Join_list

 

About Learning Spanish

We include perspectives about learning Spanish in our mailing list emails. Due to student requests, we've compiled some of that material here and hope that you find it useful. You may also be interested in our collection of extras called La Ñapa. We are still adding to this page; join our mailing list to receive our newest material.

Furthering Fluency Series

Part 1 – Beginning Conversations

We like to think of fluency as the ability to communicate comfortably, although the more formal definition has to do with proficiency in the skill areas of speaking, listening, reading and writing. Our students typically have the most interest in conversation and therefore think of fluency as the ability to carry on a conversation. Our classes integrate all four skill areas but with considerable emphasis on speaking and listening. These two skills need more attention since they are more difficult to acquire. After all, conversation is spontaneous and for the most part you can’t slow it down as you can with reading and writing. So do you need to know all the verb tenses and have a huge vocabulary to be “fluent?” No, and don’t worry about fluency as some mystical level that must be achieved. Language learning is a process of continual improvement. You can start having conversations pretty early in your learning and indeed you should. It’s normal to feel hesitant at first. The words don’t always seem to come, and you make mistakes. However, the key to learning a language (or a musical instrument, or many other things) is practice, practice, practice. So, we encourage our students to speak, speak, speak and accept that there will be errors, and not worry about it. Chances are that whoever you are speaking with has a pretty good idea that this is a normal language learning step and perhaps has also gone through it. Bit by bit, the words will start to flow, the pronunciation will become second nature and you’ll be getting better and better.

▲ Back to top

Part 2 – Learn Spanish to Use It

Our students come to us because they want to speak Spanish. Yep, real conversation, like talking with a street vendor in Peru. Want to learn to speak Spanish? The recipe for success is simple but not easy.

1. What’s the best way? Get someone who knows both the language and how to teach it and have them teach it to you! And for things to work, it’s got to be fun and you’ve got to be participating and speaking all the time. There’s often lots of laughing in our classes at Spanish in Waterbury Center, and because we keep group size small, you’ll be speaking and learning the language. Private instruction is also a great option. Language learning software programs can be useful support tools, but to learn to speak you need to engage in a conversation with another real person.

2. Is it hard? No, but it’s not easy either. Learning a foreign language takes effort, so you “gotta wanna.” To learn material covered in class means you need to work with the language outside of class. That means some homework and studying. As with sports and many things, the more time you put in, the more you will progress.

3. What is the process? For adults, learning a foreign language is best accomplished through a combination of intellectual learning and practice, keeping in mind that the goal is communication. We have our students start out speaking in their first class, so their speaking skills and comfort level progress along with learning new material.

          Learn new material >>> Practice >>> Acquisition

From there, it’s just a matter of adding more to what you’ve already learned. And keep speaking and using your Spanish!

▲ Back to top

Part 3 – Don’t Habitualize Errors

A number of our students come to us with some background in Spanish. Often it’s from traveling in Latin America and what we call learning “en la calle” (in the street). A good thing about this type of experience is that these students are generally comfortable speaking and have gotten over any embarrassment associated with making mistakes. The bad part is that mistakes tend to go undetected with this type of learning and then become habitualized. How does this happen? When you learn in a foreign country you pick up the language from what you see and hear, of course without exposure to any grammar. You learn to communicate even though you are not always getting it right. For example, if someone learning English said to you, “Black cat see yesterday me” you would probably understand what they were trying to say. But, say that 500 times and you glue it in your brain. That’s a problem because once it’s there, it’s hard to unglue. When you take classes with us, you’ll get “guided practice” -- we ensure that you do not perpetuate mistakes and turn them into bad habits. We use a mix of teaching techniques to keep things engaging, so you’ll develop a proper educational base and get the practice you need. We want you to habitualize Spanish AND glue it in your head…saying things right.

