In his late-20’s, Oscar Tortosa moved to the United States in 1979 from Argentina. He was determined to learn English, but he had no clue a game show would help him achieve his goal.
I wanted to learn English most of all, because I wanted to be able to watch that show, Tortosa explained.
The show that caught his attention was “Jeopardy!”.
When I saw “Jeopardy!” for the first time, I could barely understand what they said but the way the show is done I said, thats a real good show.
Tortosa compared “Jeopardy!” to chess. He loves the amount of knowledge the show requires of contestants.
Using the show he began to learn English not just to understand what he was watching, but because he wanted to be sure to get a good job and live his life without a language barrier.
I was a painter, I was scaffolding, doing whatever it is to make a dollar until I learned the language.”
Eventually Tortosa’s hard work paid off and he became fluent in the language and a full-time contractor. He fully credits “Jeopardy!” for teaching him.
Now decades later, he still watches his favorite show everyday.
While Tortosa says he would need to do a lot of studying to prepare, he says he would love to be a contestant on the show.