I’m willing to bet that there are a great deal of students on campus whose Spanish vocabularies consist of words like “taco,” “siesta” and “hola.” I’m also willing to bet that out of that group, at least one-third would be interested in expanding their multilingual horizons by taking an introductory Spanish course at the University of Wisconsin. Unfortunately, prospective Spanish 101 students, that cannot be. You see, UW does not offer Spanish 101 on campus during fall and spring semesters.
When I first found out that Spanish 101 was unavailable to me, I was a tad shocked. I mean, look at the numbers! According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s data collected in 2012, the U.S.’s Hispanics and Latinos made up 16.9 percent of the nation’s total population. In Wisconsin alone, Hispanics and Latinos accounted for 6.2 percent of the state’s population. It should be no surprise, then, that individuals of Hispanic descent are the nation’s largest racial or ethnic minority. What this really means is that learning Spanish is a growing business necessity — more and more native Spanish speakers will be hired by firms and companies, and communicating with one’s coworkers is crucial for productivity.
Yet we aren’t offered the option of enrolling in Spanish 101. Actually, I should clarify: Spanish 101 is offered to UW students — if the students are willing to take it over the summer or online. However, for many students, these options don’t seem too appealing. First of all, for any underclassman that doesn’t have a permanent residence in or near Madison, that route is almost impossible to take. Additionally, for many first-year students, especially who are interested in possibly becoming fluent in Spanish, the idea of waiting until summer to take the introductory course is a speed bump in their college language career. Just think: If Spanish 101 was offered on campus during fall and spring semesters, by the end of this school year, new students would already be able to confidently recite numbers, colors and greetings and possibly even hold basic conversations with one another. However, all that potential progress is blocked by the lack of such a course. I mean, it’s possible to take the class online, but if given the alternate option of learning from a professor in-the-flesh, I’m sure many of us would choose the latter.
The inclusion of a Spanish 101 course would not only help those entirely new to Spanish, but also the individuals who are looking to develop a stronger foundation in the language before continuing on in that subject. For many of us students, we look back on our high school foreign language classes with slight contempt; I, for one, didn’t seem to learn anything during the two semesters of Spanish I took. Actually, I grudgingly ended up taking the placement test and just barely made it into 102. I suppose my high school teacher deserves more credit than I’m giving her.
Regardless, the situation remains frustrating. Spanish is undeniably one of the most beneficial second languages an average American can learn, but by not offering Spanish 101 during a time convenient for students, the university is making it much more difficult to pick the language up.
Until Spanish 101 is offered during the standard school year, allow me to educate you all, my amigos, with a useful phrase I picked up during high school: “No hablo español.” Translation: UW does not allow me to take an introductory-level Spanish class, so I have forgone a Spanish language education in favor of a Latin, German, Chinese, Japanese or Italian one.
Briana Reilly ([email protected]) is a freshman intending to major in journalism and international studies.
