So I queried a few other bloggers, asking “If computers can soon translate human speech from one language to another, should people continue to learn a foreign language?”

Here is the first reply:

As anyone who has ever attempted to learn a foreign language can tell you, there’s a difference between functionality and fluency in a language. While I think computers can ultimately (and thankfully) replace the awkward struggles with vacation phrase books that were like a neon sign saying “tourist”, they can never replace a deeper level of learning.

Every language contains humor, sarcasm, slang, idioms, and expressions that are hard for a native speaker to understand at times, let along a computer. While software translating your own voice into another language is spectacularly cool, can you ever really feel connected to someone speaking a different language than you if you have to interact through a computer? Can you think of any interaction between people that wouldn’t be smoother if there was no computer involved and the two parties could talk directly?

There’s a market for computers translating speech, but at the same time, I think we’re a VERY long ways away from the point where we wouldn’t benefit from taking the time to learn another language. If nothing else, taking the time to learn a language properly gets you far more credibility with foreign cultures than using translation software.

contributed by Alex Conde at Searchingforhappy.com – A website about one man’s experiments in increasing happiness

So in my first of what I hope will be a series of reviews of iPhone Apps to Learn Spanish, I decided to review TripSpeak Spanish.

Like a lot of iPhone applications, TripSpeak Spanish comes with a free version and a paid version. I have to like the free version enough to buy the paid version.

TripSpeak Spanish Lite (the free version):

This comes with two lessons – el viaje (travel vocabulary) , el restaurante (food and eating vocabulary. TripSpeak Spanish basically shows you 4 pictures and says a word, phrase or sentence in Spanish. You click on the picture that you believe to match the word said. If you get it correct, you see a green check mark and the next set of pictures comes up. If you get it wrong, you get an X on the picture you selected and you can try another picture, until you get it correct.

This is extremely similar to Rosetta Stone format, except for one KEY difference — the full version of TripSpeak Spanish costs $2.99 — about 1/100th of the cost of Rosetta Stone. I enjoyed playing my way through the first 2 lessons of TripSpeak Spanish, receiving a 94% and 98% and so it was a no-brainer for me to plunk down $2.99 to try my hand at the full program.

I spent more time playing the full TripSpeak Spanish program. I like it, don’t love it.

Here’s what I like about TripSpeak Spanish.

1. It’s quick and easy to do each lesson since they each contain 20 sets of cards.
2. It’s fun, like a mini-trivia quiz.
3. It does build your vocabulary and you can easily master a lesson.
4. The words are read out loud clearly in a manner that you could repeat if you wanted to reinforce and learn Spanish that much faster.

Now, why I don’t love the program.

1. They didn’t randomize the presentation of the cards. For example, when I was doing animals, my first pass thru I received a low-enough score that I wanted to try again. I had in mind that the first question I had gotten wrong was the frog. So when I saw the word ‘rana’ and didn’t know what it meant, I thought, “Oh that’s probably ‘frog’” — but that is different than my actually having learned that ‘rana’ meant ‘frog’ — instead I learned that the first set of cards I didn’t know the answer to had ‘frog’ as the answer.
2. On more advanced concepts, if you get it incorrect, you can’t always figure out what the word means. For example on the screen below the word is es bajo and I didn’t know what that meant
   
   So when I looked at the 4 pictures, here is what my brain thought, “woman with long hair”, “little boy”, “nose” or “looking up”, and “man”. Even when by guessing and getting it wrong, I ultimately settle on the boy, I don’t realize that the phrase “es bajo” means he “is low”. I didn’t see any way of getting additional help other than opening up a Spanish dictionary application. This seems like a substantial oversight.
3. It is primarily a vocabulary builder with a somewhat limited vocabulary. It is not going to take you much beyond your first college year of Spanish.

Conclusion: If you are just beginning to learn Spanish or want a refresher, then download this iPhone app and start learning Spanish while having fun. Meanwhile I’m going to look at some other iPhone apps out there. Or maybe I’ll play this one a few more times…. It IS fun!

I realized when planning a visit to Spain, I was still missing one key piece of information. I could check on plane prices and hotel reservations, but what about once I got over to Spain. I had a co-worker who returned from a European vacation and told me that each meal for their family of four was a fortune in some locations and that they had to adjust and have a giant breakfast, early dinner and snacks in between.

