Learn A New Language With A Used Brain

Let’s be honest and admit that learning any language, let alone Spanish, is an art most of us lack a taste for. It’s more of an “acquired” taste that needs a lot of optimism and an open mind to fully appreciate. In this article, we take a step back from our core focus and review a very interesting book that talks about languages in general instead of just Spanish. This book does not teach you Spanish or any language for that matter. What it does is a whole lot more – It teaches you how to teach yourself just about any language! Review this book with us and boost your linguistic morale like many others around the world.

Could learning Spanish make you Smarter?

Learning a language is great for communicating with new people and expanding your cultural savvy. But it has other benefits: language study actually changes the brain! Language learning can up your intelligence, improve your overall linguistic ability, and if you’re older, even ward off dementia. Talk about two birds with one stone!

A recent New York Times article talks about studies which show that being bilingual improves the portion of the brain we use to plan, to solve problems, and to perform difficult mental tasks. These changes are especially strong in children, but even older adults learning a language can benefit. The article points out that “...these processes include ignoring distractions to stay focused, switching attention willfully from one thing to another and holding information in mind–like remembering a sequence of directions while driving.” Anyone who has had to switch back and forth between English and Spanish or has struggled to understand a rapid speaker will understand how that can process can challenge the brain and focus the mind. And, as it turns out, language study enables you to address mental challenges better in areas that don’t even involve a foreign language.

With so many good reasons to learn a second language – for kids and grown-ups too – it’s best to be sure you’re using the most up-to-date methods.

New language with a used brain?

How’s that for a title? Intriguing, isn’t it? That’s what we are going to explore in this article. Now that we already know how learning a foreign language boosts our faculties, it’s imperative that we start doing it instead of just sitting pretty and talking about it. But where do we start? There’s just enough amount of resources out there to keep you wondering for an entire lifetime before you’ve even started! Isn’t it ironical that what’s meant to help you learn is also the very reason that’s keeping you from taking the plunge?

Lynn’s experience with French is just as relevant to Spanish learners too
Photo credit: Lynn McBride and Amazon.com

So obviously we need to get over this primitive dilemma and learn to sift the tools and methodologies than work from those that don’t. Easier said than done. Lynn McBride explores this topic in her new book, How to Learn a New Language with a Used Brain (available as a Kindle ebook at all Amazon sites for an extremely modest $2.99, and to be released as paperback in July, 2013). In addition to revealing all the surprising ways language learning can make you smarter and more sophisticated, the book gives you the very latest methods for successful language study.

The book is short but packed with ideas for making language learning effective, and, most important, fun. Here’s a peek at what’s inside the book:

• A program for learning that you can tailor to your needs and learning style, called Six Steps to a Bilingual Life: A Roadmap for Your Language Journey, with a focus on keeping your motivation up, and finding ways to immerse yourself and practice conversation.


• Tips and secrets from from expats, language experts, and many of Lynn’s blog readers who are on the front lines of language learning (Lynn blogs at Southern Fried French).


• A “best of” review of the major resources for language learning, from freebies to packaged programs, and including lots of the dazzling new online opportunities for learning and interacting. There is also a review of the top learning packages available for purchase.


• A special section for expats, on how they can optimize their language learning. Learning a language while living in a foreign country has its own special set of opportunities and issues, and the book discusses how to manage them.

The book focuses on the three keys of language learning. The first is to find ways to immerse yourself in the language. That means listening, talking, reading and writing, after you’ve mastered some of the basics. And with today’s online resources, absolute immersion is getting easier all the time.

The second key is to make a real commitment to learning the language, and to stick to it. The book has lots of ideas for setting up a personal program that’s doable, even if you only have a few minutes a day to devote to language study.

And make it fun! That’s the third and most important key. It’s doubtful you’ll stick with a program that’s dry, boring, and dead-beat monotonous. Still wondering why you don’t remember squat of what they taught in your high school Spanish classes? There are lots of ways to spice it up, add variety, and keep your self motivated, included in the book. One of the best ways is to make language learning a family project, involving kids and grandparents. Or, to learn a language with an friend, even if it’s an on-line chat-buddy. Language learning can really, and should preferably, be a social event.

So who is Lynn McBride after all?

Lynn and Domino at Château de Balleure
Photo credit: Lynn McBride/Southern Fried French 

The author of the book we just reviewed, of course. But she’s much more than that and that’s what lends her book the credibility for us to endorse it so enthusiastically. She is an American author from the historic district of Charleston, South Carolina, who has under her belt, articles published in some of the most well-read magazines on both sides of the Atlantic. Better Homes & Gardens, France Magazine, Living France, you name it. She has also worked with Meredith Publishing (Better Homes & Gardens and Traditional Home) in the past.

Lynn’s turning point came when she moved to the beautiful wine country of Burgundy in southern France (lucky lady!) with her husband, Ron, and cat, Domino. Here in France, with the help of her French hosts, Nicole and Pierre Balvay, Lynn started the process of rapidly absorbing everything French – the cuisine, the language, and the culture. The process has still not stopped and will perhaps never. This experience have her an incredibly valuable insight into the dynamics of learning a new language and she decided to share her experience with the rest of the world through the very book that we talked about here.

Speaking of French cuisine, she has really perfected her culinary skills while living in France and her recipes have appeared in quite a few national newspapers and magazines, both online and otherwise. So, if you ever happen to wind up in her neck of the woods, feel free to gatecrash her party and feast till you drop (just don’t tell her we referred you)!

So if you’re not learning Spanish, maybe you should be! If you want to “get smart” and maximize your Spanish learning, whether you’re a beginner or an advanced student, this book will do the trick.