The Mall and Language Learning

Last weekend, the university I work for had a special event at the Arizona Mills Mall in Tempe to help publicize and drive up traffic to their website. I was there to lend my able body and do my part in the promotion process by handing out brand-designed shopping bags and mini-magazines. This allowed me to have really good conversations with mall walkers through the day. You too can get some valuable practice in your language of study at your local mall.

Malls are wonderful opportunities to practice your language skills because it brings people from all walks of life to one place for various reasons. People are there not just to shop, but to hang out, have fun, play, exercise, go for dates, eat, see exhibits, people watch and so much more!

Arizona Mills Mall Food Court, Tempe, AZ

Now I am an introvert. So sticking my neck out and speaking to strangers is VERY challenging for me. I just don't feel comfortable doing it. Many people learning a language tend to feel the exact same way when speaking in their new language. However speaking that language is vital to improving and learning it.

It did make it easier for me to strike up a conversation with complete strangers due to the fact I was there on behalf of my work. The important thing to remember is that you don't have to have an excuse to speak to people in a public place. You just need to do it. Introverts, take your deep breaths slowly. Start going over in your head what you could say in that language to at least get you through the first sentence.

Then spend a few hours at your local mall and observe where people who speak that language tend to gather. Are they in the food court? How about on a bench near a particular store? Now, of course, this will depend greatly on your local population and whether or not you have a population who speak that language as their native language, but if you live in such an area, head to your mall regularly. Notice where people are when you hear them speaking that language. This is very important.

Once you have isolated one or two spots, find a moment when you can go up and speak to them. Greet them with your sincere, pleasant smile using their language. Maybe throw in what a great day it is so far. Then stop talking. Wait for their response. Most people hate silence and once you have engaged them, they feel obligated to say a few words back.

If they return the greeting, ask them right away if they would mind practicing their language with you just for a few moments. You might want to make sure you have this first part memorized enough so that you can deliver it with a bit of ease. Make sure your greeting and follow up expression is appropriate to the location in the mall. You might be surprised, depending on the moment, that people can spare some time to practice their language with you. Once you get past this initial approach and question, it is a little less scary because you have broken that ice.

Now it is up to you to find topics to talk about such as yourself, shopping, sports, family, etc. Keep it simple and try not to dwell on yourself. Also try to stay away from explosive topics such as religion and politics. Your goal is to increase the number of positive encounters as much as possible.

Once they have left, stay a while longer and see if anybody else shows up and try it again. Keep going back to the mall and keep trying. You may strike out, but it is very important to keep trying. I feel it's very important that introverts do exercises like this because they have the added obstacle of overcoming their shyness. It won't one day make them extroverts, but it will become easier for you to do this with the more practice you have.

You want to be genuine, honest, sincere and kind. Act how you would like others to treat you. Don't stalk or creep people out. Let these encounters be casual and inviting. Remember, they are doing you the favor of practicing your language skills. If people are not able to speak with you, be humble and gracious about it. Practice a good closing phrase. If you leave on good terms, they might spend some time with you another time.

You may find that you have better luck with people who are by themselves or with children rather than groups of people. Groups tend to be chatty with each other and less interested in strangers speaking to them. You can do this! Just plan that trip to the mall right now. Best of luck!

¡Hasta luego!
~Keith

New Adventures!

Planning a trip to a Spanish-speaking country is the ultimate reward for studying a foreign language. When

you can set foot in a location where your new language is living day in and day out, you get a sense of excitement, of anticipation, of adventure!

I talk about traveling in Chapter 6 of my book, "So You Want to Learn Spanish?". In it, you can really challenge yourself on the language skills you have obtained to that point. Part of traveling is the desire for adventure -- to experience new, different and interesting sites, people and history. I came across a web site that may help you in your planning stages for that upcoming trip. It's called Get Your Guide.

