years of Spanish or French slip away. But the benefits are irrefutable. In the future, we could get paid up to 15 percent more in our jobs by becoming fluent in a second language.

Language skills also boost test scores and increase empathy. They allow us to communicate with more people. But, perhaps most important, speaking a foreign language increases cross-cultural understanding.

It is often thought that the way we see the world is shaped by the language we use. Learning a language offers us new viewpoints of life.

Maria Proulx of Ledyard is a student at St. Bernard School in Montville.