If you have ever trained a dog, even to the most basic level, you know some things that can help you with your own process of learning Spanish. Here are four:
[1] Repetition is essential. If you want your dog to come when called, for example, you will need to practice over and over and over. If you want Spanish verbs to slip off your tongue naturally, you will need to practice over and over and over.
In both cases, review is a necessary part of the repetition. If you don’t call your dog for a year, what are the chances that he will come immediately when you do? If you haven’t used your Spanish verbs in a long time and you go to a Spanish-speaking country for a trip, they are unlikely to be right at the tip of your tongue.
[2] You need to practice with dogs in different places. Something they know perfectly well in the kitchen they may hesitate on if you try it in the living room. Now, actually, we humans are less location-dependent in our learning than dogs are, but the analogy here would be that just because you can say everything you have learned from a CD, you still may find yourself tongue-tied at first when you arrive at the Mexico City airport.
[3] A little bit at a time is better than long sessions. Not only will you be more likely to do short training sessions for either canine or human lessons, but you won’t run into mental fatigue or overload.
[4] Rewards are necessary. It’s amazing what my dogs will do for 1/100th of a hot dog. (I cut them into tiny pieces and keep them handy in the freezer.) I wouldn’t do anything for that, but the rewards of being able to chat with my Mexican friends keep me at my flashcards. I also like the intrisic reward in a flash card of getting them right. I bet it does something with endorphins!
This analogy came to me most likely because I have a website and blog about dog training. It’s been one of my interests all my life. And it really ties in with what I am doing here, exploring how we all learn.
Trained any dogs? Any further parallels occur to you?
