Language learning: Fact of fiction?

Fact or fiction?

If you already speak English, it is not likely you will ever need any other language to communicate.

• Fact

• Fiction

Answer explanation

Anytime you travel outside the country or even to a big city in the US, you will meet people who don’t speak English. Sometimes they will need your help, and sometimes you will need theirs. It is a skill that will come in handy more often than you might think. It could even save your life one day.

Fact or fiction?

People who speak more than one language tend to be smarter in general than monolingual people. 

• Fact

• Fiction

Answer explanation

Research clearly shows that those who speak more than one language have stronger cognitive abilities than those who don’t.

Fact or fiction?

If you know a second language, it makes it easier to learn a third language, no matter how different the third language is from the other two.

• Fact

• Fiction

Answer explanation

Language learning is a skill that requires long and short term memory, auditory processing, and creative problem-solving skills that apply to any additional language you could learn, and many other life skills, too.

Fact or fiction?

Learning a language requires memorization.

• Fact

• Fiction

Answer explanation

Even when you learned your first language, you had to remember the word for things like "ball", "bottle", "toy", etc. The same is true for any other language you want to learn. There is no way to learn a language without remembering things.

Fact or fiction?

If you hear or see something enough, you will remember it without having to pay any special attention.

• Fact

• Fiction

Answer explanation

Just seeing or hearing something is not enough by itself to be remembered in any meaningful way. You have to pay attention and understand it  or something about its context in order to have an awareness of the new word and for it to become part of your short-term and then long-term memory.

Fact or fiction?

You have to be good at memorizing things to be a good language learner.

• Fact

• Fiction

Answer explanation

You do need to remember things, but everyone’s memory is different, so you have to figure out how YOUR memory works in order to remember new words and concepts (you may not fully know that yet since your brain is still not fully formed!). There are also many other skills involved in learning a language besides memory that can compensate and help you learn.

Fact or fiction?

You cannot learn a foreign language if you don’t live in a country that speaks it.

• Fact

• Fiction

Answer explanation

It comes down to how many hours of real communication practice you are willing to put in, and how many you need, your level of motivation to learn, and what your proficiency goal is. When you have a teacher or conversation partner and a reason to communicate, nothing can stop you!

Fact or fiction?

You will learn more about the structure of English when you learn about the structure of Spanish.

• Fact

• Fiction

Answer explanation

If you already know what a noun, verb, adjective, and adverb are from your knowledge of English, you are already ahead of the game! Learning more about how Spanish works will show you things you may not have realized about English and how it is different or similar in varying ways.

Fact or fiction?

Learning a foreign language requires creative thinking.

• Fact

• Fiction

Answer explanation

As a beginner, your challenge will be to communicate as clearly as you can using a relatively small number of words. You will not be able to say exactly what you would say in English, so you will often need to change your message to fit your small vocabulary. But don’t worry! The more you advance in Spanish the more you will be able to say and the more you can express yourself like you would in English.

Fact or fiction?

Most Americans do NOT speak a second language besides English. 

• Fact

• Fiction

Answer explanation

This means that if you ARE multilingual, you have a significant advantage in employment and business opportunities compared with other monolingual folks. You will be able to communicate with more people and understand other cultures in ways that monolinguals, in general, do not.