My Stories Are On… featuring Ivan, TikTok’s Spanish-Speaking Sensation
A New Interview Series @ Consumed!
Hello and welcome to My Stories Are On! This is a new interview series where I talk to the people behind the content, culture, and creativity I’ve been consuming lately.
I want you to visualize an old lady, ideally someone’s grandmother, telling you “Not now honey, my stories are on” while reading this…because that’s how I feel about my lovely guests! I’m flipping the script and talking directly to the creators of the stories I’ve come to know and love, whether those stories are on TikTok or in written form or elsewhere. All I’ve wanted to do in life is to ask people questions (hire me to do interviews + panels y’all!), and now I’m finally getting around to doing it.
First up is Ivan, who you have likely seen speaking incredible Spanish and eating the most delicious Mexican food if you’ve spent any time on TikTok. I can’t stop consuming his videos! There is something cheeky, fun, and spontaneous about them, from his use of language, his love of food + the delicious dishes he’s enjoying, or the lovely people he’s meeting along the way.
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Two things really stuck out to me from our conversation, which might sound cliche but I really believe Ivan’s language journey is a testament to them:
The willingness to persist at learning something and not let the fear of failure, or the amount of work looming ahead, get in the way makes all the difference for gaining a new skill, picking up a new hobby, learning a new language, or just getting through life.
When you approach a new endeavor with humility and genuine admiration for it, people (or ‘the universe’ if you’re feeling woo-woo or reading this while wearing linen and/or a shawl) will return that energy in ways beyond your wildest expectations.
Okay, a secret third thing: letting embarrassment motivate you can be transformative!
RS: Let’s start with the basics: you started learning Spanish in an Immersion School when you were a kid, then you used an app (Lingoda) to learn later in life. Is that right?
Ivan: Yes! I grew up outside Sacramento in a town that is home to a massive immigrant community from Mexico. From kindergarten to fifth grade, I went to a dual immersion school where classes were taught in Spanish, but to me, I don’t feel like I ever actually really learned it then. I could do my homework and participate in class, but my friends and I always spoke English, and the classes were geared towards native Spanish speakers trying to learn English. After fifth grade all the way until two years ago, I didn’t speak any Spanish, although the one thing I really credit the dual immersion school for is giving me a good accent.
RS: So what made you start learning Spanish again?
Ivan: We don’t have enough time here to cover all the reasons! But mainly it’s because of where I live in California: there are so many Spanish speakers here, and there were so many situations where I wanted to know what people were saying, or situations where I needed to speak Spanish but couldn’t. The embarrassment I felt in those moments really motivated me. Learning Spanish was something I always said I was going to do but never got around to it. So I started learning, and just put my head down and said, ‘I’m not going to stop until I learn it.’ And that’s exactly what happened. I learned pretty quickly, but I don’t even want to say learned in the past tense — I’m learning every single day and it’s going to be that way until the end of time. I’m always going to be learning Spanish! That’s been my mindset since the beginning.
Some advice: if you’re going to learn a language, definitely don’t learn it from a boring person.
RS: You’ve learned a lot, to the point where you are very funny in both English and Spanish, which is a true skill. Was it natural for you to bring your humor into Spanish, or did it take time to find that rhythm? Relatedly — do you think speaking another language has changed your personality a little bit: are you a different 'Iván' en Español?
Ivan: That is the best compliment! I think the thing about two different personalities in different languages is something that happens to many people when they learn another language. I feel like when learning languages, our brain is lighting up in new ways and is trying new things — the Spanish part of my brain is still a baby, it’s absorbing everything it hears. It reminds me of why people say you shouldn’t swear in front of babies, because they’ll just repeat it… which is why I swear a lot in Spanish. I also watched so many Spanish-speaking creators on YouTube and would study them, watching how they spoke, trying to pick up on their accent or humor, even trying to mimic phrases as they were talking.
In general, the people I’ve learned Spanish from are very funny people, and Mexican people tend to have some of the best humor. So the reason I have a sense of humor in Spanish is because I’m learning it from very, very funny people. Some advice: if you’re going to learn a language, definitely don’t learn it from a boring person.
RS: What made you move from learning the language to making TikToks about it?
Ivan: Initially I made a video about being the only white kid in my dual immersion class, which blew up. I started making more videos where I’d sprinkle a little Spanish in and see what the response was. People really responded well to it, and asked for more content in Spanish. I tried it, and every single video I posted practicing Spanish started doing really well. It all happened so quickly, I started posting in November and now I have over 200,000 followers. I can’t believe that people like my videos so much… It is honestly awesome.
