Finding The Best Course To Learn Spanish

Finding the best course to learn Spanish can be a daunting task, especially on the internet where there is so much to choose from. So, how do you find the best one? Here are a few things to consider when deciding which course is the best to help you learn Spanish:

1. Choose a Spanish course that offers interactive learning, where you actually participate and use your voice to repeat words and phrases out loud. This is important because it will help to reinforce the learning in your brain, and help you learn Spanish faster.

2. Choose a course that has Spanish learning games included. If you are doing something fun such as playing a game, you are much more likely to learn Spanish faster and easier because you are having fun. Anything is easier to learn when you're having fun doing it!

3. Make sure the course has enough material and is complete. There are many courses that fall short in this area. You want to make sure there are enough exercises and lessons in the course to enable you to learn Spanish thoroughly enough to carry on conversations. Ideally, you want to find a course that offers beginner through advanced Spanish.

4. Look for a course that helps you learn Spanish with audio lessons, to help your ear get used to the sound of the language and help you pick up the accent faster.

5. Find a course developed by a native speaker. The chances are better that the course will include more "street lingo" of the language, which is much better for you. While it is ok to learn proper grammatical Spanish, you also want to learn Spanish that native speakers actually speak. After all, that is why you are learning Spanish in the first place, to be able to converse with native Spanish speaking people.

6. Compare prices for the type of content offered. Many times you can find Spanish courses that offer about the same information, but the prices fluctuate greatly. Many Spanish courses that cost several hundred or even thousands of dollars sometimes just aren't worth it. You can find a good Spanish course for less than $300. If it costs any more than that, don't bother. Just because you spend more money doesn't mean you will necessarily learn Spanish any better or faster. Concentrate on the quality of the course first, and then consider price.

About the Author:

Todd Nelson is the owner of a popular website that features reviews of popular Spanish courses. Click the link to find the latest course reviews to help you Learn Spanish quickly and easily.

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Article published on July 26, 2006 at iSnare.com

Learning A Foreign Language: The Psychological Factor

When it comes about learning a foreign language, many people wonder if they will be able to memorize enough vocabulary. But this question never occurs about their mother tongue. And yet, it was a foreign language; nevertheless, among all the questions that new parents ask, no doctor has ever heard: "Will my baby be able to learn my language?" Be honest. Do you know all the words of your mother tongue? The answer is: "no". New words, and new ways of using old words, appear every day. Twenty years ago, who would have been able to understand such a sentence: "Click here to download your digital book"? Nobody. You never stop acquiring new vocabulary and you never know how long you will be needing it. Do you still use "tomagotchi"?

When you don't know the exact name of a thing, you don't hesitate to call it "whatsit". Why do you think foreigners do otherwise? (The French word for whatsit is machin. That's a good start! You already know the word that can virtually replace any other!)

Sometimes, you have the word on the tip of your tongue... and it sticks there! But you do know this phenomenon and don't think that it is due to a bad memory. You should not give this phenomenon more importance in the language you are learning than in your mother tongue.

You need to learn only 2000 or so basic French words to be able to create any paraphrase you need. You can't avoid some work in order to learn these essential words and all the more if you want to learn quickly. Before you contemplate to buy a learn-in-a-breeze method, be sure it is right for you. It is not as wise as it is said to rely on a method based upon mnemotechnics. The first words seem very easy lo learn; so, you buy the method; and you discover quickly, though too late, that a dozen words later, it is all the more difficult to learn a new word that you have also to learn the trick to memorize it.

The next topic will be about lists of words: why they work and why they don't.
Gabrielle Guichard, a French teacher who can be reached on GabrielleGuichard.com and listened to on FrenchPodcasting.com
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The Current Importance Of Understanding Spanish

People who speak English usually tend to believe that they know the most important language, and others should speak English in order to communicate with them. However, if you ever have been in South America you will realize how important the Spanish language can be. For example if you travel to Paraguay you will find only a few people who are fluent in English. More people speak German than English in this country. In Brazil the people speak Portuguese but they understand Spanish as well as English. In Argentina most of the people speak Spanish and the well educated also a little bit of English.

Americans are no longer dealing with the sole language of English. These days there are many flavours in the states when it comes to linguistics. Certainly the most common foreign language that has stormed the U.S.A. is Spanish. In fact, Spanish has become our second language. Over the past few decades, numerous Spanish speaking individuals have made America their home. While many of them have conformed to the English language, some have stuck to their original dialect. Regardless of who speaks which in America, it's certainly beneficial to know and understand both. Yes indeed, a Spanish lesson can do everyone some good.

