THE BENEFITS OF LEARNING SPANISH | The Postmodern Family EP#120

Felipe discusses his cultural heritage from his Nicaraguan roots and hopes to pass them onto his children through the Spanish language.

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[GFSLombardo]

Beautiful sight to see your daughter learning Spanish! Because of my heritage, I am probably prejudiced in favor of the Romance languages/cultures and American English. But all languages/cultures have their own beauty and charm when it comes to warmth and intimacy; especially among one's family or circle of friends. But if its not one's primary language/culture it is often difficult to pick up those nuances. Even formal language lessons do not always pick that up. Learning "idioms" is just not the same thing. As just one small example: A British "mum" could say something like: "my son Tom". She could also say, "my Tom", or if she is among friends and relatives, "our Tom". I find that charming, and not something that an American "mom" would normally say about her son Tom. So keep up the good work PMF-You are both terrific parents of two terrific children.

[jock]

I value the finely nuanced synonyms of the English language. Having studied Latin for six years, I heartily recommend it. I was then able to study Roman Law, allowing me a further insight into Roman culture and how it evolved.

[ccchhhrrriiisss]

I think that this is a brilliant plan for raising children! We don't have children yet; however, my wife and I hope that we will expose our children to foreign languages quite early. Interestingly, I think that Spanish and Mandarin are probably the two languages that I would choose to teach them.

Approximately 1.5 Billion people speak English (either as a first or second language). Another 1.2 Billion speak Mandarin as their native language. Nearly 460 Million people are native Spanish speakers. Between these three languages, you can communicate with nearly half of the entire population of the world.

My wife is from Mexico. Her parents and siblings now live in the United States (and her dad finally became a citizen in 2016). However, her parents aren't fluent in English. Even after three years of Spanish in high school and four semesters of Spanish in college, I still struggle with my ability to speak Spanish conversationally. I actually feel embarrassed by it when I struggle to communicate with them.

I think that this is the weakness of Spanish as a second language in formal academic settings. I can read and write Spanish fluently. However, my conversational Spanish is weak. Schools often focus on vocabulary, grammar, conjugation and culture. The conversational element is delegated to some periodic "dialogue" exercises in class.

I feel that it would have been most beneficial to have learned the language at a younger age and in a conversational setting. My wife immigrated to the U.S. during the 5th grade. She is highly fluent in both Spanish and English (excelling in her post-graduate education in both the United States and Spain). On the other hand, I'd struggle -- at least initially -- if I lived in Latin America.