| What's the key to success in learning a foreign | | | | questions. |
| language? Surely it's a genuine desire to communicate | | | | Women are simply more interested in human beings |
| with other people. I can't think of another valid | | | | than men. They genuinely mean it when they ask |
| reason. That's why in general women are better than | | | | "how are you?" Being wives and mothers may have |
| men at learning languages. If you're a man and you | | | | something to do with it, I mean, they are conditioned |
| want to learn a language, I'm going to tell you why | | | | by society to be the ones that care. Men, on the |
| you will find it more difficult than a woman and what | | | | other hand, are less interested in people and more |
| you can do about it. | | | | interested in things, notably, cars, computers, |
| I'm probably going to be accused of stereotyping | | | | gadgets, etc. |
| men and women here, but time and time again | | | | If you are man reading this article, you have to get |
| studies have shown that generally, (there are always | | | | out of your macho cave and learn to be more |
| exceptions) men score higher in maths tests and | | | | interested in people. And swallow your pride when it |
| women score higher in language tests. I'm not a | | | | comes to making mistakes. Women have fewer |
| scientist, and I don't want to bore you with scientific | | | | complexes about committing errors, because the |
| detail, but my experiences as a teacher pretty much | | | | important thing for them is to discover things about |
| confirm the scientists' view. | | | | their interlocutors. We all learn by making mistakes, |
| When I'm teaching a conversation class, it's instantly | | | | it's a natural part of the process. Learning a language |
| obvious who are going to make the fastest progress | | | | is not a competition - men sometimes see their |
| because these are the ones who quickly get involved | | | | limitations as a "defeat" so they prefer not to speak |
| by asking questions. And more often than not, it's | | | | at all. |
| the female members of the group that ask the most | | | | |