LAS LENGUAS INGLESA Y ESPAÑOLA de Delfín Carbonell

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 cultu...

Learning a foreign language through a foreign language It may sound tricky and weird but using this method we may be able to kill two birds with one stone. Suppose your mother tongue is Amharic, and let´s say that your command of French is not the best, but still you can make yourself understood and you understand and read it fairly well. You are still in the process of learning it. Then you decide to acquire a third language, German, for instance, and you also decide to do it through the medium of French. You get hold of a German grammar in French, where the German vocabulary will be in French as well as the grammatical explanations, idiomatic expressions and exercises. Certainly some words in German will also be unknown to you in French. So you can learn two words instead of only one. Here is where the expression to kill two birds with one stone makes sense. Likewise you will be able to practice French when trying to understand German grammar. Give it a try but only...