As in many aspects in life, Second Language Acquisition is part of a process that may extend for several years. How funny and ludicrous it is to find language courses that offer what we would all like to hear, that we can master a new language in only 30 days!

Some of these course providers even go one step beyond and raise the ante by promising students to speak a language with native- like pronunciation in this span of time.

Simply put, this is a blunt lie. Even for people living abroad in a foreign country, it may take several years for them to master the new language, let alone sound like native speakers. All this in spite of being immersed in the best setting for language acquisition to take place. After all, they are surrounded by native speakers of the language for most part of the day, unless they simply stay at home all the time, of course. Every single contact they have with people forces them to interact in the target language in order to get their message across and understand their interlocutors. Every interaction revolves around truly communicative situations (i.e. no one in the street will come to you and ask you: “what are the rules to form the ‘imperfect subjunctive?’”

What is more, after a hard-day’s work with full interaction in the second language, they get home and plan to relax, turn on the TV and there it is again: the foreign language is right there waiting for you! There is no escaping from it! You can run but you can’t hide. It’s at home on the radio, TV or the Internet, when you talk to your neighbors or the mailman; it is on your radio when you go to work, it’s ever present at work, when you go to the market, to the bank, when you eat out etcetera, etcetera and etcetera. This is total and absolute immersion and even in this heaven for the person eager to acquire a second language it may take at least four years for a learner to master this language, and especially in adults, native-like pronunciation is very difficult to acquire.

It is obvious that it is not always feasible or practical for us to leave everything behind and pursue this quest for learning a second language. Does this mean that we are doomed not to ever learn another language? Could we in any way infer that there is no hope of ever mastering a second language? Of course NOT. There are some awesome language courses and programs out there which are based on sound pedagogical principles. However, we must be realistic and objective about our second language learning. Whenever we hear about “the ultimate language course that can gain us proficiency overnight” we should be absolutely skeptical. More often than not, these self-proclaimed “ultimate solutions” are nothing but well-designed marketing ploys aimed at getting as much money from students as possible, in the shortest possible time.

Not surprisingly, they cost an arm and a leg, not because they are good, just because they sell hope; they sell what we want to hear, the magic pill that could make our dreams come true effortlessly. Who wouldn't like to achieve in one month what’s taken others a lifetime to obtain? I would! However, pragmatically speaking, that is utterly impossible! Being a rather sedentary person with some extra weight, I must admit that I would love to be in very good shape. Nevertheless, I must acknowledge the fact that even if I hired the best personal trainer in the world and went to the best gym in the universe and trained my very hardest and dieted along the way, all of this for a whole month with the supervision and guidance of the best in the field, and even if I quit everything to pursue this objective, the plain and simple fact will remain that I would still not be able to participate in the Olympics after just one month of this severe training.

It would be ridiculous both to expect this to happen and to offer this. After just one month, how could I compete or even train at the same level of world-class athletes who have devoted their entire lives to get ready for that moment? The mere idea of this is just nonsensical! Ironically enough, this is often what second language programs offer and people simply fall for them time and again. What is more, the ones who design these programs are by no means “experts in the field” but just ruthless cunning businessmen who want quick profits by selling sand castles no matter how much pain and frustration they will eventually cause.

My humble piece of advice to any serious second language learner or learner-to-be is to be cautious and skeptical whenever tempted by such appealing offers as the ones already mentioned. As in the fable “The tortoise and the hare,” remember that “slow and steady wins the race.”

Julio Foppoli
http://www.esaudio.net/Spanish/online_classes.html