In my life, I have met people, both sides of the Atlantic, who had acquired their knowledge of English and Spanish by "hearsay." The hearsay method, "método de oídas," precludes the use of teachers, textbooks, or any type of methodology. The student tries to learn and reproduce what he "hears" from others, and must rely on his linguistic brain capacity to manage communication. But, alas, this methodology, presuposes many skills and capacities which usually are nonexistent. I remember a person exclamining often: "Ah so tire," meaning "I am so tired." This same person would go grocery-shopping to the Pennsylvania supermarket "Chainhigo," meaning Giant Eagle. A "hamburger" would end up sounding as a "chámberguer."
All those who "learn" the language with the "hearsay" method, can hardly make themselves understood and are usually living in exile, on the fringes of society and its culture. Perhaps this may be because "you can take the boy out of the country, but you can´t take the country out of the boy."
Most people stick to the idea that going to the country, using the "hearsay" method, will make them speak a language fluently. (Unfortunately these posts must be brief, and remain "stunted." But I´ll come back at a later time.)
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