Learn Spanish the way Diplomats do

WHY LEARN ANOTHER LANGUAGE,
AND HOW TO BEGIN
by Don Casteel

Disclaimer: I am not, and do not claim to be, an expert on linguistics or language teaching. That’s why I defer to the experts at the Foreign Service Institute for the core content of Platiquemos. I do, however, claim to have had more experience than most (including scientific linguists and language teachers) in actually learning foreign languages (five at the State Department’s full proficiency level --Spanish, Finnish, Swedish, Dutch, and German); studied Russian through the medium of Dutch when I was an exchange student in the Netherlands; and studied Zulu and Cantonese when I was stationed where those languages are spoken (Durban, South Africa; and Hong Kong).

My purpose is to share with you what I’ve had to learn the hard way. I do not claim to have all the answers; you should read my article with this in mind.

Why learn another language? You will never be able to appreciate, or even recognize, the deep cultural differences between language/culture groups—even when on the surface they appear just like us—without having undergone the discipline of learning well another language, and the culture(s) of the people who speak it. You don’t have to learn them all—even just one can give you an appreciation of cultural differences. It can also be an important asset in business/professional life, and makes traveling a lot more fun!

How to begin? In my experience (and opinion), it is extremely important that the first foreign language learning experience be successful. I have met too many people who took a language class in high school or college (usually French or Spanish), and had an experience which made them believe that either they just weren’t capable of learning another language (if you can read this, you are capable); or that it was just too boring, tedious and with too few rewards of actual useable proficiency to make the effort worthwhile.

I consider it essential that the first foreign language learning experience be a successful one; this is very important to motivating further learning. This means two things: you need to start with an “easy” language such as one of the Romance or Germanic languages; and you need to work with a well-proven, structured program leading to real, serious proficiency. I know that many people want to learn one of the languages that are perceived as most useful for business (Chinese, Japanese, Russian, etc.), or for national defense (Arabic, Farsi, Korean). The problem is that these languages are difficult even for experienced language learners, and for novices next to impossible. My main concern is that trying to start language learning with one of these languages will lead to frustration, demoralization…and quitting, the only unforgivable sin in language learning. Even an “easy” language like Spanish means many hours of work, the feeling sometimes that you’re wasting your time. But if you keep at it, you will learn.

The good news is that this need only delay your final objective a few months. Also, learning one language makes learning the next, even completely unrelated as Arabic to Spanish, much easier. It is my firm belief that investing a few months with an “easy” language will pay huge dividends when you start struggling with one of the “hard” ones—whose learning time is measured in years rather than months.

I have met many, many people who have spent years “intending” to learn a language, but just never got around to it. For adults, the best time to start learning languages was years ago—the next best is now.