Why You Have To Listen First And Speak Later In Second Language Learning

•Learning Spanish Begin By Listening Part 6
Most folks, when they set out to study a new language, begin by enrolling in Spanish I at their local Junior College. This is not the way to begin. In fact, the formal learning about the language in a course at the JuCo is about 5 years away from where you are at if you've had no experience at acquiring the target language. You begin by listening. You need this exposure to grow accustomed to the sounds of the language. You need this period of silence in which you listen, not produce, so you...

•You Can Learn A Second Language No Matter What
The other day I typed in Language Schools into Google and came up with a whopping 95 million hits. After popping my eyes back into my head, I wondered just how many public schools, junior colleges, and universities are offering second language learning opportunities in the United States. That must be an equally mind-boggling yet mysterious figure. The ultimate mystery in all of this is really why, with all the opportunities to learn a second language, are so few Americans bilingual? The truth...

•Learning Spanish Begin By Listening Part 2
The place most worth considering where instruction in how to learn a second language abounds just might surprise you. Africa is the place where more people are multilingual than anywhere else in the world. Thousands of her people speak multiple dialects, different languages in which they conduct all manner of business, multiple native tribal languages, and colonial languages. These Africans have done so without the availability of a classroom, textbooks, workbooks, CD's or cassette recordings,...

•Learning Spanish Part Nineteen The Audiolingual Method
This method of second language instruction was a further development or evolution of The Direct Method. World War II rose up and slapped the U.S. government in its linguistically challenged face, waking it to the need and definite lack of language competency to deal with the other nations of the world. Apparently, the U.S. continues to find itself in this position with International conflicts. The lesson has to be relearned over and over again that bilingual fluency is crucial for Americans....

•You Can Learn A Language Naturally
In my newly released book, YOU CAN LEARN SPANISH or Any Language No Matter Your Age or Disposition, I discuss how most, if not all, second language courses in the Free World are taught: Grammar First. Not only is this method frighteningly boring, but I also explain why it will not—indeed cannot—give you what you want: A high degree of spoken fluency. I recall all too well walking into my first Spanish course at the University of Kansas. I was handed a huge textbook, a workbook, and was told I...

•Want To Be Fluent In Spanish Watch Cartoons
I've enjoyed my return to Spanish class here in Guanajuato immensely. It's been a little strange because basically one ends up taking classes mainly with other Americans with a few other nationalities thrown in for good measure. I haven't been around my fellow Americans in so long that it's taken a bit of getting used to. In the last five years, I have actually forgotten social cues and topics of conversation within polite company. But, it's been fun, informative, and actually a confidence...

•America s Bilingual Crisis
My wife belongs to an Internet group where there was a recent blowup over the insane expectation Americans have about foreigners who visit America's shores. You know the one: the foreign visitors should somehow, as if by magic, be instantly bilingual. This English Only jazz is nothing new. It is a very old hat Americans have been trying to force everyone to wear for decades. I cannot begin to tell you how this irks me. Look at some of the screed my wife shared with me: · When I was in...

•Heading Back To Spanish Class Again
I am 19 days away from starting my Spanish classes-again! When the wife and I first moved to Mexico, we enrolled in Spanish classes. In fact, we took about four months of classes and after I completed them, I am proud to tell you I could say the following: Hi! My name is Doug. Hi! What's your name? Can I have a cheese sandwich? Which way is the bathroom, please! I took Spanish in high school, college, and for two years before moving to Mexico. I then took three hours a day, five days a...

•Learning Spanish Part Seventeen The Translation Method Of Language Instruction
The grammar translation method of second language acquisition is virtually the only method used in most language courses taught in classrooms all over the world. It is also known as The Classical Method. This method was developed over centuries to teach classical languages. Latin and Greek were seen as important dead languages to learn in order to read ancient texts, understand the origins and basics of the grammar and vocabulary of modern languages as well as the influences Latin and Greek...

•Not Knowing Spanish And Living In Mexico A Dangerous Mix
If you happen to have an interest in expatriation and are targeting Mexico as a possibility, here is some of the banter you most certainly will read on the forums: To Learn Spanish or Not To Learn Spanish, That is the Question! I fall, of course, on the You've got to learn Spanish side of the fence. My main arguments in my columns have been that you can never, ever learn the culture of Mexico without the access to the Cultural Portal--the language! But, my arguments generally, not always,...