▲ Back to top

Part 4 - Don’t Be Afraid to Make Mistakes

In our last article, Don’t Habitualize Errors, we explained how travelers who learn Spanish “en la calle” (in the street) run the risk of repeating mistakes until they become habits. While this can be a problem, learning in an immersive environment provides valuable practice. Our students who have learned some Spanish this way often have to correct some bad habits, but on the plus side they are comfortable speaking. Errors or not. Contrast this with the student who has a good academic base but lacks the practice from traveling and is hesitant to speak. To become fluent, you need to speak, speak, speak until the words flow easily just the way they do with your native language. So how do you start, when you're a beginner and still learning? You know you're going to make a bunch of mistakes, right? Many students find this to be embarrassing and are hesitant to take those first speaking steps. However, this is how we all learn a new language. You just have to go for it. And chances are that you'll be speaking with others who have gone through the same thing; they've been there and understand. The good news is that it gets easier the more you do it. So go ahead, speak, practice, get good at it.

▲ Back to top

Part 5 - Moving Up the Learning Curve

Research in brain science, psychology and linguistics all contribute to theories about how we learn languages. But, let’s keep it simple and talk about the ups and downs you may experience as you learn Spanish. First, what do we mean by a “learning curve?” It refers to how fast we learn something, with the word “curve” implying that the rate is very often not constant. And so it is with leaning Spanish. As a student you are likely to experience three stages:

1) Learning the Basics. As you start out, everything is new and your reaction may be, "Gee, there’s a lot to learn." Fortunately, beginning material is straightforward and you should soon transition to "Hey, this is great! I’m learning a lot!" You are getting your building blocks and acquiring your “critical mass” -- that is, enough words and grammar to go on to the next step. You should really feel your progress at this stage.

2) Assembling the Pieces. Once you acquire that critical mass and verb-ability, you should feel a “jump” as you begin to really communicate and form your own sentences. This "I can speak now!" stage is an exciting accomplishment that you can be proud of. But, once you turn this bend you may feel like you are not progressing as quickly.

3) Steady Progress. Once you learn the easy stuff, you'll be moving on to more challenging topics. At first your reaction may be something like "Wait a minute, that’s a lot of verb tenses," but that should soon change to the "OK, I’m getting it" feeling. While the challenges are greater, so are the rewards as you are moving to real and quite useful fluency (comfortable, effective communication). This more gradual progress can be harder to notice, but it's happening. Here are some signs. Is your teacher speaking almost all the time in Spanish? And you're understanding almost everything? Do you find yourself thinking less about every word before you say it? Are you relatively at ease speaking? Can you read a book in Spanish with minimal dictionary use? Congratulations! You've made great progress and there's no limit to the level of proficiency you can achieve.

▲ Back to top

Part 6 - Learning in Small Bites Helps You Remember

Did you ever cram for an exam the night before? Chances are that the material didn’t stick in your brain for the longer term. But, repeated mini-reviews can do so -- and without a big time commitment. For example, spending 10 minutes with flashcards a few times a week can “peg” or glue that new vocabulary in your brain. Think of the Spanish verb pegar, which means to glue, to paste, to stick (adhere) or to put up (poster, picture) and imagine pegging those words in your brain. So, try breaking your study efforts into more frequent, shorter blocks.

While flashcards may seem unexciting, they really can help you effectively and rapidly learn new vocabulary. We recommend that you make your own, since the act of writing and preparing each card is in itself a step toward “pegging” the material in your head. It’s worth the effort (vale la pena).

Just get some 3x5 index cards and cut them in half so you’ll have cards 2.5” wide by 3” tall. Write your word in Spanish near the top of the card and then the English translation near the bottom. Shuffle them if you want. Use the top card as a cover for the one below it. Slide the top card down to reveal the Spanish word on the one below it. When you’re ready to check your answer, reveal the English at the bottom of the card. Each successive card can go to the bottom of the deck for review, or remove the ones you know to reduce the deck down and focus on those you don’t. Chances are that you can go through them and remember most of the words in maybe 20 minutes (let’s keep each deck down to a manageable number of cards, say 20-50). Go through them again the next day. You may be surprised at how soon you can remember your new Spanish!

▲ Back to top

Part 7 - Make Reading Part of Your Learning Strategy

If you are learning Spanish, reading is a big deal. Reading helps you review and remember what you’ve learned in class. Just hitting a topic once won’t glue it in your memory, whether it’s Spanish or how to use a new computer program. Reading also helps you learn new vocabulary as well as proper sentence structure. The order of the parts in a sentence are often different in Spanish than in English, so you want to become familiar with correct Spanish sentences. Learning grammar rules can be helpful, especially at beginning levels, but you should try to immerse yourself in correct usage of Spanish to learn to speak. Practicing listening and speaking are obviously important, but so is reading. Studies have shown that reading is one of the best ways to improve language proficiency. All should be part of your learning through actual use of the Spanish language.

