The Know

Speed Learning Gets a Thumbs Up!

My friends and I are planning a trip to Costa Rica in November for one of our girlfriend’s big 40th birthday.  We are going all out, renting a house along the beach, hiring a chef, cabana massages, even live entertainment.  We have all taken to learning all that we can about Costa Rican culture, food and accoutrements.  And at the suggestion of the birthday girl, we even decided to brush up on our Spanish to totally submerge ourselves in the experience.  Good idea or not so much?  There are eight of us going, all professional go-getters of sorts, from a doctor, to the head of a singles service, we run the gamut.  The one qualm - We’re all extremely competitive.   So when given the charge to learn the language, I took that to mean MASTER the language.  One problem.  Who has the time? I work (a lot), have two children who are very socially active and help my parents (who are self sufficient for the most part, but still…).  My schedule on any given day is usually over booked and stretched to the point of distortion, but my sentiment was, “if there’s a will there’s a way.”  And I found a way – Online Classes and CD-ROM lessons.

Most of us have probably heard or Rosetta Stone or similar companies, via television commercial or internet ads and if your anything like me, you likely dismissed the information or put it on the back burner as “something I’d like to do one day.” I decided to immerse myself into the Rosetta Stone Spanish language (Latin America)   courses on CD-ROM.

I found this method of learning to be a comprehensive and expedited way to learn a new language.  Through real-life simulations that provide context to help you learn and understand the language effectively, I was reading, writing and speaking Spanish in one week.  Ok, I know that I sound like a 3AM infomercial, but I was not so much impressed with the brand or product as I was with the method of learning and at how effectively retaining the whole process was.  These accelerated learning modules use a process called, intuitive sequential learning that not only helps you to build a foundation of fundamental vocabulary and essential language structure but creates scenarios in which to use the acquired knowledge. The process leverages your natural language-learning ability and prompts you to speak, pronounce, read and write, thus creating more avenues for retention.