Second language handy on the job, in life
| Having studied French in college has helped me understand some of the grammar points in Spanish – while also making a wreck of my pronunciation. No matter how hard I try to rewire my brain, the non-English word that comes to mind first in class is almost always French, and then Spanish. This three-way translating, which doesn’t exactly help my response in class, has led to some particularly dopey answers to some very easy questions. |  |
Nor is the error rate limited to the classroom. Last month while visiting a friend in D.C., I stopped by a little food cart operated in Spanish, by Hispanics, and probably largely for Hispanics. Undaunted, I walked up to the window, ordered a large decaf coffee and came away with… a monstrously-huge can of chilled coconut juice. Was it my imagination, or was that server laughing at me? Inexplicably, despite all the humiliations involved in this process, I feel more confident these days, not less. How is it possible to be continuously wrong and not grasp what even a 5-year-old understands, but come away feeling better about oneself? That is the mysterious power of learning a second language, and one of several good reasons for adding this task to your list of resolutions this year. If, like me, you’re unlikely to be taking an extended trip to another country anytime soon, you’ll have to settle for non-immersion methods of study. Here are several that I have tried and enjoyed.