Laura’s reply:

In my experience Spain has always been, and still is, a very reasonably priced place to eat out and also to buy food in supermarkets. In the current “Crisis” climate even lower prices can be found. I have seen special “Anti-Crisis” breakfast menus in my town for 1€ (today 1 Euro is $1.32, conversion tool) that offer a cup of coffee or hot chocolate with two large pieces of toast or a pastry and three course lunch menus with wine and coffee included are commonplace for 7€. (Today 7 Euros is $9.23 see conversion).There are, of course, many other establishments offering higher quality meals for much higher prices. Most large cities in Spain have a good selection of top class restaurants and bars where you can sample food prepared by Spanish chefs really pushing the boat out and showing off. I would say, however, that the vast majority of Spanish restaurants these days are geared towards offering value for money in order to get as many people through their doors as possible.

Some areas in Spain are slightly higher priced than others. A meal in my home city of Bilbao, for example, will probably set you back a few Euros more than the same meal in my current city of Alicante. Barcelona, Madrid and San Sebastian are also on the expensive side. The major tourist regions such as the Costa del Sol and the Costa Blanca are usually the easiest places to find cheap meals as there is such competition to attract the tourists, but be careful as there are certainly many “false bargains”. I have had the misfortune of choosing a few very poor “budget” menus over the years (avoid cheap paellas!) and they have usually been in touristy beach-front cafés and restaurants. Places with gigantic menus offering everything and anything for rock-bottom prices usually equate to bland and instantly forgettable meals.

I find that the easiest way to find good food at good prices is to keep your eyes peeled for the busiest restaurants, bars and cafés. These won’t necessarily be the fanciest looking places or offer the fanciest sounding menus; in fact they will probably be the just the opposite. If you can find the places where the locals go regularly you are sure to enjoy a big and tasty Spanish menu for the best possible price. Spanish people love their food and they are not shy to voice their opinion when the meal they have ordered is not up to scratch. They might do this verbally in the moment or by never returning to make the same mistake again. When somewhere manages to secure a solid following of locals you know that it is good.

When hunting for popular local haunts you should be aware of the usual times of the day that Spanish people eat. An English person might want to eat their evening meal at around 5.30pm or 6.00pm and this will be an impossible time to gauge the popularity of the restaurants and cafés as for sure none of the locals will be out eating. Spanish people usually eat their evening meals between about 9pm and 11pm and their lunches between about 2pm and 4pm. A good plan could be to use the first day of your holiday to suss out the best places to eat. If you don’t fancy eating at the same times as the Spanish, then go for a wander after you have eaten making a note of all the busiest places. Be aware that not all restaurants will serve food as early as 12.00 noon or 6.00pm.

As a final recommendation I would also say that usually the best-tasting, best-value-for-money meals in Spain are the really traditional everyday Spanish dishes such as “Alubias con chorizo” (Bean soup with chorizo sausage), “Cocido de garbanzos” (Chick pea stew with meat and vegetables) and “Lentejas con jamón” (Lentil soup with Spanish ham). These are the types of dishes that have been cooked all over Spain for centuries. Everyone knows exactly how they should taste and so they demand excellence when they are eating out. The basic ingredients are extremely cheap and the dishes may not sound particularly inspiring, but when you are served a true plate of alubias, garbanzos or lentejas it really is a joy and you are guaranteed to be nicely full up until dinner time.

Photo by El Aderezo

I realized that every time I heard about a new iPhone application to help people learn Spanish that I winced.

Why?

Because all I could do was think that No-Work Spanish should jump in this huge market with exponential growth. There are plenty of people who will describe the iPhone application industry sprouting new millionaires in the same glowing terms that people used to describe Oregon where pigs ran around with a fork and knife in their backside and you could cut a slice of ham as they ran by. These tales led many a pioneer to pack up belongings and brave the long trek along the Oregon trail — just as today programmers are quitting their day jobs and creating iPhone applications faster than Regis Philbin can ask, “Who wants to be a millionaire?”

I actually believe iPhone applications ARE a great industry and that while there might be a bit of exaggeration that there is also a lot of truth when people talk about the enormous potential there.

Long-story-short, I see iPhone apps as a bit of a missed opportunity and so whenever I hear of someone else creating a new iPhone app to help people learn Spanish, I wince and think, “should be me.” Well I used to, until today.

