The Secret To Learning Any Foreign Language: Spanish, Chinese, you name it

Being able to speak Spanish is a definite plus for anyone who wants to advance in their career. However, many people don’t realize that you don’t need a ton of Spanish to make a difference. It’s the 80-20 rule. You only need to know 20% of the Spanish you think you need in 80% of the situations.

Let me explain.

Many people believe that they need to be fluent to use Spanish effectively. Nothing could be further from the truth. The reality is that basic Spanish used correctly can be very helpful in almost all situations.

Here’s an example. If you are working in the service industry and have Spanish speaking customers, all you really need to know are phrases like: “Can I help you?, Would you like…?, Do you need…?”

You may be thinking that a phrase book is the answer but I believe you need to go a little deeper. You have to customize the phrases for your situation. That means adding the vocabulary, verbs and grammar that you have to have in order to communicate. Once you do, you’ll use them again and again until they become automatic.

Naturally, if the conversation changes and you find yourself commenting on the presidential election you’ll be in trouble. You’ll have to make a decision about learning more Spanish if you want to speak more freely.

But for the short term, there is no reason to commit yourself to long study hours and tedious language tapes. Get good at the Spanish you’ll need on a day-to-day basis and you’ll be fine.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, January 31st, 2008 at 7:50 am and is filed under Learn Spanish. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.