Jared Romey

Suffering a typical 9-5 existence, my foray into lunch-hour Spanish shook up my mundane life. I quit my job, stopped by briefly to school, and then left the country...for 14 years. Early stumblings in real-world Spanish taught me that a cola isn't just a soft drink, bicho doesn't always mean a bug, and boludo may be heartfelt or middle-finger felt. Nine Spanish-speaking countries, three startups, two bestsellers and a Puerto Rican wife later, I am still confounded by how many Spanish words exist for "panties." My quest is to discover all those words. In between, I meander the Earth, dabble in languages, drink wine and sell shampoo.

Oh, and there's my Speaking Latino books on learning Real World Spanish.