5 reasons to learn a foreign language abroad

There are many ways of learning a language and some are more effective than others. One technique will not suit all (probably even 20 different techniques wouldn't suit all) since the ‘best’ way to learn something is very subjective. Before I came to Salamanca many of my friends asked me why I am going to Spain to study Spanish while I could ‘just as easily’ learn it from the comfort of my own home in Slovakia.  Although I understood where they were coming from (some of them have never studied abroad), I couldn't really agree and little by little I have ended up with a list of reasons why I think it is a good idea to study Spanish in Spain and I would like to share it with you now.

540

1. Immersion is key. The main point I couldn't agree on with my friends that I could learn Spanish ‘just as easily’ in Slovakia as I could do it in Spain (or any other Spanish speaking country).  Since I have tried to learn a few languages before, I know how my mind works and I know that ‘full immersion into the language and culture’ works best for me. I find it easier to learn a language when I am surrounded by it 24 hours a day, 7 days a week rather than 2.5 hours once a week.  When you are in the country full of native speakers you listen to the language all the time, whether you are using public transport, walking on the street or doing groceries (I am not mentioning being in class because that’s a given when you decide to join a language school).

2. Personal growth. The second reason is that although it is nice to stay somewhere where you are already know the environment and the people, most of personal development occurs while you are out of your comfort zone. Being out of your comfort zone is not always the most pleasant of experiences (hence the term), however, once the things outside of your comfort zone become part of it you will feel better and there’s a big chance you will have changed as a person too (for the better, of course).

3. Meet new people. The third reason is that whenever you move into a new place you will meet new people, however, that doesn’t always mean you will also make new friends. On the other hand, when you go to study a foreign language abroad you are very likely to meet a lot of like-minded individuals who are also looking for new friends and are eager to get to know you.  And because you are more or less in the same situation it is likely that you will bond faster than in ‘normal’ circumstances and that your friendships will last longer.

4. Once you are there, travel around. The forth reason is maybe the strongest incentive for some and that is travelling. Especially if the person lives rather far from the country where the language is spoken, it is cheaper and more comfortable to travel around the country once you are in it than if you have fly there every time (not to mention that you will visit many interesting places that you would not otherwise). For example, I have visited places such as Segovia, Ávila, La Alberca and Ciudad Rodrigo that I would not have otherwise visited (or even known about).

5. Good for work. And last but not least, if you are thinking about your future, studying a language abroad may help you gain a competitive advantage whether you are considering applying for a university programme or looking for a job. University admissions and job hunting are becoming more and more competitive and the importance of being able to differentiate yourself is increasing. Being able to speak one or more foreign languages is always advantageous, however, studying the language in its country of origin is even more than that. It shows that you are independent, able to take care of yourself, that you like challenges and that you are not afraid of getting out of your comfort zone and personally develop.

As a person who has studied abroad a relatively long time, I dare to say that all of these things are true. If you feel that you are have lived in a bubble then learning a foreign language abroad is the right thing to do. It will broaden your horizons by getting to know a different culture and language and new people who are likely to be from all over the world, and by bringing some new challenges that you have not expected. And most importantly, when all is said and done you will feel like a new person who has accomplished a great lot of things since you left home. 

Radio interview of three students from Tía Tula

As we recently posted on our Facebook page, three students of Tía Tula, Colegio de Español took the opportunity to participate in a programme on Radio 5 (RNE), the national Spanish radio station, in which they shared some of their experiences about being Spanish students in Salamanca.

If you would like to know more about what makes Salamanca the perfect city to come to for learning Spanish, watch the video that we recorded during the interview:

We also have a podcast of the whole programme, which includes a talk between Enrique Clavero (the joint director of Tía Tula), Ricardo Ortiz (the director of 'Lingua Globe') and Carmen Ballesteros (the director of 'Salamanca City of Spanish'):

And for you? What do you like the most about Salamanca?

