Yeah, my Mexican exchange student attended a class of English-speaking students learning Spanish, and asked why we learn it with the article and the noun (example: el chico--the boy, la chica--the girl) instead of just "boy" or "girl." I said it was so we know what the gender is. And she said, "But isn't it obvious?" I guess it never occurred to her that we don't have the concept in English so what is intuitive to her is something we have to be taught and consciously try to learn.
ETA: Fixed typo
This message was edited 7/20/2009, 4:25 PM