I have to hand it to Georgetown for at least one thing: Taking four or five lecture courses at the University of Seville could have been traumatizing if it weren’t for the preparation we got on the Hilltop. The 12 of us here are actually confident for that hour or two we’re behind a desk every day. But for all the Spanish academic jargon we’ve compiled over the years, we’re failing miserably at something that should come easily: socializing with our peers. How is it possible that American students who have written 10-page research papers in Spanish still lack basic conversational skills?
Some linguists believe that there are two kinds of language learning — one that occurs through face-to-face interactions with speakers of the second language and offers more cultural insight and another that occurs in an academic context, where the focus is more on reading, writing and analysis. In an age of globalization, and especially at a school as internationally focused as Georgetown, where we’re lucky enough to have native-speaking teachers, there should be some way for the two to better overlap. More vernacular language in the classroom would be a good start.
The truth is, a lot of conversational terminology is regional, and on top of that, it’s constantly evolving, especially among youth, so things like slang can be a little challenging to ship overseas and into the classroom.