Today I decided to just accept the primary reason that No-Work Spanish doesn’t have an iPhone app — the company is barely above the solopreneur model and you can spread yourself too thin. Also, when I think about the fact that one of the primary advantages of No-Work Spanish is that you can listen and learn Spanish while you do other things, this is a different model than an application, which by definition requires user interaction with the screen.

So…. if I’m not going to compete in the growing market of iPhone apps to learn Spanish from, why not participate by reviewing them. I need to get over any insane idea I had that No-Work Spanish would or should be the only way people learn Spanish. I should be able to make recommendations about learning Spanish outside of those which include the words, “Buy this from me.”

So here is what I’m going to do. I’m going to start reviewing iPhone applications to learn Spanish. I will review them at fairly random intervals and in a fairly random order (most likely more popular applications first, but not necessarily). I will tell you my impressions of using the app. And periodically (after I’ve reviewed five or more), I will create a Best-iPhone-Apps-to-Learn-Spanish list.

Sounds like fun, right?

As a follow-up to my post on planning a visit to Spain, I asked Laura (TheSpanishBlog.com) what part of Spain she lived in and what local attraction or activity did she most enjoy showing visitors.

Laura’s reply:

The most famous attraction in Bilbao is undoubtedly the Guggenheim Museum and, in my humble opinion, it is well deserving of its fame. The Guggenheim Museum is wonderful in so many ways and I am always proud to recommend it or show it in person to anyone visiting Bilbao.
Photo by aherrero

“Wow!” I said (of course Laura having emailed me couldn’t hear this comment), “I can see why you are proud to take visitors there. It’s fantastic!”

Laura’s email continued:

This super-modern, titanium-covered building is an emblem of Bilbao’s recent resurgence and modernisation and Bilbaínos have a very soft spot for it in their hearts. The Guggenheim project was one of those rare occasions when the public, architects, critics and academics were united in their enthusiastic approval. I am only thirty two, but I remember a very different Bilbao when I was a child. The changes are particularly noticeable along the banks of the river Nervión in the city centre where the Guggenheim now stands. It was a much greyer landscape there twenty years or so ago, with little going on and a badly polluted, horribly smelly river. Nowadays a beautiful flower-lined walkway bustles with activity on either side of a clean and healthy Nervión.

The Guggenheim was designed by renowned Canadian architect Frank Gehry and it opened on October 18th 1997. Gehry has designed many other famous buildings around the world including the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, the Dancing House in Prague, the Vitra Design Museum and MARTa Museum in Germany, the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, and the Cinémathèque Française in Paris. He is undoubtedly one of our most important contemporary architects and part of the elite group of modern architectural icons sometimes known as “Starchitects”. This group includes Jean Nouvel, Zaha Hadid, Thom Mayne, Steven Holl, Rem Koolhaas, and Norman Foster; architects all known for their dramatic, influential designs that often achieve fame and notoriety through their spectacular effect.
Photo by aslier

Bilbao’s Guggenheim may be visually striking outside, but it is no gimmick. It is beautifully designed inside and out. Its spectacular outer appearance changes like a chameleon depending on the time of day and the type of light bouncing off its curves and its interior is deceptively large thanks to Gehry’s genius use of space. I once visited it with my father-in-law, who happens to also be an architect, and I remember him being so blown away by the architectural ins and outs that he spent all his time wandering about staring at the building and completely ignored the exhibitions. The outside is covered with shiny titanium sheets and it is said that Gehry received the inspiration for his revolutionary design while looking at a fish in his bath.

The Guggenheim Museum is definitely not all about the building though. It exhibits its own private collection, in addition to sharing with New York and Venice the world’s largest and most impressive private collection of modern and contemporary art. In addition to this, there is always a different selection of high quality visiting exhibitions from Spain and around the world. The entrance fee is not cheap, but it is well worth paying and you should try to arrive as early as you can because you can easily while away the whole day there. The Guggenheim is located in a perfect spot as well to enjoy a bit of Bilbao city centre before and after your visit. La Gran Via (the main street) is only a few minutes walk away, as is El Casco Viejo (the old town).

So now, I have my motivation to learn Spanish turned up a notch. I simply MUST plan a trip to see the Guggenheim Museum in Bilboa to see if measures up to the pictures, which frankly I find amazing.

