We have a language problem in the US and it isn’t that immigrants don’t learn English; they do. If they didn’t we wouldn’t be seeing commercials for products like Inglès Sin Barreras airing continuously on the Spanish-language networks. Our problem is that the majority of the native-born population is monolingual, mostly under the ridiculous delusion that a second language isn’t necessary to a native speaker of English. This makes the United States a laughing stock to the rest of the world and is hurting us in the long term. What compounds the problem is that foreign language is usually taught so poorly here.
Here’s where the Spanish-language TV networks can be heroes while simultaneously acting in their own corporate self-interest.
Univision in particular airs telenovelas that target teens. For a mid-five figure salary they could hire an education professional to pre-screen episodes of upcoming teen-targeted titles and create teaching guides to them for free distribution to the nation’s middle- and high-school Spanish teachers. The teachers can then assign viewing to their students and spend the first few minutes of the next day’s class discussing the previous day’s episode. Considering the addictive nature of serialized entertainment, the extreme attractiveness of the actors, and the universal themes in the stories, this is a win for all parties: The students get an hour’s more exposure to Spanish every weekday to increase their comprehension and vocabulary, they get entertained at the same time, and Univision gets good press for providing a free and effective tool to our underfunded educational system.
Tambien, Univision gets more viewers. Media Nerd is prepared to predict that some percentage of this teen audience would continue to tune in as adults, enjoying the passion, intrigue, and excitement of love stories like Alborada and the comedies like Yo Amo a Juan Querendon. Univision’s prime time ratings, which increase all the time, can take another leap with the addition of Anglo viewers who are looking for something different and exciting to watch. Which will also, por supuesto, mean more ad revenue for the network.
The United States could become bilingual in one generation, which has been overdue for two centuries… all through the power of television.
great idea. I love the idea of leveraging spanish TV to teach our kids a secound language. But must we do so by addicting them to soapoperas? I don’t like it when my daughter gets glued to Gossip Girl. Why would I want her glued to more soaps? aren’t there other good shows on spanish networks that it would be worth learning the language for?l
Comment by Tracy C. — June 30, 2008 @ 1:46 am
Dear Tracy:
As it happened, my mother and other immigrants of her generation learned English from soap operas. Had they attempted to watch [i]Hamlet[/i] first they might have given up.
Learning a foreign language takes daily exposure and effort. Novelas not only provide that they also provide the vocabulary of everyday life, cultural touchpoints, and excellent accents to copy (nobody speaks Spanish more clearly than a Televisa actor). The environment is consistent, and it’s appointment television. If at the end of the day your daughter can have a basic conversation in Spanish, negotiate with a vendor in a flea market, and order food in a Spanish restaurant, should it really matter that she learned it from watching novelas?
Comment by sheila clemett — July 2, 2008 @ 11:43 am