Many world travelers know gracias, merci and danke. While these words are a solid start, there’s much more to these rich languages.

With this in mind, Clay Goldberg and Shannon Neil organized Spanish, French and German conversation groups across Montrose. The groups are designed to help members keep up their language skills with like-minded people.

“Those attending speak at many different levels,” Goldberg said. “Some are just beginners, some have lived overseas, some have studied a language formally and some have experience as language teachers.”

The Montrose Regional Library hosts the Spanish group weekly and the French group monthly in its meeting room. The German group, recently relocated to Montrose Memorial Hospital's Lobby Grille.

“We have a core group of people who attend regularly, but many people, including Shannon and I, attend when we can,” Goldberg said.

Each meeting has a theme to help guide the conversation. Members write a few sentences in advance, enabling them to focus on a smaller section of vocabulary.

Many members joined the group out of a desire to communicate better when they travel. Alan Read, a member of the French conversation group, said that knowing a foreign language can help travelers feel at home in different countries.

Other members, such as Jean Bower, who is part of the Spanish group, are there to prevent their abilities from getting rusty.

"It is essential to practice a second language in order to maintain skills, and the camaraderie is just plain good," Bower said. "Anyone who wants to practice speaking and listening Spanish would benefit from attending the group."

The Spanish conversation group has an extra level of immersion. The group meets the English conversation group, composed of Spanish language speakers, at noon Mondays to continue the dialogue.

"This group helps me learn English and civics for my citizenship class at the same time," said Elizabeth Limon.

A better understanding of culture is what these groups are all about.

"You need to understand the language to understand the culture," said Caroline Evans, a member of the French group.

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