Unfortunately, in the United States, parents and the education system put very little emphasis on kids learning other languages. Why that is the case is up for debate but my first thought is that there's a lack of need.

If you grow up in the US, you don't need to know another language to get by. Only a small percentage of US citizens have a passport, so there aren't a whole lot traveling abroad. However even when traveling to another country, you can get by in those places only knowing English.

The old joke goes What do you call someone who speaks three languages? Trilingual. What do you call someone who speaks two languages? Bilingual. What do you call someone who speaks just one language? American.

For quite a while, I've been feeling like the dumb American from this joke.

I hate the term "American." Well, not the term itself, but that fact that people from the US call themselves "Americans" and often think that everyone else should know they're referring to someone from the US. The fact is, Canadians are Americans, Peruvians are Americans, Guatamalans are Americans, Brazilians are Americans, and Mexicans are Americans. Anyone who lives in North American, Central America, or South America is an American.

Back on topic. Dumb "American."

Attending both SteemFests solidified our feelings that we needed to learn other languages. Almost everyone else there who wasn't from the US spoke multiple languages, and often times, quite a few.

My girlfriend and I have been trying to learn Spanish for quite a while, and unfortunately, lately we've felt like we were hitting a plateau. When we got to Guadalajara we felt like we couldn't understand anyone; it was as if they were speaking in a completely different tongue.

---

Ways to get past that plateau

---

Learn more vocabulary

---

We think our biggest problem is that we need to learn more vocabulary words. We usually know enough to communicate what we want to say, but it takes a lot more vocabulary knowledge to understand what native speakers are saying. Most native speakers probably have a larger vocabulary than we will ever have.

Expose yourself to new ways of learning the language

---

How have you been learning the language? Have you been reading? Writing? Doing audible lessons? Learning songs? Whatever tactics you've been using to learn a new language, consider incorporating other forms of learning if you feel like you're no longer progressing.

Don't be afraid of failing

---

In order to really learn a new language, you need to practice it with native speakers. When you're speaking in a new language, you will make mistakes. Don't be afraid to screw up because every time you mess up it will be a learning opportunity.

---

For us, I think a key to getting over our language-learning plateau is reading in Spanish. It helps us to learn a lot more vocabulary and it exposes us to new ways of learning. Up until now, we haven't been doing any reading in Spanish.

In just a few days of reading in Spanish, we're already starting to come across quite a few words that we learned through our reading. Reading is also helping us to learn more sentance structure and it allows us to experience the language in a new way.

What tricks have you used to help yourself learn a new language?