The more Spanish you know, the more reading options you have, but reading material designed for beginners is also available. At times during our class sessions, we'll use short novels that are written specifically for your level. There is also quite a lot of material available online; here are two good sources that include free readings for beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels.

http://cvc.cervantes.es/aula/lecturas/

http://www.learnpracticalspanishonline.com/index.html

Add reading to your learning; you'll definitely get results and chances are you'll enjoy it too.

▲ Back to top

Part 8 - No Hay Otra Manera

We've touched on this topic before, but it needs to be said again. The natural tendency for a student learning another language is that she/he feels embarrassed about speaking because of making mistakes. It is important to get over this. To learn to speak, you need to speak. You have to be willing to speak, knowing you will make some mistakes. Everyone, yes everyone, who learns a new language goes through this. You just can't go from "book learning" to perfect speaking without passing through imperfection en route. The good news is that it's no big deal. Others will understand and give you a break. So if you have a chance to speak with someone in Spanish, consider it a valuable opportunity and do it! Aprovechar is the what we're talking about here! This is how you'll learn to speak.

▲ Back to top

Part 9 - The Adult Advantage in Language Learning

Here at SWC we have students of all ages, from babies to seniors. Yes, children are brain-wired for rapid language learning and have great memories. Their progress at learning Spanish is remarkable. So if we begin learning Spanish years later as adults, have we missed the boat? We sometimes hear people say, “I’m too old to start learning Spanish.” The fact is, anyone can learn a foreign language, regardless of age. If you’re interested and make an effort, you can do it. And, there are several factors that give adult learners advantages over kids.

As they learn their first language, kids first pick up vocabulary. They then need to learn about concepts such as how to put a sentence together and that things change between singular and plural. This ability develops naturally over time, but indeed they are starting from zero. In contrast, adults have an advantageous head start – they already know at least one language and how it works! While Spanish and English of course have their differences, overall they are pretty similar. Nouns, verb conjugation, adverbs and adjectives? Yup. The same alphabet? Nearly. Lots of words that are the same or similar? Thousands. So, adults start out way ahead.

Brain science and experience have shown us that children are definitely primed for language learning; we often say “they learn like sponges.” While this is a big deal, adults on the other hand are better positioned to focus on a topic, apply reasoning, recognize errors, and comprehend concepts and rules of grammar. This is one reason why we do teach adults about grammar. Even though it is sometimes shunned by the “secret methods” you may read about online, the fact is that learning the rules about how a language works is a good fit for the adult mind. Adults and kids learn and think differently. Adults have passed the sponge stage but moved on to be experienced and analytical. That’s not all bad.

We have to give kids the edge on pronunciation. They’re great at distinguishing between similar sounds and learn to speak a new language without any accent. In general, if you learn Spanish as an adult you will speak with an accent. Fortunately this doesn’t usually hinder communication much.

Students sometimes ask us, “How long does it take to become fluent?” This of course depends a great deal on the intensity of your learning schedule, but we are usually talking about a period of years with a non-intense schedule. That may sound like a long time, but think about how long it took you to learn your native language? How old does a child have to be before she/he can speak her/his native language competently? This is not a question that has a simple answer because language acquisition includes a number of stages, but let’s say age 4 or 5. And this is with lots of parental assistance and basically constant immersion. This doesn't mean that kids are slow learners; the fact is they are learning a ton of other things at the same time and as we said, starting from scratch. But, adult learners can learn Spanish faster than this with a reasonable level of study. Kids are great, but we have adult students who are amazing too!

That said, a child who grows up with considerable exposure to and use of two languages will become truly bilingual. That's a really tough level for an adult to achieve later in life.

So the take-home message is this: get your kids started early with Spanish and if you want to learn too, you can do it!

