| Learning Spanish |
Learning Spanish By Total ImmersionVarious methods for learning Spanish exist including full immersion, classroom instruction, books, audio tapes and CDs,and multimedia. Each has their own prose and cons. I will review the pros and cons of some of these methods in the next several posts. Would you like to learn Spanish while living in a Spanish speaking country? Then learning Spanish with the total or full immersion method might just be for you if you can afford the cost and the time required. Informally, full immersion can be as simple as actually moving to that country and living among the populous and picking up the language by observation, watching local television, reading local papers, etc until you finally learn the language. This is a very hard and difficult way to learn a language but is often the method used by refuges or immigrants. The informal full immersion method works best if there are no other speakers of your own native language around, thus forcing the learning of the new language. An Romanian acquaintance of mine used this method of learning English after moving to the United States. However, Spanish speaking immigrants to the United States find many other Spanish speakers to whom they can communicate and thus do not find learning English as much a necessity as my Romanian friend and many fail to learn much English at all. A formal full immersion program involves living for some period in a country where the language is natively spoken while at the same time attending formal classes during part of the time. Such programs can be found in Spain, Costa Rica, Mexico and other Spanish speaking countries. Some programs involve living with a local family while attending half day classes with local field trips for the other half of day. However, such excellent experiences can be costly in both time and money. [Note] In an attempt to take advantage of the success of full or total immersion programs, one foreign language learning company has used the term "Instant Immersion" to name their foreign language learning CD program. It is NOT the same thing. Their program not only is NOT total immersion, it is also not very good, and in my opinion a waste of money. I purchased the CD's of both their basic and deluxe programs and cannot recommend them. There are much better options available on the market including the Rosetta Stone Spanish programs (both Spain and Latin American Spanish) and the Pimsleur Spanish language programs (while more expensive, they are much more effective). In the next post I'll talk about learning Spanish from audio only language learning programs. 08:12 - Tuesday, December 18, 2007 - comments {0} - post commentLearning Spanish Becomes More Important in the U.S.Have you noticed the number of businesses lately with Spanish language names? Or the number of business that have information posted in both English and Spanish? Or the number of bilingual or Spanish language publications available? Spanish is everywhere today. In a world where the Spanish language is the third most spoken tongue, there is no doubt that learning Spanish can be a beneficial endeavor. Taking up Spanish will allow you to keep in touch and up to date with the influence of the Hispanic culture which is becoming increasingly influential in the United States and around the world. Speaking Spanish is also becoming more important in business and career matters. People who are bilingual in English and Spanish are in increasing demand in the market place. Knowledge of Spanish will enable you to more effectively communicate with co-workers, clients, customers and employees who speak Spanish as their native tongue. Recent marketing studies conclude that in North America, the Hispanic population of customers is the most rapidly growing segment of the market, which has many companies scrambling to attract and accommodate the Spanish speaking crowd. This also means that learning Spanish can be a real boon to your career in terms of advancement or in the area of career choices. More and more often, listing that you can speak Spanish on your resume can make the difference between getting noticed or being passed over. In the United States, knowing how to speak Spanish is particularly helpful if you are in education, health care or any of the building trades. There are well over thirty-five million Spanish speaking citizens in the US, and estimates say that over 40 percent of the increase in the US population is within the Hispanic community. This means that, as time passes, the need to learn Spanish will continue to increase. With the increase in globalization and free-trade between the US and Mexico and other countries in Central and South America, there is no doubt that the people who take the time and make the effort to become bilingual, especially in Spanish, will have a clear advantage over those who are only English speaking. It is not only in the United States where Spanish is popular and growing is usage. In Europe, Spanish is the second most studied language as a second tongue, with English being the number one most studied second language. Around the world, Spanish is the native tongue of more than 400 million people and is the third most common native language spoken, ranking behind Mandarin and Hindi. By simply acknowledging the current widespread use of Spanish, combined with the growth rate of the Hispanic culture worldwide, it is easy to see why the Spanish language is a wise choice for a second language. It is also a certainty that Spanish will help to expand your universe of experiences and people. With the continued growth of the Hispanic population, it will become increasingly likely that you will have more interactions with people from the Hispanic community. For example, you or a relative might marry into a Hispanic family, you might have Spanish speaking families in your neighborhood, have Hispanic employers or employees, or simply have more interactions with Spanish speaking people in the routine course of your day. I know I do. For example, my son's father-in-law is from Panama, the cleaning folks for my building are from various countries in Latin America, as well as those who provide lawn care for my yard. The fellow who build my back deck was from Bolivia. The signs in most hardware stores in my area are now in both English and Spanish. Learning Spanish will also help you to have a greater understanding and appreciation for the Hispanic culture and the impact that it has had on other cultures around the globe. There are numerous great writers, poets, musicians, architects, and other artists who have Hispanic roots and have contributed significantly to world culture. And, the wonderful foods of Spain, Mexico and other Latin lands gives you even more reasons to embrace the Spanish language, its people and its colorful traditions. You don't have to be a Latino to speak Spanish in the U.S. today. You just have to have a desire or need to be able to communicate with the largest and fastest growing segment of the U.S. population. If you don't speak Spanish, add learning Spanish to your list of useful things to accomplish in the future. 07:47 - Friday, December 7, 2007 - comments {0} - post comment |
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