Repost This Article
Photo courtesy of David Dennis Photos
IT KILLS ME me when I meet other gringos here in Chile who have their Bachelor’s degrees in Spanish, but still struggle with conversation.
Spanish is one of the fastest-spreading languages in the world and is often listed as among the easiest for English speakers to learn. With this in mind, why aren’t there more people fluent in Spanish?
Like all failed New Year’s resolutions, there’s saying and then there’s doing. The key is to have the right tools and mindset to help you stay focused and have fun learning. Here are some tips to get you started:
1. Practice with a native.
There’s no getting around it: practice. Luckily for you, opportunities abound, as many Spanish speakers are equally eager to learn English.
Photo by Tomas Fano
- If you live in the US, take advantage of its strong Spanish-speaking population. Sites like Meetup always have a Spanish group in any sizable city.
- If you live somewhere with few hispanophones, use Skype for language exchanges with natives in other countries. I’ve found The Mixxer to be a good site to meet conversation partners.
- If you’re currently studying in a Spanish-speaking country, DON’T spend all of your time with gringos. You could do this back home. Make the most of your time abroad.
A note on exchange partners: though you may desire to have a partner who speaks great English, someone who is struggling similarly in your native tongue will help you feel more comfortable making mistakes in Spanish. Moreover, you’ll be forced to think more to communicate.
2. Make learning Spanish a part of your life.
Take every opportunity to practice. Switch your computer, cell phone and other electronics into Spanish. Certain tasks will be more difficult at first, but you’ll maximize your time learning new words and phrases.
I’ve found pairing Spanish with another interest not only enhances my enjoyment of both activities, but also allows me to do them simultaneously. For most people, simply “studying Spanish” sounds boring.
Are you a writer? Create a short story or personal journal. Lang-8 is a website where you can submit your written work and get corrections and feedback from natives.
Photo by tawalker
Remember: the possibilities are limited only by your imagination. You could have the best teacher in the world, but practice is the key to success.
3. Take advantage of the commonalities between English and Spanish.
Don’t know a word in Spanish and can’t look it up? Guess! You might be surprised how often you’re correct, since roughly 60% of English words come from Latin. Of course you’ll often be wrong, but worst-case scenario you’ll be corrected and learn the right word for next time.
Be warned, there are false friends to consider. I once said to an older woman “permitame (allow me) introducirme,” thinking of the English verb introduce. In Spanish, introducirme literally means “to insert myself.” You can imagine her shocked expression.
Despite this, I think the learning opportunity is worth risking a beat-down from a pack of cholos or an occasional night in jail.
4. Don’t just watch and listen – ENGAGE.
Many language articles give vague suggestions such as “enjoy X thing in Spanish.” While these activities are nice, they need to be done with active engagement to be effective.
Movies/Television: Watch movies in Spanish (preferably Spanish or Latin American films – get some culture!) with Spanish subtitles. Take note of new words or phrases and look them up during or after. Cuevana is a good place to stream movies and shows– just search by language and look for Spanish.
Recommendations (Movies): “Y Tú Mamá También,” “Amores Perros,” “El Laberinto del Fauno” and “El Orfanato.” Recommendations (TV): I primarily watch news and sports. Many people enjoy telenovelas (soap operas), but I’m not a masochist.
Music: Listen to music in Spanish and search for the lyrics. Follow along with the words and look up any you don’t understand. Then attempt to translate the lyrics into English and post your work on Lang-8 for correction.
Recommendations: Camila Moreno, Victor Jara, Giulia y Los Tellarini, Orishas, and Ibrahim Ferrer. You should also check out 7 Bands and Artists To Help You Learn Spanish Through Music.
Lukas Gohl
Lukas is traversing the globe indefinitely on an existential journey. Currently he is teaching English in Santiago, Chile and spends his free time writing, playing music and exploring South America. He maintains a personal blog at Mañana en la Mañana.
Connect with Facebook
My wife is colombian, we’ve been married for over 5 years and been together for about 7 so naturally I want to learn spanish.I purchased rossetta stone for spanish which cost nearly 400 dollars and about 8 months into it I don’t speak spanish, I cant understand anything anyone says to me in spanish.I cant make a single sentance in spanish so rossetta stone is totally useless.My wife speaks it daily talking to friends and family and I hear it daily but I understand NOTHING she says at all.Its more than depressing and I cant figure out why I’m not picking anything up at all.Ive thought of taking classes but Ive found nobody teaching them in my town.I honestly don’t know what to do.
Really..I have Rosetta Stone..I got mine off of Craigslist for only 40 bucks..I practice for 20 min everyday and also take courses at the community college, and I am slowly but surely progressiing…you get out of it what you put into it, just keep practice speaking it..dont’ overthink it…and soon it will come natural to you.
There are lots of online courses you can do, have you thought of looking into that? Open Universities often offer them. Also could your wife not try to teach you? If she teaches you the very basics first, then buys a spanish grammar book and takes you through the general tenses you should get a firm enough basis to start reading simple articles. Try http://www.elpais.es and use http://www.wordreference.com to look for vocab- it’s one of the best translation sites. Practise makes perfect, but you have to keep trying, there will be a point, probably a number of months or a year into learning that you’ll have an “Ahaa” moment, but it takes a lot of perseverance and work to get to that stage.
Sarah Laverty Ill keep plugging away at it but no longer with rosetta stone.Im going to try everything else I can find that teaches it but rosetta is not for me,for me it simply doesnt work at all.8 months or so into it I have basically no concept of it .Ill check out that site you mentioned,THANKS.
saquoia89 ….over think it….thats an interesting way to put it for sure..LOL….for me its more like I DONT THINK IT.What Ive learned is that everyday things are male or female,I dont know why and the subject comes first…like; the store,we are going to her or him,I dont know which a store is……but anyway Im going to try something else ,rosetta is useless and doesnt work AT ALL.It doesnt make me understand spanish AT ALL and if I have to leave town and go to a nearby town to take classes I will.I find no adult spanish classes in my town but Im searching for some in towns up to 25 miles away from this one…..GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR SPANISH.
Ok, (btw I’m currently studying for a spanish degree and moving to spain next week for my year abroad). One of the first things is that you ARE over thinking it. You’re asking why things are masc/fem. They just are. That’s it, and you just have to learn which is which. There are some rules you can follow but mostly you’ll just learn as you go. Think about english, why do we say “walk and walked but go and went rather than go and goed.” There is no reason, we just do. One of the best grammar resources you’ll ever get is a grammar book by Butt and Benjamin, you can look it up on amazon. However I don’t agree with throwing yourself into the complexities straight away. Just listen to spanish and read it using a dict and stop questioning why the language does quirky little things you can’t understand- it just does, it’s a bithc but english is farrrr quirkier and eventually you won’t even question the fact that some verbs are irregular. If you want you could start by reading an english grammar book and it’ll get you used to the diction used in grammar learning.
I recommend Livemocha for you guys. There’re lessons (oral, written…) and you can chat with/without webcam. It helps a lot!