On the site, you enter in the location of where you are headed followed by the date you will arrive and the date you will leave. It will search for tours, special events, activities and attractions that some guide books may miss for that specific city. Some of the items it pulls up may be time and date specific which makes it all the more interesting.

For example, I am planning a much anticipated trip to Spain in 2014. When I arrive in Sevilla in March, I found out about a 3-hour Tapas Tour that I could enjoy while I'm there. It's a private tour that takes you to creatively selected tapas bars that you may or may not normally stumble upon if you just arrived. How fun and unique would that be?! Most of the activities do cost money to participate; however, there are some that are totally free too. For Sevilla, I found a free 2-hour walking tour of the city with a local guide. Would I chip in something for the guide afterward? Of course, but at least it would be on my terms and taste.

So if you are planning that much awaited trip to try out your new language skills, check out your destination on Get Your Guide and see what creative ways you can see the sights. You may be surprised at what different ways there are and how marrying some fun activity along with a tour can help pass jet lag and boredom.

Happy and fun travels!

¡Hasta luego!
~Keith

Beginning Frustrations

Sometimes learning a foreign language can be a lonely endeavor. This is especially true if you are not taking a class with other beginning language students. Maybe you are shy, or sometimes family and friends are just not interested in learning a new language or have other obligations to spend their time. This can often create frustrations for beginners who desperately want to learn the language they are studying.

Let's look at some options that are certainly on the table:

1. You can search for others who are just beginning that language and try to establish routine meetings or chats. In large cities, there could be many people just starting out learning a language and, like you, need someone to interact with using that language. What a better way than to meet up? There are internet sites that let you do just that: Meetup.com, livemocha.com, and Google Hangouts just to name a few. If you find someone local, see if they are up for meeting in a well lit public location -- maybe for coffee (café). You don't have to date the person, just talk with them using what you already know in the language you are learning and see where the conversation takes you! Local community colleges, universities, community centers, and libraries are also very good places to post announcements seeking people to meet up with and share your love of a new language.


2. Read stories out loud. Recently, scientists discovered that seeing and listening have much more to do with each other in terms of learning a language than ever thought! You can read the article here. Find easy stories, short stories, or children's stories in your new language and start reading them in a normal speaking voice. If you are self-conscious, I recommend doing this activity behind a locked door. The combination of seeing and hearing yourself speak each word on the page can improve your diction and rhythm of the language. In time, you will see that speaking the language is easier than it was before. In fact, I always recommend to brand new students to read everything out loud in the new language. You can always go back over the text to concentrate on the meanings of the words, but give it a shot at least once.

3. Like option number 1 above, seek out conversation groups for beginners in your new language. Most major cities will have them if it is a common enough language. Again, check out community colleges, coffee shops, libraries, post offices, community centers and universities to see if there are groups in your area for beginners. Each group may be different in what they do with their time together. There are a couple of groups in Phoenix that get together once a week or twice a month and do mock interviews with each other, come prepared to discuss short stories, poems or new articles written in that language. Some groups may get together just for coffee, dinner, or an outing, an event or activity ("movie night" is a common theme). There is a lot you can do in a group. You can feel less intimidated than if you are one on one with another person whose speaking ability might be a bit better than your own. In groups, you may find more than one in your same situation. Check them out. They are a great option.

4. Larger cities may have parks or central locations where native people who speak your new language hang out with family and friends. Do a walk through and walk up to people greeting them with a pleasant "hello!" and a bright smile. You'd be bit surprised to know they may welcome a small chat with you in their language.

5. The internet these days has improved by leaps and bounds since the early 2000's and even the 90's. Skype is an excellent option for those with a webcam and/or microphone to find chat rooms for beginners and start speaking your new language. Other sites may have similar webcam chat rooms that allow you to visit and see people from all across the world. Try to find a native speaker of your new language. They may welcome the help with their English in exchange for help with their language.

