Neighborhood Spanish Exchange Group Grows From West Seattle to White Center

The evening sun struck the windows of Future Primitive Brewing in White Center, illuminating the black walls of the ground-level bar. The room was empty. But upstairs, a group of people wearing name tags, with drinks in hand and full of welcoming energy, gathered at a table big enough for eight. They all hoped for some quiet time so they could speak Spanish together.

Some spoke Spanish fluently, some were brushing up, and others were beginners with notebooks by their side where they marked down new vocabulary words. On every corner of the table, conversations about life, culture, and philosophy filled the quiet room.

The Spanish-language group at Future Primitive Brewing, which meets Monday from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., grew out of another language-focused gathering. The first one, which began in April, meets on Wednesdays at Mission Cantina in West Seattle, also from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

The journey to creating that original Spanish-language exchange group began when Chris Arkills, a retiree from West Seattle, traveled to Mexico. He spent 38 days in a different environment and took Spanish classes in the morning. He joined a group there called an "intercambio," an exchange for Spanish speakers to learn English and immigrants to learn Spanish. For Arkills, that environment was a low-stress way of getting people engaged through partaking in casual conversation. When he returned to the U.S., his desire to continue expanding his Spanish led him to start the group.

After feeling more comfortable with the language, he posted on a West Seattle Facebook group to see if other community members were interested in speaking Spanish in a casual setting, similar to his experience in Mexico. Arkills spoke to Gina Topp, one of the co-owners of Mission Cantina, who gave the Spanish-language exchange an upstairs space with long tables and a large couch, so the group can be together in an informal setting with food and drinks.

"We're just kind of letting it grow organically. I like to think of it as a cooperative," Arkills said. "I don't feel any sense of ownership over it."

A few members contributed to the group by helping the exchange have a social media presence or bringing items others could use, like name tags or a printout of food terms. Montana Lopez, one of the attendees at the Mission Cantina location, started an Instagram page, and another member became a co-admin for the Facebook group.

"I have just been super impressed," said Arkills. "We live in a crazy world these days, and it's nice to have a community of people that are supportive of each other and share a common goal," said Arkills.

Although most members are intermediate speakers, no one is required to speak Spanish, but they are encouraged to make an effort toward the goal of understanding. Anytime a true beginner attends, people slow down and explain by repeating words in English and again in Spanish.

"I really want this to be something that people can bring whatever energy they want to it," said Arkills. "I don't want to build a big thing that collapses because I go to Mexico. I wanted to build something where people had built this community in West Seattle to speak Spanish."