Spanish version

10 tips for effective language learning

Learning a new language opens the door to other cultures, knowledge and places; however, the study process sometimes becomes boring and complicated, which may result so demoralizing that one loses all interest. A non-optimal learning method is often to blame: timewise inefficient, focused on topics uninteresting to the student, or centered on theoretical aspects.

At Tía Tula we want you to be successful in your learning and to enjoy in the process, too. Here is a list with 10 useful tips on how to accomplish these goals:

1. Take it calmly and be tenacious. Miracles don’t exist and neither do miraculous methods. Learning a language well demands time and effort. This may sound hard, but it is actually the best part of the process. Remember, big efforts lead to big rewards. 

2. Make mistakes. Don’t be afraid of getting some things wrong when talking to native speakers or your language teacher. You will be learning something new every time they correct you. This is, without a doubt, the best way to make a new word, expression or gramatical structure stick. Repetition is key. 

3. Take advantage of new technologies. A great load of materials can be found on the Internet for you to deepen your learning. For instance, online media, forums, documentaries, podcasts… Smartphones also make a great study tool; there is a good number of useful apps ready for you to download. 

4. Don’t despair. If you can’t remember something, don’t get demoralized, you will have more chances. Language is learnt by means of repetitive and contextualized usage, resulting in a much more fluent and natural ability to communicate.  

5. Converse with native speakers. Sound is the most primitive form of language; babies transmit their first words through their voice. Consequently, speaking is the most natural way to learn a language. Also, conversing with natives helps expression and comprehension and improves your accent and rhythm in the language. 

6. Organize your time wisely. If you study a little bit everyday, rather than studying for long periods with a lot of inactivity time, you will assimilate more. This is firstly because the human brain has a concentration span of about a couple of hours; therefore, after that time, your study becomes less fruitful. And secondly, the less time between sessions, the less you will forget what you have previously learnt; in other words, this way you will get a deeper immersion in the language.

7. Know the culture. According to Rita Mae Brown: “Language is the road map of a culture. It tells you where its people come from and where they are going” (Starting from Scratch, 1988). We are convinced that it also works in the opposite direction: knowing a culture, its customes, and way of thinking is great for learning a language in depth. 

8. Don’t worry about your accent. Your goal doesn’t need to be sounding like a native, but managing to be easily understood. This has to do with the rhythm and intonation of the language. Pay attention to the ‘melody’ of native speech and try to mimic it.  

9. Stay away from literal translation. Don’t look for an absolute equivalence between two languages, not even when it looks like a ‘literal translation’; for instance, ‘breakfast’ doesn’t have the same meaning as desayuno in Spanish since the concept draws differently in the minds of native Spanish speakers and native English speakers (it has different cultural implications: time, what it consists of…).  That’s why, as we mentioned on tip number 7, we advise you to learn a language from its roots.

10. Have fun! We encourage you to read, write, converse and listen to the language you are learning; but most of all, have a good time and enjoy the process. 

So what are you waiting for to put these ten golden rules into practice?

In case you haven’t noticed, one can easily draw the conclusion that the best way to learn a language, or to work towards its mastery,  is a linguistic immersion, of shorter or longer duration, in a country where your target language is the only or main one. It’s not us saying it: experts agree. And deep down everybody knows…

Cinema

Let´s see what we can watch during this week. Here we have some films that could be interesting for you:

The first in my list is “Divergent”.  I watched it in Spanish to practice and I think it’s a good idea because you don’t need a perfect language in movies with all that action. The movie is based on the book by Veronica Roth. The film takes place in a post-apocalyptic Chicago where people divide themselves into five groups based on their talents: Abnegation, Amity, Candor, Dauntless, Erudite. The main character is Beatrice sixteen-year-old girl. After the Choosing Day she became the one of the Dauntless. So she has to live without her family. But a good point that she meets her instructor and falls in love with him. Beatrice needs to practice more to stay in, otherwise she’ll be homeless.  And more she has to survive and save people. Guess what happens in the end and why the film is so famous by going to the cinema.

