How To Really Learn Spanish - by Ricardo González, Founder & Executive Director of Bilingual America  

Table of Contents
Forward - Dr. Jane Madsen Introduction
Chapter 1 - The Importance of Methods
Chapter 2 - Assess Your Abilities
Chapter 3 - The Fruit and the Root
Chapter 4 - The Power of Patterns
Chapter 5 - You're Not A Native...All About Immersion
Chapter 6 - The Four Secrets To Long Term Retention
Chapter 7 - The Cozy Comfortable Classroom
Chapter 8 - Eight Reasons Why Telephone Tutoring is Better Than Face to Face Tutoring
Chapter 9 - What To Expect From a Great Tutor

Chapter 14 - Cultural Training and Language
Closing Thoughts


Chapter 14 - Cultural Training and Language

We now come to the last, but certainly not the least important chapter in this booklet. It will not be a long chapter, but it will be a very important chapter to apply.

Please understand the following:

It is possible to communicate in Spanish very well and, at the same time, communicate very poorly with Spanish speakers.

You need to develop cultural understanding and awareness or you will be “walking on one leg.” You are not truly bilingual simply because you "speak Spanish."

You are truly bilingual when you can apply a deep understanding of the Hispanic people and culture to your conversations with Spanish-speaking people. This will allow you to win their hearts.

For me, learning Spanish is a means to an end. The true end goal is to communicate well with our people, to appreciate and love our people and culture and to make the most of each relationship that you have with Hispanics.

All language training should also include a serious cultural training component.

What good does it do to simply "speak" the language if you do not understand how people think or why they do certain things?

Language Training and Cultural Training should run on parallel tracks.

Because of this we typically run two courses simultaneously.

1. Spanish Language Training — This is done with our Spanish Power course materials accompanied with professional tutoring.

2. Cultural Training — This is done with our Success with Hispanics course.

The Success with Hispanics course is an A to Z cultural training course. You will learn who we are, how we think, how to direct Hispanics in the workplace, how to do business with Hispanics and much, much more.

The feedback on this course is absolutely incredible. Students love it! There are 36 modules in this particular course and each module takes about 12 to 15 minutes to complete. We suggest that a student complete one module in the Success with Hispanics course for each lesson that is done in the Spanish Power course.

Learning to communicate "in Spanish" takes the greater time commitment. That, however, in no way diminishes the importance of learning to understand and communicate with our people on a cultural level.

I love our culture and I love our people. I believe that the Hispanic culture is extremely rich and can teach the average English-speaking (soon to be Spanish-speaking also!) North American to have a deeper appreciation for family, friendship and faith. Saying that, I also believe we have our flaws and our weaknesses as a culture. Every culture does.

In order for you to truly appreciate and understand the Hispanic people you need to have an honest understanding of both the beautiful and the not so beautiful in our culture. I commit to you that the cultural training you receive in the Success with Hispanics course will be lively, inspiring, applicable, and, above all, honest.