RS: How has the response been?
Ivan: The response has been overwhelming! Like 99.99% of the comments are so nice. I used to do a series where I was reading mean comments, but I would have to dig and try to find them. But also, even those were tongue-in-cheek and just kind of fun. People DM me and ask for advice for language learning and that in and of itself is really amazing.
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RS: You were recently in Mexico City – how was that trip?
Ivan: It was awesome. I went for the first time in January, which was my first trip-ever to Mexico, and went back. The first time I spent some time in Polanco and Roma and did more of the touristy thing, but I just wanted to meet people who were from there and lived there. So on this second trip, I met up with friends that I connected with on Hello Talk, an app that allows you to help people learn languages. One of these friends was learning English while I was learning Spanish, and we helped each other out. We met up and we had a really great time! It’s such a massive city with so much to see and explore, every corner of it feels different, with different architecture, food, and all that. On this second trip I felt like I had a much different experience that felt more local and I loved it.
RS: What was the best thing you ate on that trip?
Ivan: I had this dish that isn’t even from Mexico City, it’s from Puebla, called Chiles en Nogada. It’s a chili pepper stuffed with meat, covered with white sauce and topped with pomegranates. It was so, so so good. I started asking about it at other places but pomegranates were out of season, so I ended up going back to that one spot to have it again.
RS: Has learning Spanish introduced you to new foods or dishes that have become favorites? Chiles en Nogada is clearly one of them. But like, what others come to mind for you?
Ivan: I’ve grown up eating a lot of home-cooked Mexican food from friends and people I’ve worked with over the years, but making videos has made me explore a bit more. One of my favorites, maybe my number one, are tacos de suadero. They are SO good, particularly where I’m from.
RS: Is there a Spanish expression you wish existed in English?
Ivan: Yes, there's actually two, and I wrote them down.
The Spanish word/verb for “wake up early” is Madrugar. I wish it was just one word in English — I’ve been waking up at 5:30am since I was a little kid.
My friend from Coyocan taught me an expression leer la carta, which means she’s going to ‘read me the card’ or ‘read me a letter’ literally, but it really means she’s going to scold me and get mad at me. Now I use that all the time and I love it — I don’t understand why ‘reading the card’ means someone’s going to be mad at you, but I think it’s such a cool expression.
RS: How does it feel to have come this far with your language learning?
Ivan: Learning Spanish is by far the best thing that I've ever done in my entire life. It’s 100% worth it. Being able to communicate with 600 million new people? No one can take that away from me! Making and sharing these videos is a new way to practice the language and something I love doing so much now, too.
RS: If there was one piece of advice you give to someone who wants to learn a language, but might be in the stage of talking about it versus doing it, what might that be?
Ivan: You’ve got to do it, it will be one of the best things you’ll ever do. My advice? Keep your head down and keep going. There were so many times where I wanted to give up, where I felt I couldn’t do this anymore. It was too hard. But I kept trying at it, even putting hours on it — like 30 more hours until I’ll be deemed fluent, which was the wrong mindset. I needed to understand that you will always keep learning, until the very end: there is no finish line.
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⚡⚡Lightning Round!
Corn or flour tortillas? It depends! It really depends on what we’re having. In Monterrey, they do flour and I like it… but if I have to pick one, corn.
Salsa roja or verde? Ahhh. Roja. It’s more versatile.
Tu or Usted? Tu. I hate using Usted. It fries my brain. I am so sorry. I know I have to be formal and I’m getting better at it.
Dream city or country to visit next? Dream city would be Puebla. Dream country would be El Salvador because that’s where my girlfriend is from!
Favorite Spanish speaking celebrity or public figure? Luis Miguel is the first to come to mind. He’s so iconic and his songs are awesome.
Please give Ivan some flowers — Duolingo, Lingoda, or HelloTalk, one of y’all needs to give this guy a brand deal — and let me know what you think about this new series! Does it make you want to listen to Luis Miguel and get into your feelings, or try chiles en nogada or tacos de suadero? Or better yet: does it make you want to pick up a new language or finally do the thing you’ve said you were going to do for ages? I hope so!
See you Friday,
Roya (formerly known as ‘Margarita’ in middle and high school Spanish classes)
such a fun series!
I liked the “ leer la carta”. Like what we have in Farsi “ be hesabet me rasam OR hesabeto me rasam”.
Great work Baba👏❤️🌹