And the second one is a world-wide famous, dramatic and historical. It won an Oscar. It’s titled "12 Years a Slave". The film is based on an incredible true story of a man’s fight to win his freedom. Three prizes were taken merited because of its talented cast, director and soulful, heart-rending story.  No doubt, it’s very hard to watch especially some of scenes of cruel behavior of humanity. Its striking deep history will force you to reflect. No words, just… bravo!

 

Learning a second language before speaking

There is no minimum age to begin to delve into the linguistic richness of a second language. According to scientific evidence, the sooner you hear the new language, the better. From birth would be more advisable. Advantages for the growing infant are it would be easier for them to speak the language; it will help in concentration and even delay Alzheimer's.

The brain of the early born is like a blank journal. If we wait to have all the pages written to learn another language, there will not be enough space remaining and we will have to write on the side, said Jose Antonio Portellano, neuropsychologist and professor at the Faculty of Psychology of the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. This is a perfect metaphor to understand that "the earlier you learn a new language, the more effective it is," he stresses.

This is due to neuroplasticity (ability of the brain and the nervous system to adapt itself to changes), namely, "the reverse plasticity rule: the younger you are, the more ability to learn in general and, therefore, the less it costs to assimilate a new language". The cognitive flexibility is not the same depending on the age

This theory is supported by the scientific literature, in which as quoted by Portellano "we couldn’t find a single drawback associated with early learning of a second language. Quite the opposite, we have seen that it makes a person smarter. Not because it increases the number of neurons but because it improves neuronal connections, the quality of the circuits and cerebral density. All this helps the brain to build itself better. There is more of myelin (a substance that protects the axons), and the learning is more fluid. "

It changes the structure of the brain and this positively affects memory, attention ability and delays dementia. According to a study published in the journal “Neurology”, being bilingual can delay Alzheimer up to four or five years. Furthermore, those who handle several languages use more brain areas, are accustomed to exercising the brain and move with more ease when performing different tasks at once.

Ultimately, neuropsychologists recommend starting as soon as possible the immersion in a second language. Some claim that the benefits can begin even before birth, in the womb of the mother. Whether or not this is the case, the truth is that neuropsychologists recommend taking advantage "from time zero".

It is not enough to put only the cartoons in another language, there must be another element of support: family or day-care. The new language has to 'coexist' naturally with the young child, ie,  some songs are sung in English, others have to be hummed in the other language, and stories also have to be read in that language. Parents should, as well as speak in the native language, also use this second language."

When learning starts from time zero, since everything is yet to build into the brain, it shows in phonology, ie a person gets an accent that is more original. Although the benefits are numerous, the problem is that parents who do not know another language feel it is difficult to make the new language an element in the home. However, they have other options, such as television with the various language learning programs, day-care with or even a foreign nanny. The important thing, stresses Portellano, is not to rush learning with academic rules. This can come later. Instead enjoy the freedom of conversing and expressing oneself while learning the joys of a second language.

How do bilinguals switch from one language to another?

Is the bilingual brain made of boxes that allow the individual to switch between languages? A U.S. study sought to answer this question.

How bilinguals manage to switch from one language to another, depending on their speaker, and never get lost or confused? This issue has divided scientists for many years.

The boxes in the bilingual brain

There are two opposite schools of thought on this subject. The first group of scientists believe that bilinguals have a "box" in the brain dedicated to each language that they practice with ease. On the contrary, the others argue that the practice of all these languages ​​is mixed in a single box, and that bilinguals switch from one language to another balancing the sound.

To reach an agreement, a study published in the journal Psychological Science by a researcher from Arizona indicates that the bilingual brain is organized by "sounds".

Thus, a Spanish rolled "r" and an English sucked "h" would both be stored in a very specific case, accessible when the individual needs it.

