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[W766]Why Do People Learn

by Lisa Nobles, Lis

I remember the first time I visited Mexico. It is a beautiful country. I was young so naturally, I went with my parents. None of us could speak more than a few words of Spanish. We had a vague idea of how the Mexican currency worked, but we were clueless when it came to how much to pay people at restaurants and the shops. Let's just say it was an interesting experience (and I'm sure we were overcharged a number of times).

Oftentimes, it's when you have to go without it that you realize how important communication really is. For example, it's not fun listening to a group of people talk about the latest widget or gadget when you know absolutely nothing about it. You sure can't add anything to the conversation.

And just listening in on a topic you know nothing about will take a toll on you since you won't be able to relate to the group's conversation. (Think about the last time you had to listen to a group of guys talk about football ladies, or for the men, perhaps a conversation related to make-up).

It's even worse to be surrounded by a group of people who are speaking an entirely different language. Just think about it, you may not even be able to decipher what the topic of conversation is!

In addition to the awkward moments, not being able to speak the language of the people around you can be a bit frightening. Imagine if you were lost … or had an emergency. Not being able to communicate would only add to the trauma.

Like everyone else, you feel alone and a little vulnerable when you can't express yourself to others.

That's why if you are planning a vacation to a foreign, Spanish speaking country or have Spanish speaking friends, you may want to at least learn conversational Spanish. Otherwise, you may be left out in the cold, so to speak.

How to learn Spanish?

The problem is learning a new language can be frustrating and time consuming. In fact, learning a second language can be one of the most difficult learning tasks to master. But it doesn't have to be. You can learn to speak Spanish in a user-friendly and comfortable environment.

For many, learning a new language opens the door to a large amount of other activities; like international travel, career advancement, and meeting new people. Believe it or not, learning a new language is usually one of the top New Year's resolutions. So you're not alone. Other people learn Spanish, so can you!

Learning a new language is easiest if you can see progress and gain some self confidence. Otherwise, you run the risk of giving up.

So if you're ready to start learning Spanish, there is an easy way and a hard way to do it. Studies have show that it's best to learn a new language the same way people naturally learn their native tongue. That means you need to hear Spanish being spoken and practice speaking Spanish as often as you can. Just keep with it and you'll learn conversational Spanish in no time.

Remember, language is a powerful force. Learning Spanish will only open new doors for you!

Frequently the successes and failures of social organizations, like states, corporations, clubs, army troops, teams, etc., are associated to a great extent to the leadership abilities of their constituents. In every small or large, formal or informal, social organization leadership consists one of the most significant parameters, which determines the organization's cultural values, its operation and its development. For several centuries this topic has been of major concern in a substantial number of social sciences among which are history, sociology, psychology, political science and philosophy.

There is a statement saying that "within a team everyone leads!" This practically means that in the end no one leads. Our typical reaction to such statements is to conclude that leadership, itself, must therefore be absent. That response is not only overly simplistic, it is also false. Leadership, to be present, must not be monolithic. It can be shared. Since it can be shared, there is no law of nature that says that it cannot be universally shared. The issue of whether it is more effective when residing in the hands of one, few, or many, has been debated since the days of ancient civilizations.

The notion that leaders are "born and not made," or that some people cannot learn how to lead, is established in modern culture and shapes peoples' actions. This, apart from being false, is also a rather dangerous idea. Sometimes when we talk about leadership we don't distinguish between leadership, authority and dominance behavior. The capacity for gaining dominance in a social situation is one of the skills that enable people to gain authority. Dominance is not a product in human societies of physical superior ability. Even in chimpanzee societies, dominance is a product of political alliances. It means being able to win the hearts of your fellows through a variety of favors and affiliate behaviors.

Different situations, different cultures, different organizations, at different moments in life, call for different characteristics and require a variety of skills to be utilized by a potential leader. A person may be terrific at exercising leadership as a volleyball team member, yet be awful in exercising leadership in a business environment. Vise versa, this can be applied in the business world. Some terrific business leaders exercise no leadership in their families or in clubs they may belong to, not just because they choose not to, but also because they do not know how to. Those other settings have a diverse set of norms, special authority structures, and offer various adaptive challenges, with which these successful business leaders are unfamiliar.

But, people can learn a great deal about how to deploy whatever skills they do possess and use them in different contexts, if they are adequately taught to recognize and advance them through frequent use. People do not resemble those archaic machines that used to have a maximum capacity level. They can, nowadays, learn a lot on how to use their skills appropriately by entering a computer simulated environment. To place it as simply as possible, leadership education through computer programs is preferred as it resembles the teaching methods used to learn a language or an instrument. One takes whichever talent he or she has and is taught, by having to respond to a set of scenarios, how to maximize logic and talent, and how to deploy them appropriately given the specifics of a situation. Somebody may be a splendid player of Bach and a horrible player of Brahms, but they both know and understand the principles of music theory.

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Both Lisa Nobles & Jonathon Hardcastle are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Lisa Nobles has sinced written about articles on various topics from Foreign Language, Cure Anxiety and Pets. Test drive an interactive Spanish course that can allow you to learn to speak Spanish naturally in less than 3 months.