5 Easy Ways to {Help You} Learn Spanish

5 Easy Ways to {Help You} Learn Spanish

Do you want to learn Spanish quickly? Are you looking for the shortcut? Well, sorry. There’s no such thing. Learning another language takes a lot of time and practice. Years, in fact. But you can reach a confident level by practicing every day, for at least two hours a day.

Since I’ve been in Chile, I’ve found methods to help improve my Spanish. I’m listing five of these methods here with the hopes that others will benefit, as well.

Every morning, with a hot cup of coffee I read the news in Spanish. I really dig semana.com for my morning Spanish fix. I read it without translating any words to English, and when I see a word I don’t recognize, I jot it down {but if you find a lot of words you don’t know, read an easier article; otherwise you’ll get discouraged and most likely give up}.

I read two articles every morning, and benefit by:

Increasing my vocabulary Gaining a feel of unfamiliar grammar Registering complicated sentences in Spanish by reading without translating to English

Psst! Challenge Yourself by reading a short article in Spanish quickly, and then see how much you remember. You can also write a 100 word article summarizing what you read {in Spanish, por supuesto}. This helps to cement the new words you learned.

And when I’m reading the news, I do so OUT LOUD. I must confess: I don’t speak a lot of Spanish with native speakers. I lack confidence, and hate to sound stupid. The words come out strange, unfamiliar and, yup, foreign. When I read out loud, I gain the practice I lose when I avoid speaking with others. The words also come off less unfamiliar to me {because I’m reading lengthy articles EVERYDAY}, therefor more natural. And that gives me extra confidence when I’m talking to others. I’ll admit, not much confidence, but I am showing signs of improvement.

I watch a movie in Spanish every day {well, not every day, because I don’t always have time, but many times a week}. This improves my listening and comprehension skills, which is an area many beginners struggle in. It also improves my accent, as I imitate the actor’s pronunciation. It’s a struggle, but so rewarding when the dialogue actually makes sense. I also jam out to Spanish songs when I’m surfing the web. And on walks and bus rides to school, I tune into la noticia. This is the kind of immersion that makes comprehension possible, even if you aren’t in a Spanish speaking environment.

I make a lot of flashcards. A lot of flashcards. Not only for vocab, but for verb conjugations too. I then review my new words and conjugations each day. In order to find time, I sit down with my flashcards, set my phone’s stopwatch to ten minutes, and I review. That’s 70 minutes of reviewing each week, which greatly improves my vocab.

For one week, give this “language learning” method a try and see if it helps to improve your Spanish. If not, share what works best for you.

And yes…I may have lied in the title. These five ways to help learn Spanish are not easy, especially if you do them everyday. It’s a serious mental challenge. But it gets easier as you learn and understand more. We have enough hours in the day to devote a small amount of time to learning the language; THE MOST IMPORTANT THING is to find that time, and then couple it with commitment. Your Spanish will improve. Not in every area, not at first. I still struggle with speaking and comprehension, but my reading and writing has improved greatly, along with my vocab. So remember, it won’t mesh together all at once. Time, patience and practice is what counts.

Happy studying; nos vemos!