Why You Might Want to Learn Spanish – via Vlogger Lindsay Dow

The biggest, most important reason why anyone might want to learn to speak Spanish?

Why, to speak to native speakers of Spanish, of course!

Sometimes people don’t understand “the real reason” I want to learn so many languages. They look at me as if I’m  daft because, well “everyone speaks English.” When I point out the fallacy of this argument they tend to say something like, “well, then they should learn to speak English.” Of course they should. Why put the onus on yourself when you can simply stand around waiting for the rest of the world to catch up with you and what you want, even if it is to simply sit on your couch all day playing video games. Someday this will all catch up with us…Oh wait; it already has done some of that. Unfortunately they haven’t felt the full effects of globalization and an ever increasing global marketplace where a majority of the world is not only hungry (and often quite literally) but also very willing to work and work hard to get ahead. Because it sucks to be poor and it sucks to be hungry and it sucks to be homeless. They will learn English. And then they will take your job for a fraction of what you were making–before the layoffs and the cut backs. Because the nature of business is to make money.

What better way to make money than to cut expenses in the form of cheaper labor and no benefits packages whatsoever? Pay attention people; your life is not nearly as secure and comfortable as you may think it is.

My apologies to any readers who are not in the United States but I’ve seen a lot of changes in the past several decades and most of it has not been good. Unfortunately most people seem content to wear blinders and ignore the reality that is all around them, assuming that the people who are losing their jobs somehow deserve it. Some do but many don’t. Even worse, some employers are hanging on to their worst employees in a subversive attempt to drive good employees away. Because if you have constant turnover, no one gets raises and you can continue to pay new employees less than you were paying the old employees. And with poor leadership who wants to stay and deal with incompetency every single day?

My advice is to learn another language. Spanish is a really good language to learn for many reasons and here Lindsay Dow from “Lindsay Does Languages” tells you about nine of them. Watch her now:

9 Reasons to Learn Spanish from "Lindsay Does Languages"

One of My Favorite Language Learning Tools (That Post I Promised You)

This may sound lame but I really like the VocabuLearn series. As a matter of fact, I had forgotten just how much I do like it. If perchance you have tried any of the VocabuLearn products and have a different opinion, please bear with me while I explain some of its benefits. I have found that if someone explains how and why to do something a certain way, sometimes it opens my eyes to new possibilities and I can then return with a fresh perspective and end up agreeing with the other person and admit that I was wrong or short-sighted in my previous assumptions. I hope you will give me that same opportunity. (For the record, I own most of the VocabuLearn series on CD and I bought them all myself; I do not have any relationship with the series or the publisher of the series. This is simply my opinion of one of many language learning products that I own and use.)

I have seen both good and bad reviews for VocabuLearn on Amazon; the bad reviews usually seem to be based on the premise that “you can’t learn a language this way.” Well, actually you can learn a tremendous amount of a language this way, but it’s not designed to be a standalone product; it’s designed to be used either in conjunction with additional language learning materials or your academic classroom. If you are not able to locate additional resources in your target language however, it is a great start. That last bit is far less relevant today, now that we can all use the internet in ways never imagined when this series began, but it still performs functions that are difficult if not impossible to replace with direct human contact.

One thing that VocabuLearn does that other sources usually don’t is provide you with a written translation in dual languages for everything in the product. For instance the introduction and even the packaging labels are written in both languages. Inside the discs themselves you will find the words and phrases spoken two times but not at the same time. As in, first there are two tracks with English words followed by the target language words. Then the next two tracks are the target language followed by the English words. This methodology is designed to make the learning of the material more fluid by teaching your brain how to go in either direction; you can go from English into the target language or you can translate from the target language into English. The second purpose of this is that it can also be learned by native speakers who want to learn English, making it invaluable for ESL.

The second thing that I like about VocabuLearn is the printed material itself. Each program comes with a small pocket-sized booklet with all of the audio portions of the program in it. This is useful for learning to visually how the language looks in the written form as it is spoken, thus aiding in the acquisition of reading while at the same time you are working on your pronunciation and building your vocabulary.

The third thing that I really like about the VocabuLearn program is that it always provides you with the article. In English gender is not attached to nouns in the same manner as it is in many other languages. VocabuLearn understands that learning what gender a particular word is can be frustrating to learners so their sections on nouns always have the correct article with the noun.

The fourth thing that I really like about the VocabuLearn program is that you not only learn a healthy dose of the main parts of speech (nouns, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions and verbs are all included) but you also learn expressions. And while there are many shorter expressions and phrases in this section, there are also complete sentences too.

