Great piece! I am also a former language learner and veteran (Air Force) studying math intensely to become a high school math teacher. I suspected that the same skills that I used to become fluent and literate in Spanish would greatly help me review and relearn mathematics that I haven’t thought about in over a decade. But after reading this, I know that I’m on the right track and that my language foundation will allow me to eventually become fluent in math and beyond. Thanks for sharing your wonderful story! We definitely need more people with an interest in math and science badly to set a good example for students, especially here in California where math scores tend to be generally poor at the high school level.