Have you ever had a Spanish lesson? Well, if you're young, the answer is probably yes. Most of us these days are given basic Spanish lessons in elementary school. Then later in high school we are able to take a complete course. While you do typically have the option of French, Spanish, and a list of others; many of us choose a Spanish lesson simply because it proves the most useful in this country. Back when I worked in a Chinese restaurant, I actually worked along side Hispanic men. These gentlemen did not speak English, therefore my three previous years of Spanish lessons paid off. It was both amazing and satisfying to always understand what they were discussing or chatting about. They also felt more comfortable around me due to my Spanish speaking abilities. I made some great friends.

If you are in high school or college, you're probably taking some foreign language for credits. Although it's good to get your credit hours for your degree requirements, it is also beneficial to choose a language you can actually use at some point. A Spanish lesson will aid you greatly in some parts of the U.S. After a trip to Miami last spring, I soon realized how prominent the language is becoming. Regardless of your current stage in life, you can easily take a Spanish lesson. If you jump online, you will notice a variety of websites that offer free information on Spanish and other languages. You can even take an online Spanish lesson these days. That's amazing! Free translation sites are also a great asset to take advantage of if you want to better understand Spanish or any language for that matter. With the Internet on your side, you can't go wrong.

About the Author:

More from this author at: reference-magazine.com
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How Do I Become Fluent in a New Language?

I read the following online on a site supposedly devoted to learning fluency in a second language:

"Language is like any other skill or aptitude: some people are proficient in languages, while others are better at math, science, or music. Everyone has the potential to learn, but the fact is that some people are just more capable of learning language than others." – About.com

Trying to acquire a second language as one would try to learn math, science, or music is so predominate, so pervasive in the minds of Americans that this sort of statement is posted on a site that purports to be an authority on second language acquisition.

If this statement is true, then just how did you become fluent in your native tongue? If "language is like any other skill like math, science, or music," then under which academic textbook, classroom, workbook, teacher, or school did you study to become fluent in your native language?

When spoken fluency is relegated to the level of learning just another academic subject, the one thing that can be guaranteed is that the seeker of spoken fluency is NOT going to become fluent in the target language. They will learn how to read text in the second language but they will not develop spoken fluency.

I mean, really, think about this statement for a while. If learning language were indeed like any other skill or aptitude, "some are better at it than others," then only those with the aptitude for their native language would be able to speak it.

The rest of us "language-skill-and-aptitude- challenged" schmucks would be plum out of luck.

Perhaps the main reason statements like the quote above are so adamantly believed is because the academic communities in almost every country in the world ignore the almost 40 years of research in Language Acquisition and fail to make the distinction between the Acquiring and the Learning of language. One refers to learning speech, an instinctual thing in all humans (even the deaf and blind), while the other refers to learning about the language in which one has already mastered speech.

Making the distinction between the acquiring of the language and the learning is perhaps the most important factor in determining the ultimate success or failure of the adult seeker of a new language. If one does not make this distinction and does not seek the logical methods for acquiring the target language, then what one most likely seeks are a classroom, a teacher, a textbook/workbook, and abject failure to learn more than a few lines out of dialogues. I can still recall the very first dialogue I memorized in my seventh grade German class. I cannot speak German, however.

Because I've sought methods (all home study courses) that directed me to acquiring a high degree of spoken fluency in Spanish, I can go to the Mexican doctor, discuss fairly complex issues with neighbors, go anywhere in Mexico where we live, and get along just fine in the language. Because I sought spoken fluency first, before learning about the language (grammar), I am now ready to step into a learning environment (classes) where I will learn about the language.

One comes before the other.

It does help that I live in the environment in which I can practice constantly and receive correction. You would, however, be surprised at how many monolingual English speakers live in Mexico, the total Spanish immersion environment, and yet cannot string enough words together in Spanish to form a coherent sentence. The sad tragedy is that they are forced to commit what the authors of the novel, The Ugly American, referred to as "social incest." The authors described Americans in the Foreign Service in Asia who, not required to learn the local's language, didn't learn it and, therefore, could only socialize with their fellow Americans.

Blogger Michael Dickson, in his Blog entry titled, The Movie Set, says this:

"From my direct experience, a minuscule proportion of Gringos speak passable Spanish, and without Spanish you can never, ever, know this darker and more interesting world. You stay in your Glitz Ghetto."(Source)

He's right.

If as an American expatriate, you claim "all your friends are Mexican," and you remain monolingual, this can only mean all your Mexican pals are bilingual. The world of the bilingual Mexican, often from a higher, more educated class, is but a fraction of the culture! How can you ever get past the masks and into the real, often darker and far more interesting, world of Mexico or whatever Spanish-speaking culture you love without the language? You can't.

The sad thing is the instinct to learn speech, no matter from which language is alive and well in even the oldest adult's brain. Apart from having a brain disease process going full tilt, you can learn Spanish, or any language, no matter your age or lousy disposition.
Learning a New Language Has Never Been Easier

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