How to Learn Spanish: My Top 6 Tips

Spanish is a global language with nearly 500 million native speakers, mainly in Spain and America. It is a Romance language that originated in the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. It is a part of the Ibero-Romance group of languages of the Indo-European language family, which evolved from several dialects of Vulgar Latin in Iberia after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century. As a Romance language, Spanish is a descendant of Latin and has one of the smaller degrees of difference from it (about 20%) alongside Sardinian and Italian. Around 75% of modern Spanish vocabulary is derived from Latin, including Latin borrowings from Ancient Greek.  It is the world’s second-most spoken native language after Mandarin Chinese, and the world’s fourth-most spoken language overall after English, Mandarin Chinese, and Hindi.

1. Create a study plan for yourself and set short and long term goals that are clear, realistic and measurable. You can’t learn Spanish overnight. But planning well in advance makes your journey easier. The study plan also helps you to monitor your performance and manage your available time. Divide the entire study content into smaller chunks to learn step by step, create a list of all the topics you want to master and figure out when and how you want to start with each one. Avoid being overambitious. Do not stress or burn yourself out with pressure. Have complete clarity about your personal goals and why you are learning Spanish. Get them written on a plaque and ensure to place this at a place you see the most in your home, near the clock for example.

2. Make time for a regular study schedule to improve your Spanish

There will be some days of low energy with no interest in studying as compared to some days where you are enthusiastic and full of energy you can study vocabulary and grammar for hours. In reality, it is critical to study on a regular basis. Every day, try to learn Spanish in shorter bursts but more often. For example, you could do one lesson and the exercises every day. If you study Spanish for one hour a day instead of five hours once a week, your language skills can develop faster.

3. Avoid all possible disruptive factors when learning

Ensure you have no distractions around you to disturb you. Turn off your phone and let your friends know that you are not available for the next hour. Even though it may sound a little rude, eventually you will realise the importance and see that your study sessions become more efficient.

4. Create some helpful study tools for yourself 

Start to write a journal or a diary so that you can capture the new words and phrases that you hear being used in day to day conversations. This will also help you build your vocabulary or important phrases that would further enable you to hold your first conversation with a Spanish speaker. 

6. Label all the objects in your home with their respective Spanish words

This ensures you do not have to translate the name of the object in your native language before you can get to its respective Spanish name. It will also ensure that you are able to think of situations and objects in the Spanish language itself.  

6. Sometimes no matter how much we learn certain things, phrases or words from the vocabulary, we are just unable to memorise them.

This can be best accomplished by using Mnemonics. Another great way to help you remember is by use of spaced repetition system apps such as Memrise, Anki. You could choose to use the existing Flashcards in the Spanish language or make your own decks. 

Spanish is one of the six official languages of the United Nations, and it is also used as an official language by the European Union, the Organization of American States, the Union of South American Nations, the Community of Latin American and the Caribbean States, the African Union and many other international organizations. Modern Spanish was then taken to the viceroyalties of the Spanish Empire beginning in 1492, most notably to America, as well as territories in Africa and the Philippines. Today, it is a global language with nearly 500 million native speakers, mainly in Spain and America. 

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