The way that I have successfully used the VocabuLearn program is as follows: if you have an iPod, I highly recommend ripping your CD’s to iTunes so you can take it with you. VocabuLearn is now available from Audible for downloads too, for those of you who prefer strictly digital material. Turn your audio (CD, digital track, iTunes, etc.) on while doing other things. This could be driving or riding in public transportation, cleaning the house, cooking dinner or some other daily activity that you can do without worrying about your language learning. Pay as much or as little attention to the audio as you want and can afford to do at the time. Allow the program to play as if were some bizarre Muzak in the background and continue to do your other activities. When and if you have more time on your hands or are able to concentrate better (this could by while on public transportation or waiting in line, etc.), take out your booklet and read along as the audio plays. When you are alone or otherwise don’t care if people are watching, repeat the target language after the speaker as best as you can. Concentrate on your pronunciation and intonation. Make an effort to sound as much like the native speaker as possible. Continue to vacillate between these different modes of “study” as your schedule and other activities allow. Even just passively listening will aid in your language learning more than you realize.

Used strictly passively, VocabuLearn serves as an audio flashcard system. Used with more concentration and the printed material VocabuLearn serves as both an audio and visual flashcard system.

One of the things that I appreciate about VocabuLearn that is not directly related to its content is the variety of languages that they have made available. VocabuLearn is available in less commonly taught languages (LCTL) such as Swahili, Dutch, Tagalog, Thai, Swedish and Western Armenian. And while the internet and near global access to its use has served to allow users to communicate more freely from people in varied and remote regions, I still believe in using standalone materials when I can. I believe that people should make the most use out of well thought out courses and come to the party prepared as best as they can.

I do not mean this as any sort of put down to those people who prefer to stick with communicative learning. I agree that speaking as soon as possible is good and a necessary step towards attaining fluency. I simply believe that putting all of your faith in other people to teach you is not always the best idea. Here is why I believe this way:

I have a friend who related the following story to me but if you have an interest in studying foreign languages and cultures you might have your own story to tell.

My friend Frank has a friend who owns a small neighborhood store in a location that is frequented by many Latinos. His friend, we’ll call him John, only speaks English but because he wants to be able to communicate better with his customers, he decided to learn a little Spanish. This well-intentioned man earnestly asked another friend of his who is Mexican-American, we’ll call him Pedro,  if he could teach him a few things to say. Pedro agreed to do so and promptly told John that when Latinos enter his store he should call out a certain phrase in greeting. The store owner practiced the phrase over and over until Pedro told him he had it down. The store owner began to use it immediately and was disappointed at the results he received. John related this tale to Frank after explaining to him why he had, with a friendly tone of voice and great enthusiasm, called out, “Go ____ your mother!” when Frank had entered the store. As Frank knows Pedro, he had a few words with him about doing such a thing again and Frank also immediately rectified the situation by teaching the store owner some correct greetings and phrases to use. The harm to John’s reputation was unfortunate though; he is unlikely to ever regain the trust of those who he accidentally offended.

The moral of this story and the reason why I am relating it to you here? First of all, no matter how noble your intentions are when you begin to learn a new language, you cannot always tell when someone is legitimately interested in helping you learn their language. Now if this same person happens to be a language teacher, tutor or otherwise engaged in producing real results for people, they have a vested interest in producing the results you desire. The same thing goes for companies who create language learning materials. Their reputation is on the line; they want you to be able to use their product or service and come away as a happy customer. Why? Because just as with any other relationship, business or other, an unhappy customer is far more likely to spread the word about you, your business and your product than a happy customer is. This means that it is imperative for them to create happy customers so they can attract still more customers. Attracting customers and then spoiling their experience sends potential customers scurrying in the wrong direction, announcing to anyone within earshot about what  a louse you are to deal with.

This is why I am a firm believer in using tried methods to learn languages or anything else for that matter. I do not disdain Wikipedia, Google, YouTube or any other method that you might use to learn a language or any other skill. As a matter of fact, I am a huge fan of opencourseware and other methods of sharing knowledge or learning that does not cost money to the users. That being said though, you can do a lot with commercially published materials that you are unlikely to be able to do with the average YouTube video. Basic level conversation skills are great but finding a random person to discuss philosophy, physics or whatever specialty that you love in a target language is not too likely. It is possible to find people and get to that place but it is far easier to find people who barely speak a word of English and who are not overly educated in their own language either. This is not to put down anyone anywhere; the desire to learn can work wonders where the infrastructure has failed and I salute anyone who is trying to better themselves no matter where they live.

Keep in mind that I am also talking about higher level language skills here. You may, through trial and error, locate one or more people who are dedicated enough to assist you in learning your language, usually in exchange for helping them with their English. This is great as far as it goes and this might even be perfect for you and the level of language fluency that you are striving for. If however, you are seeking college level language acquisition so that you can understand and participate in conversations that involve current affairs, public policy and the like, YouTube might not be the answer. At some point you are likely to need to address your needs with commercially available materials and I prefer to start that way rather than wait until later. It is far better to learn to speak grammatically correct sentences than it is to have to relearn after you have installed incorrect grammar. It is always far easier to “dumb down” language than it is to smarten it up. Learn the right way and then you can play with language in any way that you care to; learn it incorrectly and risk appearing a fool when it really matters.