Obviously, there are many benefits to being proficient in two languages. As the Spanish-speaking population continues to grow in the United States, the ability to speak Spanish and English fluently will open many doors in many professions. A person with bilingual skills is highly marketable and any serious-minded professional looking for a career in customer service, the medical field, education, etc. you should try to develop such skills.
Bilingual skills, however, only come with diligent practice of the basics. If you are currently studying to improve your bilingual ability in Spanish and/or English, doing a lot of crossword puzzles will radically increase your level of comprehension. Ok, some of you may be shaking your heads wondering how the crossword puzzles in your daily newspaper can improve your understanding of Spanish. Honestly, the crossword puzzles in the newspaper will only help half of the equation. Those particular crossword puzzles won’t help you unless you’re looking to improve your English skills exclusively. However, if you want to become proficient in learning English AND Spanish, it would be helpful to spend a little time working on English to Spanish/Spanish to English translation crossword puzzles.
These fun “translation” riddles can be very helpful in improving your reading comprehension. In fact, if practiced diligently, they can be of great help to a motivated student. Whether you are enrolled in a Spanish course or studying an “English as a Second Language (ESL)” program, you will find these bilingual crossword puzzles to be of great help as they go a long way in improving your command of the language. This is because the student will be able to practice spelling, word identification, grammar, and even pronunciation. As such, the value of these crossword puzzles can never be overstated!
To some, this may seem like a radical departure from common ways of learning a language. Typically, the way we learn a bilingual education stems from one of three settings: in a formal high school or college; in a special language school; or simply “learn” a language by ear. All of these methods have their positives and negatives, but none of them are of any value if not practiced. This is where bilingual crossword puzzles come in handy as they have the ability to provide a unique method of practicing your skills and keeping them sharp. While immersing yourself in Spanish and English crossword puzzles may deviate from traditional learning methods, these crossword puzzles provide a fun and light-hearted method of keeping your skills sharp. Over time, this will pay huge dividends in understanding.
Remember, if there was one negative about practicing material you learned in class, it would be that you are essentially reviewing much of the same material over and over again. Chapter one is finite in the information it presents. In fact, the entire textbook as a whole is limited to what exists within the pages. This can create a dilemma: how do you learn material that is not in the book? Typically, people will watch programming in Spanish looking to expand their exposure to the language. That’s fine for talking, but what about reading comprehension and grammar? This is where those bilingual crossword puzzles come in handy!
With these crossword puzzles, you will find a number of words and phrases that you would not otherwise have found. If you can’t answer a particular riddle question, you can check your translation dictionary to get the correct answer. Obviously, this will produce great results in improving your language skills…guaranteed. Therefore, never discount the value of the brilliant concept of these crossword puzzles.
