Learning a second language is difficult. Past a certain age, more memorization is required than the typical adult is willing to commit to. The simplicity of absorbing language is taken for granted; children have nothing better to do, and the world is full of stimulus ready for the fleshy sponges they are. Only after attending school do the rules governing every expression or thought become evident. The big proscriptive reveal is doubly strange for Spanish speakers, too. One day, the professor stands in front of the room, chalk-in hand, and begins to count syllables…like a mad person! Backwards, not forwards – that is to say, from the end of the word not the beginning – is the proper way to determine if accents are necessary.

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-JN