6. Find music you love in your new language. Music is a magical means to connect you to a new level with a language. Hearing, seeing the words, singing along with the artist, and jamming to the beat can really increase your motivation with the language, but help with diction, rhythm, and self-confidence in producing the language in normal conversations. The key here is to sing along with the music. That is the only way to improve your speaking that language. The more you can imitate the singer and how they sing the words, the more your own speech will improve.

The bottom line is it comes down to getting yourself out there and speaking your new language. Find opportunities in life to use your language skills that you have. Native speakers will be tickled that you are trying to communicate to them in their language and will often go out of their way to help you succeed. Even if that doesn't happen, you will have given it a try and helped yourself to more practice.

Every language learner must begin at the beginning. They may have advanced skills with their own native language, but their new language skills are still at the infancy stage. Don't get frustrated by that at all. Everyone has to be there at some point. This just happens to be your moment to be at the skill level you are at. The important thing to remember is that you will not remain at that level forever. If you work hard at it each day, you will improve. If you choose to give up, you will not improve. I say, if you're going to try learning a language, why not take the path of working hard at it and improving a little bit than giving up and wasting all of that time and effort. Once you're at the bottom, you can only go up, my friend!

¡Hasta luego!
~Keith

The Double Verb-Subject Confusion

Very beginning Spanish learners who happen to be English speakers tend to confuse conjugated verbs as subjects. When this happens, you get two conjugated verbs right next to each other in the same sentence.

Recently, a student of mine said the following sentence:

"Son llamo Alicia."

I've also heard students say:

"Me llamo es Carlos."

Perhaps there is some confusion with the words used to clearly state what you are saying. After all, verbs and subjects can be a bit tricky in Spanish.

Both examples above have two conjugated verbs in the sentence: son and llamo in the first and llamo and es in the second. Son means 'they (you all) are.' Llamo is part of the reflexive verb, llamarse, or 'to call oneself.' Es is part of the same verb as son, but means 'he, she, you or it is.'

If we translate the first example, it would say:

"They are I call Alice."

And the second example would be:

"I call myself is Carl."

As you can see, with two conjugated verbs in the same sentence, it does not make much sense at all. Remember your subjects are the following:

Yo -- I

Tú -- You (familiar/informal)

El, Ella, Vd. -- He, She, You (formal)

Nosotros/Nosotras -- We

Vosotros/Vosotras -- You All, They (familiar/informal)

Ellos, Ellas, Vds. -- They, You All (formal)

Know the subject of your sentence first. In the above examples, you would most likely use "Yo" or I to state who you are. Then you will need a verb to express what you are doing:

Ser		Llamarse
To be		To call oneself
(Yo) Soy	I am	(Yo) Me llamo	I call myself
(Tú) Eres	You are	(Tú) Te llamas	You call yourself
(El, Ella, Vd.) Es	He, She or You are	(El, Ella, Vd.) Se llama	He, She or You call yourself
(Nosotros/Nosotras) Somos	We are	(Nosotros/Nosotras) Nos llamamos	We call ourselves
(Vosotros/Vosotras) Soís	You all, They  are	(Vosotros/Vosotras) Os llamáis	You all, They call yourselves
(Ellos, Ellas, Vds.) Son	They, You all are	(Ellos, Ellas, Vds.) Se llaman	They, You all call yourselves

You may combine the subject and the conjugated verb together in the sentence to emphasize who you are speaking about, but it is not recommended nor necessary as the verb in its conjugated form will already let the listener/reader know the subject of the sentence.

So going back to the two examples at the beginning, you could say the following:

"(Yo) Soy Alicia." or "(Yo) Me llamo Alicia."

And in the second example:

"(Yo) Me llamo Carlos." or "(Yo) Soy Carlos."

To wrap up, know who the subject of your sentence is (I, you, he, she, we, they, you all, etc.), then conjugate the verb to that subject and you're all set! Pretty simple, right? Let me know if you run into any questions on the above information.

¡Hasta luego!
~Keith