Thanks for tell me about it, Laura!

It’s funny when I wrote The Case of the Missing Poodle, I set it starting in an airport and moving to a hotel, so there would be lots of travel vocabulary. As a writer I needed a reason that my main character was at the airport and the first thing that came to mind was going to a family member’s wedding. I realized one advantage of choosing a wedding was it was easy to introduce a number of terms about relatives, which seem to come up early in Spanish classes.

One sentence came to mind today and made me chuckle. The sentence is:

My cousin Steve is getting married tomorrow, so Aunt Terri will be mother of the groom. Mi primo Steve se va a casar mañana, así que la Tía Terri será la Madre del novio.

Now, why is that funny. Because….

Mi hijo David se va a casar en febrero, así que voy a ser madre de la novio (Supposedly if you click here you can hear it read — by an automated male voice, which makes no sense. Think I better practice and record my own reading of it.

Anyway, what this means is: My son David is going to be married in February, so I will be mother of the groom.

And that’s true! Further proof that the realistic Spanish in No-Work Spanish audiobooks will help you learn Spanish and come in very handy.

Now having said that, I must come back — add a picture of the happy couple and record my own voice!

While I generally think that Lee Binz has good ideas, I have to disagree with several points in her recent post, “Foreign Language is like Weight Watchers”.

To begin at the beginning, she says, “Learning a new language is work.”

I disagree. I have learned a significant amount of Spanish through No-Work Spanish audiobooks, which are appropriately named. I intend to continue learning only from methods that are fun, methods that engage me.

Lee reports her own experience researching foreign language learning programs for homeschoolers. “In a quiet moment at a convention, when nobody else was around, the sales staff confessed the truth. ‘It really doesn’t matter which program you choose. What matters is that the student works for a minimum of 15 minutes per day. Without daily practice, they lose what they learn. You can’t cram it into one day each week, it has to be daily.’”

A comment like that tells me that the sales person doesn’t feel what they are selling offers any unique advantages AND that a student will quickly forget what they have learned if they aren’t repeating it regularly.

I believe absolutely that there IS a significant advantage to taking an approach to learning a new language where what is being said in the new language is meaningful. Language was meant to convey information and emotions and that is how words become memorable to us.

Think of words that you will never forget. Words that filled you with joy or fear or made you laugh. Yes, the words that we remember are ones that stir our emotions. The stronger the emotions, the more memorable the words. This is true in learning a new language.

In Poster Girl, when Paula is speaking rapturously of painting a blue sky and green grass, the joy of “cielo azul y hierba verde” stuck in my brain the minute I first heard those words and I can remember ‘azul’ means blue and ‘verde’ means green regardless of how many days have gone by since I last spoke any Spanish.

It does make a difference which language program you choose and learning a new language doesn’t have to be drudgery.

As long as Lee is using a weight loss analogy, I’ll use one too. To lose weight you should exercise more, but let’s consider a few different ways you can exercise. You can lift weights at the gym, run laps at the track, play tennis, play soccer or take a walk with a friend. If you like one of these ways of exercising, then that is how you should exercise, because you are much more likely to continue doing it. Similarly, while Pimsleur or Rosetta Stone are proven methodologies for learning Spanish, many people find them boring (including me). Even Lee comments that she supervised her children’s language learning to make sure they did the work. That doesn’t sound like the experience of learning a new language was something they’d want to continue any longer than absolutely necessary. And if these programs are really set up where you lose what you learn when you stop practicing, then it’s no wonder so many people study a language for years in school and yet have learned very little.

I have a few family members who have told me that they don’t think I should have chosen the name ‘No-Work Spanish.’

“You are going to have to do SOME work, Anne,” they said. “By telling people that they can learn Spanish with no work, you could lose your credibility.”

“No Work” is my goal. It’s that simple. I believe passionately that there IS a better way to learn a new language and I want to make it available to people.

Why? Because I feel that understanding the words coming out of someone’s mouth is the very first step of really being able to understand them. My mission is to help people from different cultures connect by making it fun and easy to learn a new language. If you like this idea, please Like it below or pass it along in a Tweet.

Gracias!

I promised in my post about Speaking Spanish while traveling that I would tell you the source of my info. It is Laura, who writes The Spanish Blog and lives in Spain.