▲ Back to top

Immerse Yourself in Spanish the Easy Way

It's great to travel to a Spanish-speaking country and immerse yourself in the language. Similarly, you can improve your learning progress by immersing yourself in the language as part of your daily routine. Don't have the time? Here are 10 suggestions for how you can do this by tapping drive time, relaxation time or via other means that fit Spanish learning into what you are already doing. These ideas are meant to supplement your classes; you can't learn Spanish with these approaches alone. And don't worry if you don't understand every word you run across in these explorations, you'll get more and more with time.

  1. Put sticky notes around the house with words you are trying to learn, such as on the bathroom mirror or refrigerator.
  2. While shopping, read some of the Spanish that you'll find on signs throughout stores like Home Depot and Lowes. When shopping at the supermarket (supermercado), read a bit of the Spanish that can be found on the boxes of many products.
  3. Use the free TuneIn Radio app on your mobile device for lots of Spanish music and voice options.
  4. Also, try TED talks (http://tedxtalks.ted.com/browse/talks-by-language/spanish) for video in Spanish, sometimes with subtitles.
  5. Listen to Spanish music while driving, cooking, exercising, etc. Try to find singers with easy to understand voices, such as Julieta Venegas.
  6. Found a song you like? Check out the lyrics online (such as at lyrics.com) and follow along as you listen to the song; teach yourself what's being said.
  7. Read, whether its online foreign newspapers, BBC Mundo (www.bbc.co.uk/mundo/), a book or other. This can be a huge help. Make a list of new words that you run across and want to learn.
  8. Use some of your relax time to turn on Spanish subtitles or dialogue for a movie or TV show. YouTube has a ton of Spanish language content of all kinds; and, it's fun to explore and browse.
  9. Carry a mini-reference card in your wallet/bag to periodically do a 10-second review of verb conjugations or vocabulary you are working on.
  10. And for our enrolled beginning students, listen to our MP3 recordings that go with the textbook. These are included as part of your free access to our online resources.

▲ Back to top

E-readers that Translate Spanish on the Page

If you’re learning Spanish, reading in Spanish is a great way to practice. (see "Make Reading Part of Your Learning Strategy"). Today, e-books can put quick translation at your fingertips. But how do you pick an e-reader that will give you quick and easy on-page translation of a word or phrase?

In the past, reading a book in Spanish was hindered by the need to dig around in a dictionary every time you needed to find the meaning of a word you didn’t recognize. The problem is that this really disrupts the flow of your reading, whereas not doing so means that you might not understand what you just read. Que pena (what a pain)!

Now there’s a better way and that’s using an e-book reader like the Amazon Kindle that enables quick and easy access to translation without exiting from what you’re reading. And, the Holy Grail is an e-book reader that allows you to touch a word or phrase and get rapid access to a translation in your native language…without exiting from what you’re reading. For this article, we’ll assume that’s English. There are options that require a quick exit to the Internet but when you’re reading, you want to minimize the interruption. You want the option to get the translation without leaving the page you’re reading (on-page translation). Not only that, you want to be able to translate a word or an entire phrase.

At this time (2/26/2014), there are basically only two choices for on-page translation:

1-Kindle e-reader. You can get an Amazon Kindle Paperwhite for $119 and easily set it up to do on-page translation from Spanish to English. It’s a nice device although it is basically only an e-reader. It’s got a great screen you can read in sunlight or in a dark room, but there’s no color. You do need an Internet connection for the on-page translation to work. When you buy e-books from Amazon, you can read them on any of your devices using the Kindle app, but that app does not have on-page translation.

2-Google Play Books. If you get an e-book from the Google Play store, you can read it with the Google Play Books app that comes included on Android devices. It’s a nice e-reader and it supports on-page translation (Internet connection required). There is also a Google Play Books app available for iOS which means that you can use it on your iPhone or iPad. The on-page translation feature also works with the app.  A tablet such as the 2013 Nexus 7 ($229) is lightweight and can function nicely as an e-reader and more.

That’s it. In all cases, the accuracy of the translation will vary but is usually decent.

This article is about on-page translation, but choosing the option that's right for you depends on other factors as well, such as:
What devices do you already own?
Do you already have a library of e-books and from which vendor?
Does your vendor have apps that will allow you to read your e-books on different kinds of devices (cross-platform capability)?
Which vendor has the best selection and best prices?
We will address these topics in upcoming articles.

▲ Back to top