How Do I Begin Studying a Foreign Language?

"It's much too hard."

"I'm too old. I should have started when I was a kid."

"You have to take a full immersion course in the country. You can't learn it in America."

"I get by on my Spanish, which is complemented by facial expressions, hand and arm gestures, and picture-drawing..."

All of these are actual quotes, mainly from gringo expats living in central Mexico. Some of these people have lived in Mexico, full-time, for more than ten years. One lady has lived here for 50 years and uses one or more of these quotes to defend her monolingualism. She could not engage a Mexican in verbal discourse to save her life, unless, of course, the Mexican was bilingual.

This is a recurring and frequent theme in my column writing and books. It amazes me that Americans make such a monumental effort to move to Mexico and then never learn Spanish. It's the complaint we, as an American culture, have been making about foreigners moving to America for about a century.

"They need to learn English and integrate into the culture if they want to live in America."

And yet, when Americans move to Mexico, the vast majority never learns enough Spanish to complete basic life tasks. Some will never learn a word of Spanish. That is no exaggeration.

"Why should I have to learn Spanish? Those who work for me have to speak English."

Why do I keep harping on this issue? Haven't I said enough? If you've been following my columns (and if not-why not?), you will find several on this topic. I've even written a book on this subject.

The other day, I re-read Tony Cohan's book, Mexican Days, put out by Broadway books. He moved to San Miguel de Allende many years ago. He, a writer, and his artist wife, were some of the first generation American expats who moved to that little central Mexican town. They were among the first wave gringos to move to that town. They learned the language, and in doing so, were able to integrate into the local community. In this, his latest book, he tells of the second wave of expats, mostly Americans, who breezed into town and bought real estate on a whim. In doing so, they took up residence in San Miguel de Allende, but most have never learned Spanish. By not learning the language, it was impossible for them to integrate into the community.

An understandably sizable rift now exists between the Mexicans and the gringos there.

"Now San Miguel was changing, suffering an invasion of people quite different from the earlier arrivals. Mexican and foreign communities were drawing apart." (Page 113; Mexican Days; Tony Cohan; Broadway Books)

One of the main differences between the second wave of expats and the first was in the second wave, not only did the people have no Spanish language skills, they no desire to learn Spanish at all.

In the interviews I've conducted with the Mexicans of San Miguel and with those in Guanajuato, the lack of linguistic skills in the gringo population communicates disrespect. The unwillingness to learn Spanish, well, I cannot begin to imagine what goes on in the heart of Mexicans over that issue.

Mexicans get the hypocrisy. Americans demand of Mexican expatriates to America something they are unwilling to do themselves when they expatriate to Mexico.

They most certainly get the point in this contradiction.

That's the conundrum. What's the solution?

Learn Spanish!

Is it too hard? Should you have begun learning when you were a kid? Do you have to wait until you can come to Mexico to learn in something called "An Immersion Program?"

I do get the frustration, anxiety, and the gut-wrenching fear adults go through at the thought of learning Spanish or any second language (I've been there and done that). What does not help is the myriad of myths surrounding second language acquisition. It does not help that second language instruction in America, and most of the free world, has been based on some very bad science.

The "you should have learned when you were a kid" myth is based on the false notion that your brain isn't as flexible or elastic as when you were a kid. Now, if you want to learn how to do calculus for the first time when you are 65 years old, then maybe there is a point or two to this argument. However, learning a language, whether it's your first or second, third, fourth, or fifth, is what your brain, no matter your age, is designed to do. To learn languages is what we are hard wired to do.

Another myth that surrounds second language acquisition is children learn a foreign language faster than adults do. The problem with this is that it simply is not true. The reason kids appear to learn languages faster than we baby-boomers is that children do not get bogged down in, "Oh, my God I am too old," or "What if I make a mistake," or "I do not want to appear stupid"...and on and on. They do not have the emotional baggage that we carry into the project.

You put kids into a play situation in Mexico when they have no linguistic skills other than their native language, and "Slam-Bam" all of a sudden they become bilingual-or so we adults think.

What children do is play. They are not beguiled with all sorts of presuppositions nor are they worried about how they will be perceived. They just play. They have fun. And, they are listening intently to the new sounds coming out of the mouths of their Spanish-speaking playmates. After a "period of silence," sometimes lasting up to 18 months, they begin reproducing the sounds of the new language.

The degree to which the kids are involved with their new Spanish-speaking playmates will influence how quickly their fluency will come screaming in like a rocket. That's why it seems they learn so rapidly. They are totally immersed, the involvement with the new environment is total, and they harbor no adult- like fears that they will be perceived as being stupid.

Kids want to integrate fully into the play environment as well as with their new friends. This increases the rate at which they develop fluency in the new language.

This also works with adults.

"The basic question of this chapter is: Given similar age, native language, and cognitive ability, why are some learners more adept at attempting to acquire a second language? Bialystok and Hakuta review several studies that focus on variables such as: language aptitude, intelligence, attitude, motivation, and personality. Acculturation is another factor that affects language learning. Differences in language, work habits, and personal abilities can influence the rate of acculturation. Additionally, the extent to which people desire and attempt to be integrated into a society will effect their rate of success in learning a second language." (In Other Words: The Science and Psychology of Second-Language Acquisition; by Ellen Bialystok and Kenji Hakuta; New York: Basic Books, 1994; 246 pp. $15.00)

The degree to which you, Mr. and Ms. Adult, desire and actively involve yourselves into the new society as American Gringo Expats will affect your success in developing fluency in Spanish.

That, dear reader, is the heart of the problem Tony Cohan wrote about when he said the new generation of American gringos in San Miguel never learned the language, thus causing the Mexican and foreign communities to draw apart-to fracture.

The same thing is happening in Guanajuato, where I live.

No second language acquisition equals no integration into the community. No integration into the community equals a fractured and splintered relationship between the Mexicans and the American gringo expats.

So, how do you do it? How do you learn the language when all your previous attempts have more or less been flushed down the linguistic toilet?

Lest I duplicate what I've written in previous articles, I refer you to the ample supply of columns I've written about methodology and commercially available courses that work.

(See the list of my articles on the venue you read this one.)