As both a student and tutor of foreign languages, take it from someone who’s been on both sides of the fence: learning a new language isn’t easy! It’s not something that can be learned solely from a classroom, instructional CD, or a translational dictionary – but rather, from actual practice with native speakers, immersion into the culture of your desired language, and the confidence to speak the language at every opportunity without worrying about making mistakes.
For me, it took four months of actually living in Spain with a non-English speaking family for the Spanish language to finally sink in. Though I had studied the language in a classroom for six years (six years!), only through the experience of being forced to listen, think, and speak in Spanish 24 /7, in order to understand and be understood, did the real learning experience begin.
That first month in Spain was a mix of gestures and random words: “May I have an extra blanket?” I asked my host mother when the Seville-style marble tiling turned my bedroom into a refrigerator in the winter. And when I wanted to take a shower, “Can you turn on the water heater please?” I would ask, as I flipped through my dictionary to locate the word “heater” and pretended to lather myself with soap. The challenge of asking for help with everyday appliances eventually expanded my vocabulary in a way that no classroom could, and also increased my confidence when it came to asking questions. I never would have developed the familiarity and confidence needed for an everyday conversation, had I not had to use Spanish in my everyday existence.
Through the experience of cultural immersion, I also found out that not all communication is verbal. Some things are universal, such as when I ate that bad clam (shudder) from a paella by the beach and was in need of some assistance. After four days or realizing that what I had was not a bad hangover, the doctor made a house call and asked me where it hurt: as I lay propped in my bed downing a Spanish version of Gatorade, I simply had to grip my stomach and grimace, “El dolor! El dolorrrr!” and was understood. I found that you should never let the fear of making a mistake deter you from speaking the language…or at least, trying to. When you are afraid to mess up and as a result, keep to yourself, you miss out on establishing a connection with people who will want to help you learn. Or, you miss out on getting meds from the doctor with prescription pad.
Can I speak Spanish conversationally? Yes. I can get by. Am I fluent in the language? No. Unless you are a language whiz, a native speaker, or have lived in a country for a long time, it’s difficult to achieve fluency but with practice, confidence, and a willingness to learn, I think anyone can become proficient. As my host father said to me before I left, in his rapid-fire Spanish that had become like second nature to me, “Noelle, you can now hold a conversation in Spain with anyone who you want to. When you first arrived here…not so much.” He paused then added, “You blend right in here… until you open your mouth.” We both blinked at each other for a few seconds before laughing, knowing it was true. Well, at least I’d understood what he said well enough to get the joke! Win some, lose some. I believe all learning and progress of any kind is an accomplishment. You know, better to have opened your mouth [unintentionally botched the language a little bit] and learned, rather than not to have learned at all.
Fast forward three years later: working as a part time English as a Second Language tutor for international students further proves my point that those who speak up seem to grasp a new language faster than those who do not. Speaking up gives a teacher more material to work with, which will enable him or her to teach you, and then you can better learn from your mistakes.
As both a language student and a tutor, I have learned that the process of thinking in your target language is the only way to gain proficiency. It’s important to make connections through all of your senses in order to improve general comprehension: read books in the language, watch movies/shows, listen to music, eat the food (one of my favorite parts of learning a new language and culture…thus, the vaunted clam in that unforgettable but delicious paella in Spain, 2005). All learning starts in your mind and continues outside of a classroom.
Knowing what I do now (after having studied abroad, after having recently tried to learn Tagalog (my mom’s native language), and having taught ESL) makes me reflect back on all those times – pre-study abroad in Spain – that I sat passively taking notes in a classroom, afraid to speak lest I use improper grammar. Now I wish that instead of holding myself back, I had done myself a favor by speaking up, and allowing myself to be corrected and taught. As the saying goes, the squeaky wheel gets the grease…and maybe, learns the language as well.
