Unit Warm-Up: Let's Talk About Languages

This course is designed with the person who has never taken a foreign language course in mind. We have begun at the beginning! It may not always seem that way to you, right? In fact, there may have already been times that you have been tempted to use a dictionary to do your assignments; or you may have been tempted to even look online for an online translator to simply type in your work in English and have it give you the responses in Spanish.

So, let's talk about languages. All languages have their own personalities and they were invented by people, not computers. This means that language is not an "exact science."

There are right and wrong answers to the work you do in a language course, but languages do not simply translate from one language to another, word-for-word, as you might think. If you attempt to do your activities in this class in that way, your teacher will know right away!

Online translators, dictionaries, and native speakers will use structures and vocabulary that you are not learning yet. This course is created with the focus in mind that we intend for the learner to learn what is being taught. Your teacher has the expectation that you will do your best to use only vocabulary from this course, and not online translators, or native speakers to assist you in doing your work for this course.