Are you too old to learn a new language?

Are you too old to learn a new language?

Are you too old to learn a new language?

You can't teach an old dog new tricks or so the saying goes. But is it really true? Maybe you think you are already an "old dog" and that learning a new language is beyond your ability. Maybe you have retired and think you just want a quiet life, pottering around the house or garden while you wait for the grand-children to call.

But a large number of studies prove that keeping the brain active as you age promotes the regeneration of brain cells, something that until recently was thought to be impossible. So studying in your later years is proven to keep your brain healthy, as well as being interesting and absorbing. And what better way to stimulate the brain than by learning a new language?

A language represents a culture, a place, with a history and a wealth of images and impressions. Take Spanish for example. When we think of Spanish we may first think of Spain bullfighting, wine, the fascism of Franco, the surrealism of Salvador Dali. Or we may think of Latin America revolutions, conquistadores, the Catholic church, volcanoes. I am sure that each of us will come up with a different set of images based on our personal experience. But the scope of these images is immense, and all are linked to the Spanish language.

So whatever comes up for you when you think of the Spanish language, these are areas that you can easily explore through the learning process. And the best of it is you do not even have to leave home to make it happen. Nor does it have to cost as much as you might think. There are many websites these days that offer online Spanish courses. Some of them will offer you material that you work through on your own. Others will allow you to work with a live teacher from another country where Spanish is spoken.

Yanapuma Spanish School for example has a dedicated website for online classes http://www.spanishonlineclass.com. For only $8 per hour you can learn from a native speaker on a schedule that fits your daily activities, one to five days a week for one to four hours at a time. The school is based in Quito (http://www.yanapumaspanish.org ), where the Spanish spoken is as clear as the high Andean air of this magnificent capital city.

And if you get inspired by your online classes you may consider traveling down to Ecuador, to Quito, to spend time studying at the school. Programs like their "Quito Cultural Package" offer regular daily classes with the addition of daily visits to places of cultural and historical interest in and around the city with a teacher as guide. So if what inspired you was the history of the Catholic Church or the Inquisition, or Inca gold, you can explore all that Quito has to offer in this area.

And if you tire of Quito, you can travel the rest of Ecuador with a teacher, on one or more of a number of different weekly programs that explore the Pacific coastal region, the Amazon Jungle and cloud forests, or the Andean sierra. These programs can be strung together to create a memorable study visit to Ecuador, one of the smallest yet most culturally and ecologically diverse countries in Latin America.

So don't let anyone tell you that old dogs can't learn new tricks. Studying a new language such as Spanish is a great way to keep the grey matter working and the neurons firing. Next time the grand-children call they might find themselves talking to the answering machine as you sit with your Spanish teacher in a lodge on the banks of an Amazon tributary, learning about the relationship between the local indigenous population and the missionaries, or about medical miracles that come from Amazon plants.

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