- Living In Mexico: It's The Rainy Season And I'm Bored
We've been holed up in the house pretty much now for two weeks and counting We venture out between downpours - How Do I Become Fluent In A New Language?
I read the following online on a site supposedly devoted to learning fluency in a second language:
"Language is like any other skill or aptitude: some people are proficient in languages, while others are better at math, science, or music Everyone has the potential to learn, but the fact is that some people are just more capable of learning language than others - Learning Spanish: Begin By Listening - Part 1
I remain convinced the primary reason why so many Americans are attracted to Mexico is in the Gringolandias, or Gringo Expat Enclaves, they will never be faced with what seems to be the overwhelming task of learning Spanish The British, I am told, do the same thing in the south of France - Living In Mexico: Confessions Of An Insane Gringo
Let me first say that whether or not I am actually insane could be debated However, my personal pendulum tends to swing toward the yes column - Learning Spanish: Begin By Listening - Part 2
The place most worth considering where instruction in how to learn a second language abounds just might surprise you Africa is the place where more people are multilingual than anywhere else in the world - Learning Spanish: Begin By Listening - Part 3
The way in which adult Africans, and I believe many of the adults I've met in the resort areas of Mexico, have developed a high degree of spoken fluency is the same way in which we learned our native tongue as children—Passive Listening If ever there was a "natural way" to learn a second language, this is it - Terrorism: A New Perspective
I've been wondering lately about the word "terrorism" and its various definitions It is certainly an appropriate inquiry considering today's world environment - How-To Conquer Central Mexico In Your Next Vacation
I've noticed lately the tourists that make their way to central Mexico (Guanajuato) tend to be either the loosey-goosey backpackers or the tourist elite who tend to have a lot of experience in coming to strange and new places
The backpackers (and there's nothing wrong with loosey-goosey, I would like to add) seem to be a highly adaptable group that can, more or less, stay almost anywhere, under most conditions, and more easily go with the flow, no matter what the flow throws their way - Learning Spanish: Begin By Listening - Part 5
To maximize our brain's ability to store visual and auditory impressions in the target language, we must constantly, each day, create an atmosphere in which we are hearing and seeing the language we seek to acquire in an immersion situation This is not only possible to do in a country in which the target language is not spoken but is being accomplished all the time - Living In Mexico: Everyone Loves The Theater!
If you haven't been following my articles plastered all over the Internet, what I've been writing about with much alacrity is how life for the American expat in Mexico basically falls into two classifications
First, there are the Expats who actually live in the trenches - Learning Spanish: Begin By Listening - Part 6
Most folks, when they set out to study a new language, begin by enrolling in Spanish I at their local Junior College This is not the way to begin - Living In Mexico: Where Did That Bus Driver Go?
Gringolandians, those living in Gringo enclaves, live such isolated and bizarrely separate lives from the Mexicans in the same town that they have on more than one occasion called me an absolute liar for the things I've reported happening in the Mexican city where I live
One thing with which they take particular exception is what I've written about buses - Mentor For Hire Services Eases Your Move To Mexico
Sometimes I marvel at how my wife and I arrived in Guanajuato, Mexico, with so little Spanish and with so few cultural skills Somehow we managed to survive some pretty severe bumps in the expatriation road - Living In Mexico: Gringolandia Denial
I cannot begin to imagine what life must be like in isolated little enclaves where the inhabitants have only one another for socializing In areas like Guanajuato that still have such few Gringolandians, the "Social Incest" (as the southeast Asian locals used to say the Americans there committed) must be incredibly horrid - Living In Mexico: Fight Well, Love Better
Though a conservative, I read liberal points of view I do so for two reasons - Learning Spanish: The Affective Factor
The chief problem for most Americans who want to learn Spanish but who don't succeed is the Affective Factor Plainly put, this means the emotional issues; that is, adults become freaked out at the thought - Learning Spanish: Financing Your Spanish Education
A couple of years ago, an American lady came to Guanajuato to learn Spanish She enrolled in one of the most expensive schools in town - The Gringolandizing Of Mexico-pt 1
The literature that exists in book form and especially in online newsletters and magazines presents to the "Move-To-Mexico Wannebee" Mexico as an Image and not Mexico as it Really Is
I found an excellent example of this in an email featuring a popular living-in-Mexico magazine that appeals to the potential expat to Mexico - There's No Reality, Only Perceptions
It has occurred to me lately just how the filters through which we see and read events determine how we evaluate and react to them The phrase, "You look at the world through rose-colored glasses" is an axiom that is truer than I've ever suspected - Guanajuato: Too Many False Expectations
A friend of mine told me about a conversation she had with a person she knows in one of the Mexican Prime Living Locations on the west coast of Mexico This area, one to which many Americans flock, had become too expensive for her to continue living there - Don't Declare War: Opine!
It is very interesting to note how someone responds to what I've written about Gringolandia and its inhabitants, Gringolandians Almost without exception, the usual screed in response to what I've always proclaimed as just "my thoughts, my opinions, my editorializing on my life in central Mexico" come in the form of personal attacks on me, the author - Living In Mexico With Lenny And Bubba
I have the very worst luck with getting wrong-number phone calls, no matter what country I live in Believe me, when we moved to Mexico, the problem didn't get any better - I Was Just In The Middle Of A Dream
I was dreaming I was eating Carnitas - Cyberstalking Is A Worldwide Problem
I live in a medium-sized central Mexican town called Guanajuato Guanajuato is the capital of the state of Guanajuato - Want To Succeed At Writing? You Need A Platform!
When I finished my book, "The Plain Truth about Living in Mexico," I sent queries to a number of publishers On a lark, I queried McGraw-Hill - Puffy Wet Lips
There's this guy who lives across the street from us who we have renamed Wet Lips When we are in a really lighthearted mood, we refer to him as Puffy Wet Lips - Want To Retire Or Work In Mexico? You'd Better Read This!
Let me shoot straight from the hip No fancy introductions to this article, no witty sayings, no clever expressions, no wildly used adjectives - U.S. Patriot Act Is Going To Kill Me
I am going to die I do not know exactly how long I have to live but my death is imminent - I Grew Up In Area 51
I've often wondered whether the Alien Abduction Phenomenon was really as well known in groups that are not particularly inclined to learn anything about this subject You know the type I mean - What Did Reagan Know About UFO's
Reagan seemed more enthralled with UFO's than all the US
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