Buenas Noches Nadine,
A truly thought provoking question that deserves a reasonably clear answer.
At the beginning of language learning, you must translate to a point. Not every linguist will agree with me on this and they are certainly entitled to their opinion.
But the fact remains that most language learners spend well over 50% of their time guessing at meanings instead of learning a new language.
For this reason, I have dedicated a good portion of my life to 'taking the foreign out of language' by providing immedate English equivalents to all exercises, both written and spoken.
In this fashion, the student's anxiety and stress levels fall and their confidence increases.
There is nothing to be gained by wasting your time looking up meanings instead of learning the target language. I am quite firm in this opinion.
That said .... The time does and will come when you must wean yourself of any dependence you may have to your native tongue, let go of the side of the linguistic pool you are trying to swim in, and begin swimming. This happens naturally with practice.
I like to say that 'repetition is the mother of fluency'. It is literally impossible to learn to speak a language fluently without practice, trail and error, making and correcting lots of mistakes, and finally breaking into fluency.
In language learning, the opportunity to fail is also the opportunity to success.
In language learning, you literally 'succeed by failing'. Each time failing a little less, like a child who toddles, falls, gets up, and eventually learns to walk.
You will become fluent, but you must allow yourself the opportunity to practice during your 'down times'.
In language learning, 'down time' is 'up time'.
Allow me to explain.
If you have good language audio (like Behind the Wheel for example) ready to go in your car stereo, then you no longer fear traffic jams, trains, red lights, etc ... because these all represent massive learning opportunities for you.
You use this otherwise 'lost time' to become fluent in another language.
You must repeat out loud. I emphasize this. Some people think they can get the harvest without planting the seeds, but it will not work.
The seeds of fluency lie in the day to day out loud repetition that you relentlessly do with your down time.
When you watch TV, do you switch the language to Spanish, or at least try to get Spanish subtitles for the movies you watch?
Do you listen to internet Spanish radio talk shows? They're free and easy to access.
Do you listen to Spanish music on the radio?
Do you talk to yourself in Spanish? Try it. It's fun and it's vicarious practice.
Imagine you are in a Spanish speaking country and need directions. What would you say?
Do this to yourself up front every single day. In your minds eye, see yourself interacting with native speakers. How would you say certain words? If you don't know them, ask me now.
Then go to your language program, online dictionary, etc .. and find the words you need to put the sentences together.
One of the main strengths of the Behind the Wheel program is the rapid sentence building techniques.
We'll be working on that soon.
Espero que esto te ayude. (I hope that this helps you)
Buenas noches (Good Night) and Buena Suerte (Good Luck)
Mark Frobose
www.frobose.com
