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 fluent Spanish and English 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 lots of crossword puzzles will dramatically increase your level of comprehension. Ok, some of you may be shaking your head wondering how crossword puzzles in your daily newspaper can improve your understanding of Spanish. Honestly, crossword puzzles in the newspaper will only help half 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 at learning English AND Spanish, spending a little time working on English to Spanish/Spanish to English translation crossword puzzles would be helpful.
These fun “translation” riddles can really help you improve 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 a great help, as they go a long way in improving your language proficiency. This is because the student will be able to practice spelling, word identification, grammar and even pronunciation. As such, the value of these puzzles can never be overstated!
To some, this may seem like a radical departure from the 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 positive and negative aspects, but none of them is worth anything if not practiced. This is where bilingual crossword puzzles come in handy, as they have the ability to provide a unique method to practice your skills and keep them sharp. While immersing yourself in Spanish and English crossword puzzles can stray from traditional learning methods, these puzzles provide a fun and light-hearted way to keep your skills sharp. Over time, this will pay huge insight dividends.
Remember, if there was one negative about practicing the material you learned in class, it would be that you are essentially going through 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 present in the book? Typically, people will watch Spanish-language programming looking to expand their exposure to the language. That’s fine for speaking, but what about reading comprehension and grammar? This is where those bilingual crossword puzzles come in handy!
With these puzzles, you will find a number of words and phrases that you would not have found otherwise. If you can’t answer a particular riddle question, you can check your translation dictionary for the correct answer. Obviously, this will produce great results in improving your language skills…guaranteed. So, never discount the brilliant concept value of these crossword puzzles.