The "Spanish mode" and the "English mode"

To reach these conclusions, the scientists studied 32 people, speaking English and Spanish since childhood. By making them listen to several words, sometimes pronounced in Spanish, sometimes in English, researchers have realized that it is primarily through the sounds that bilingual individuals are able to connect to a language.

"If they are set in “English mode”, they act as English people, and if they are set in “Spanish mode”, then they will behave like Spanish people", explains Andrew Lotto, specialist in the study.

Everything would be in the sounds, say the authors of the study. It is for this reason that a person wanting to learn a language late in their life would be disadvantaged compared to a young person, because they would be imbued with the sounds of their native language.

Make the most of your immersion experience in Salamanca!

There are many opportunities open to you on a daily basis now that you are in Salamanca, to improve your Spanish Language skills. Take as much advantage as you can in your new country by putting yourself in situations where you have to speak the language. Instead of reverting to your native tongue, practice with your fellow students after class. You may stumble across the words but this is part of the journey to improvement!

 

Stop off at a fruit stall and have a conversation with the seller on the produce for sale or go to the grocery store, where you have to read labels and talk to cashiers. Think of as many public situations as you can that will compel you to interact with locals so that you can practice speaking to help expand your vocabulary. It may seem intimidating or frustrating at first but the more you practice the better you will get.

 

 

Keep a small notebook handy to make notes of new words or frequently used phrases. Use it as a reference guide. Eventually you would keep referring to it less and less.

 

Label up! Using some brightly colored Post It Notes, walk around your apartment or your room and label the things you use or see. Constantly seeing the labels in Spanish will help to imprint the names of these objects in your memory.

 

Keep a record of your daily activities by writing in Spanish what you’ve done or experienced and how it made you feel. This will help improve your writing skills and expand your vocabulary.

 

There are plenty of different ways to maximize your language learning skills while studying abroad but the most important thing to remember, however, is to step out of your comfort zone. Language learning necessitates making mistakes constantly, but this is all a part of the journey to improvement. If you have any tips that have worked for you and you would like to share with the other students feel free to leave a note in the comment section. Buena suerte!

 

 

Debra, Student in Tia Tula

My stay in Salamanca

I have been in Salamanca for a little more than one month and here I am, already halfway through my internship. Time goes by so quickly here! Between work, activities and travel, I do not have time to get bored. 

 

My internship in the office is very interesting and rewarding. My colleagues always take the time necessary to show and explain new things to me and the work matches well what I have to do as part of my studies of personal assistant. What I also appreciate is that there are always things to do, whether ad frequent tasks as welcoming new students, responding to emails or going to send mail or tasks over the long term as marketing tasks ...

 

Regarding activities, Tia Tula offers a variety of activities every week. These are always a good opportunity to spend time with other students and to get to know new ones that have just arrived. During these activities, we speak in Spanish, which allows everyone to practice outside of class; those who have a good level helping those who have more difficulties. 

Last week, I enjoyed climbing to the Clerecia towers. We were eight students of Tia Tula and got to see the whole city from the top of the towers, a gorgeous view! 
 

I also take the weekends to visit this region of Spain: on Saturdays I go visit surrounding cities or villages. As you will see if you search a bit on the internet, there are many places to go by bus. The rest of my free time, I hang out with students of Tia Tula or with other people I've already met. 

 
It is impossible to come to Spain and miss the famous Tapas, which are a very friendly way of eating. There are also regular events in Salamanca which you can attend for example these days there was the FACYL festival, you can also watch film in VO subtitled, or go to listen to concerts in bars ... 

 

For me, Salamanca is a city where you never get bored. As a foreign student, it is very easy to meet people and there is no better way to improve in Spanish!

Claire, Intern

Spanish language school of the year in Ireland

The annual reward ceremony for Spanish education was held at the Spanish embassy in Dublin this year. Every year the Ministry of Education in the UK and Ireland elect and reward the best Spanish language schools and students to promote the teaching of Spanish in Ireland. Tía Tula had a direct presence in the awards this year.

