Learn Spanish in 12 Days! Hah!
Today I'd like to rant about a website (which shall remain anonymous) I just saw. It pushed the phrase "Learn Spanish in 12 Days" over and over in the text. The website was has an infomercial design which would take you about 12 days just to read from the top to the bottom of the page!
This sort of fraudulent advertising must lead to a lot of unhappy customers. It reminds me of the magazine adverts I've seen where, with a before and after picture, you see first a grossly overweight, slumped and wrinkled young man who - in just 30 days! - is transformed into a championship class body builder just by using whatever powder or potion they are trying to sell. It just doesn't work that way. Some people must have gullibility attacks and buy the product driven by their intense desire to improve their physical appearance without going through any of the sacrifice involved.
The same thing happens with learning Spanish or any other language: it just doesn't work that way. How long it takes to become fluent enough to hold a conversation in a new language varies depending on the person's aptitude and time devoted to study, but anyone who tells you that you can do it in less than a year has either been smoking funny stuff or wants to sell you something.
There are certain exceptions of course: if you speak four languages fluently and one of them is Spanish, you can probably learn Portuguese in a matter of months since the grammar and vocabulary are so similar. But if you are part of the other 99.99% of humanity that doesn't fit the above description, it's best to accept the fact that it's going to take quite a while to become fluent in a language. Any other attitude will make you constantly disappointed either in yourself, or in the method you are using to learn.
Brad
