Hola

Tonight’s the last night of our "Speaking Spanish" class.

I didn’t know what to expect when Clyde, Dan, and I signed up. As usual, though, I imagined wonderful things:

– A teacher would would speak only Spanish, and who would use classroom skits, activities, and hijinks to teach the language using context only.

– An emphasis on how to order in restaurants, complete with samples of delicious Mexican food.

– Quizzes and drills that would divide the sheep (those of us who study) from the goats (those people who didn’t — and you know who you are!) in a public and satisfying way.

Instead, the course offered:

– A friendly, uncritical teacher who prefers lists of vocabulary terms and simple drills to the contextual approach to learning language.

– Basic vocabulary covering numbers, some handy verbs, some food items, the days of the week, and the months of the year

– No pressure to study outside of class, and no penalties for not having done so.

The first week, I studied like a demon. I downloaded several flash-card programs, tried them all, and learned that the very best one of the lot was the free one: Memory Lifter 1.7. I poured all my vocabulary terms into the program and drilled myself silly.

In class, I felt very confident … and a bit obsessed, since no one else seemed to have learned much at all.

So the second week, I didn’t study until the day of class. I spent an hour or two fiddling with Memory Lifter. It’s a testimony to the power of that program, by the way, that even an hour makes a real difference in your ability to recall information.

The third week, I studied about ten minutes.

Last week, I glanced at my notes.

See the pattern? I’d like to tell you I’m so self-motivated I clocked several hours a week and mastered every vocabulary term on Professor Cahn’s typewritten handouts. (Yes, typewritten. How long has he been recycling the same material? Decades?)

But I wasn’t. And so I didn’t.

Still, down at the Mexican restaurant (since Jaquilpan — the one in the old Steak and Ale — closed, we always go to El Portrillo — the one in the old Kenny Rodgers’ Roasters), they love the fact I now greet them, order, and pay in Spanish. When Spanish speakers came to our yard sale, I was able to tell them "Everything’s a dollar."

And I’ve discovered the joys of Destinos, a Mexican soap-opera specifically designed to teach Spanish to people like me (who prefer to learn a language by hearing it and figuring out what the heck people are saying). It’s now available on-line in streaming format, free of charge, along with the better-known French In Action, which does the same thing, but in French, of course. In college, I watched this show for hours on end … and had a huge crush on Robert (Rho-berrrr), one of the main characters.

So: overall, good fun. Hmmm … now how about Intro to Japanese?