Maybe one of the wise members of Elite can help me understand how some high school and college kids can study Spanish for years(4-6) and not understand or speak it?
Cause they don't learn Spanish like a normal human being learns a language, through practice and immersion in life. Most of them don't go beyond the classroom settings, so they just end up knowing only few words enough to get around.
They learn Castilian Spanish...Like learning King's English. My wife went to Spain for a month, and Mexico for a month during college. Also other trips to Mexico over the years (even our honeymoon). We took a trip to Spain (before the kids came). We knew that once the kids came, it would be school and youth soccer type of things. She also worked in HR for a large ag processing plant. She used her Spanish daily. With every job she had (over 30 years) she used her Spanish... Not like this guy...
Maybe one of the wise members of Elite can help me understand how some high school and college kids can study English for years(12-22) and not understand or speak it?
I am talking about being unable to ask a mild question. Quiero mi burrito con carne y salsa extra, por favor! Is the key a desire to want to better understand cultures, instead of mechanical actions? Not everyone is a Dashan?
How about, can anybody explain why in the hell second language study is compulsory in this country in primary school?
Some people have no talent whatever for learning other languages. My wife picked up competent English in four months, her sister is teaching her kid and they both struggling with remember the names of fruit after six years.. This is all the Spanish anybody needs. You will regret learning it, they rarely say anything that interesting. French is better, at least they can make food that does not drip down your arm.
A person can learn a 2nd language but if they do not use it reguarly in conversation or do not live somewhere where Spanish is commonly spoken...forcing them to have "conversations" in Spanish... They will quickly lose the ability to speak Spanish and soon after that...lose the ability to read & write Spanish or any other language. With that said, usually when someone learns/studies a 2nd language for many years...they will travel to a location that speaks that language as a native language or they will develop a network of friends that fluently speak Spanish for occasional conversations in Spanish for the sole purpose to not forget the language. With so many available TV & Radio programs, et cetera in Spanish in the United States...I would find it very odd that someone who learned Spanish could forget it. wrbtrader
I don’t believe it. If one spends 1-2 years on foreign language studies, he/she can understand and read/write at minimum.