Why our university is not the best place to learn Spanish

After having studied for five years in the Spanish Department at the University of Salzburg, I have come to the following conclusion: If you really want to learn the language, this is probably not the best place to do so. Let me explain why:

The main reason is that you’re hardly ever asked to speak Spanish.  German is the main language at the department. At least two thirds of all courses are held in German, seminar papers are in German; my diploma thesis was only the third (!) paper I wrote in Spanish. Also, native speakers are very scarce in the department, which doesn´t really give us the chance to practice our skills in authentic situations. Once, I took a course with a native speaker but interestingly enough she decided to speak German. In short, we have absolutely no possibilities to exercise our Spanish skills. But I have read Don Quijote three times and I know who El Cid is. What more is there to know? With this knowledge I am prepared for any challenge that may arise when I enter the classroom. Or so the Spanish Department must think. This is why half of the students are just not able to speak Spanish fluently. But are they to blame? 

How should anyone learn a language well when they are just offered four language courses, one grammar course, which starts at level zero instead of going into depth, one oral skills course and only one writing course? And my oral skills course in the 8^th term started with topics like, “How to congratulate someone on his birthday” or “What different kinds of greetings do we know?” I really profited a lot from this course. There are also two translation courses, but in one of them we translated one paragraph in two hours, mainly discussing irrelevant topics. At least I’m well informed now that potatoes are cooked in a pot and not in a casserole. So, in conclusion this course wasn’t really the amount of work I was expecting or the practice I was hoping for.

When I sit here reviewing my courses, I realize that I often felt like a 12-year-old pupil and not really like a university student. I remember my third language course, where I literally relived my childhood when the professor came in with a big suitcase full of games I used to play in my kindergarten days.  We had to form groups, which took at least ten minutes because puzzle pieces had to be distributed in a didactic manner and students had to search for the partner when doing partner exercises. That’s why most of the courses didn’t really represent a great challenge for me. Only the literature and linguistic seminars were difficult, apparently because they are regarded as more important. Grammar exams only required the basics, vocabulary tests consisted of learning a few general words, and I have by far not written as many texts during my whole studies as I’m now asked to do in just one writing course in the English department.

If you point this out to those who are in charge of planning the curriculum, you don’t get an answer. Either they are just not willing to change anything or their hands are tied and they can’t change anything due to government regulations and the lack of money. There would be so many ways in which these circumstances could be improved, so that we could actually learn Spanish and be satisfied with our language skills after graduation. At least from the third semester on, courses should be held exclusively in Spanish. Professors should stop communicating in German with us and insist that papers and presentations be in the foreign language we’re supposed to learn. Also, courses should be better coordinated to avoid the constant repetition of the same subjects and in general the requirements should be more challenging. The aim of university is not to “produce” as many graduates as possible but to guarantee a high standard of quality, especially when it’s teachers we’re talking about.