Learning English: Mission Impossible?

So last night I was watching a game show on Spanish TV, and two of the contestants were the comic duo Los Morancos:

These guys are brothers, born and raised in the colorful neighborhood of Triana in Seville, and most of the time they crack me up. On the show they were given a series of clues and they had to compete against each other to guess the name of the song, which was Madonna's "Like a Virgin". The first four clues gave them plenty of opportunities to make the audience roar with laughter, but neither one could come up with the song's name (apparently... who knows if it was part of their gag routine). The fifth and final clue was "Como una virgen" and the half-laughing, half-incredulous host said, "Ok guys, all you have to do here is TRANSLATE the phrase into English, it's not that hard." And their answer was "How One Veergeen". You'll only get this if you speak both Spanish and English so I won't bother trying to explain why this is both hilarious and disheartening.

Lately I've seen several news reports about the mental block that many Spaniards seem to have when it comes to learning English. A lot of people think it's hopeless and that Spaniards have some kind of genetic inability to master our language, which I find hard to believe. I've met a lot of people in Spain who have a very good grasp of English and can hold their own in conversations, but it's true that I've met very few who I would describe as totally fluent, and even fewer who can write a one-page letter in English without grammatical mistakes. Is English really that hard to learn? Or are Spaniards just getting started too late in life, or not getting the right kind of instruction? I started learning Spanish when I was almost 12--past the ideal age, according to the experts, but before my brain had cemented itself into monolingual mode, so I was able to become fully bilingual. Of course I think it's virtually impossible to ever completely "know" any language, even one's mother tongue: I am still learning new words in English and Spanish, new expressions and rules. And it's fun and fascinating, a learning process that will hopefully continue for the rest of my life.

The odd thing is that children who start young are supposed to have a head start on learning a second language, but I don't really see the results in the new generation who have been exposed to English since nursery school. My nieces and nephews (the oldest of whom is now 14) have been getting English classes at school since they first enrolled, and most of them are also taking private classes after school. But their pronunciation is dreadful and their listening comprehension is almost nil. Why? Is it because their teachers aren't native English speakers? Is the instruction method deficient? What do they do in all those hours of English class? Why are northern Europeans able to attain such a high level of English proficiency while their southern counterparts continue to lag behind? The Spanish government is pushing for bilingual schools, but their educational workforce belongs to the generation of "genetically-challenged" English speakers, and the current teacher hiring system (a bureaucratic mire of exams with questions that have nothing to do with the job you're competing for, with an obscure points system and open only to EU citizens) makes it impossible for each school to directly recruit the best person for the job. I tremble to think of what my children will go through in their future "English classes" (which they almost certainly will not be excused from taking, no matter how high their level of English is, because the rigid school system in Spain makes no allowances for students who are below or above average... kind of an "every child left behind" policy). If I'm still blogging when the storm breaks, you'll be sure to hear about it.