Identify your reason and passion for learning Spanish. Here are some really good reasons I can think of, to learn Spanish:
To travel the world. Spanish is an official language of Mexico, Colombia, Spain, Argentina, Peru, Venezuela, Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, Cuba Bolivia, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Paraguay, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Uruguay, Equatorial Guinea, and Puerto Rico.
To have conversations with Spanish-speaking family members or friends.
To read Spanish literary works (“Don Quixote” — Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, “El amor en los tiempos del cólera” — Gabriel García Márquez, “Ficciones” — Jorge Luis Borges, “La vida es sueño” — Pedro Calderón de la barca, “La ciudad y los perros” — Mario Vargas Llosa, “El Lazarillo de Tormes” — Anonymous)
To connect with Spanish native speakers.
To get an inside view of Spanish culture.
Immerse yourself without leaving your home. Here is what you can do to immerse yourself in Spanish:
Turn your smartphone into a Spanish speaker. Switch the language settings on your phone to Spanish. You can do the same with your computer.
Look for Spanish speakers in your city. Look for a community of Spanish speakers. If you are lucky you may find one near you.
Watch Spanish TV and movies. Switch on the subtitles to speed up your learning.
Read articles and books in Spanish. “Corazón tan blanco” (A Heart So White) by Javier Marías, “Niebla” (Mist) by Miguel de Unamuno, “El obsceno pájaro de la noche” (The Obscene Bird of Night) by José Donoso are helpful for accomplishing reading.
Listen to Spanish radio and podcasts. You can learn a lot of Spanish by listening to Spanish songs.
Creating your own Spanish phrasebook that’s relevant to your life
You’ll learn Spanish much faster if you focus on words and phrases that are relevant to your life. Add a lot of fillers and conversation connectors to help you build your first conversation.
Plus, when you have real conversations in Spanish (I’ll come to that in a moment), you’ll be able to talk about yourself.
That’s why I recommend creating a personalised Spanish phrasebook. This is a collection of words and phrases that are relevant to you.
Using Spanish hacks to make ‘the Unknown World Language’ Spanish turn into a ‘Girl Next Door’ Spanish.
Language hacks are shortcuts that help you learn a language faster. They’re ideal if you want to learn to speak Spanish. Here are a few of my favourite language hacks that can speed up your Spanish learning:
Spaced Repetition Systems (SRS). SRS is a great method for memorising vocabulary and phrases using virtual flashcards. I suggest the SRS tool, Anki, is free and allows you to create your own flashcards, so you can build a deck from your personalised Spanish phrasebook.
Mnemonics. A memory palace is an effective way to burn Spanish words onto your brain.
The Pomodoro Technique. Break up your study sessions into 25 minute chunks. This gives you better focus, so you learn more in a shorter time
Speak up
Spanish includes only a few sounds that differ in speech from English. And it’s no big deal. It’s a phonetic language that’s easy to get hold of.
Some language learners let this hold them back. They feel embarrassed about saying things wrong and making mistakes.
Push through this fear by speaking Spanish even when you feel silly. You’ll learn Spanish much faster that way.
Learn how to have real conversations with native Spanish speakers
No matter where you live you can still find people, either online or offline, to speak with in Spanish. I like to search for native Spanish speakers on:
Italki. This is the first place I go to find Spanish tutors and pay for one-on-one lessons (reasonably priced).
Meetup.com. Most major cities have a Meetup for Spanish speakers or Spanish learners. CouchSurfing is another of my favourite ways to meet Spanish speakers.
HelloTalk. This free mobile app helps you find Spanish speakers who are learning your native language.
Focus on the Easy Aspects of Spanish
Spanish really isn’t easier or harder to learn than any other language, but you can quickly forget this if you only focus on the difficult aspects of Spanish. Whenever you get discouraged, think about all of the ways that Spanish is actually an easy language to learn. Spanish is an easy language because it:
Spanish is a phonetic language pronounced just as it’s written.
There are thousands of cognates like English – words that sound the same and have the same meanings.
Basic grammar is straightforward and with the right approach and proper language learning methods, one can excel in Spanish Proficiency Tests, be it DELE or SIELE.
Spanish is much more flexible in word order than English, in that the same sentence can be arranged numerous ways, even though their translation in English sounds awkward.
Spanish is written in Latin, just as English.