The best students in Ireland were selected with reference to the assessment scores on the Junior Certificate exams (high school) and the Leaving Certificate exams (pre-university). The best students of the Spanish language in Ireland this year were Daniel Coleman (St. Conleth’s College, Dublin) and Michael Angland (Ashton Comprehensive School, Cork).

The best Spanish school of the year is chosen based on different criteria such as the number of students enrolled in Spanish as a Foreign Language (ELE) courses, the use of innovative methods in teaching, participation in international projects where Spanish is the mean language, the visibility of Spanish and the Hispanic culture and extracurricular activities dedicated to the promotion of the Spanish language.  This year’s best Spanish school in Ireland was the Beaumont National School for Girls (Beaumont, Co. Cork). The school received two completely paid Spanish summer courses in Spain at Tía Tula and the academy, Mester (also in Salamanca). Teacher Elizabeth Corcoran and director Margaret McCarthy will be the lucky ones that get to study Spanish in Salamanca during the summer.

The awards were presented by S.E.D. Javier Garrigues (ambassador of Spain in Dublin) and D. Gonzalo Ceballos (director of the Spanish Tourism Office in Dublin).  About 50 guests from the world of education in Ireland, national agencies and language associations of Spanish teachers attended the ceremony.

Tía Tula would like to congratulate all winners, especially Elizabeth Corcoran, who contacted us, of the Beaumont Nation School for Girls. A warm welcome is waiting for you at Tía Tula!

You can read more about this subject on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation.

Boost your brain! Learn a language

Maybe you are having second thoughts about exposing yourself or your child to a new foreign language. Please don’t! Nowadays there is more evidence than ever before that multilingualism has tremendous benefits for your brain.

Multiple scientists addressed this interesting phenomenon during the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2011. Ellen Bialystok of the York University in Toronto (Canada) pointed out that bilinguals seem to maintain better cognitive function (than monolinguals) as the human body begins its natural decline in old age. The research she carried out with Craik and Freedman shows that bilingualism even has a positive effect on slowing down dementia in the aging brain. They researched a group of patients with similar levels of cognitive impairment. Those that were bilingual had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s about four years later, on average, than those who spoke just one language. So at the same level of impairment, bilinguals are older, which shows they have been able to cope better with the disease. An important theory in explaining this is that speaking different languages keeps the mind active in the same way puzzles and games do, and works toward compensating for the build-up of the dementia-causing pathology in the brain.

Judith Kroll, researcher at Pennsylvania State University, said that bilinguals are also better than monolinguals at multitasking. Switching from one language to another helps bilinguals to ignore irrelevant information and prioritize tasks better than monolinguals. This makes sense considering that when a bilingual person speaks one language, the other language is still potentially active. Speakers of multiple languages are constantly inhibiting multiple languages in favor of the one they are currently using. This statement is supported by a research on the effects of bilingualism on children. Bilingual children appear to make better choices based on conflicting information than monolingual children. Because a concept can be expressed differently in various languages, bilingual children know from early on that form and meaning are arbitrary. They learn to choose the correct word from the words they know depending on the context.

The results of these studies are supported by a research conducted by the researches from the University College London. They studied the brains of 105 people of whom 80 were bilingual. They found that learning other languages altered grey matter (the area of the brain which processes information) in the same way exercise builds muscles. Other benefits of multilingualism include an enhanced short-term memory capacity and problem-solving capability. Mainly due to enhanced mental flexibility. This involves neural pathways being opened up, which extends the capacity to think and opens access to different avenues for thought.

In terms of starting to learn a new language in a later stage in your life, the likelihood of becoming a fluent speaker is low, but it seems like every little bit helps in preventing cognitive decline. And proficiency may be more important than the age of acquisition according to Judith Kroll.  So don’t wait and start to learn a new language and give your brain that workout that it’s been longing for.