Teach Yourself Spanish: Useful Study Ideas

Learning Spanish is an exciting adventure.  It immediately connects you to a wealth of cultures , experiences and people.  It can also be a frustrating and discouraging process.  There are fortunately several things you can  do to insure that you learn fast and enjoy yourself.  Once the process is in place and you have found a comfortable and enjoyable way of learning, it is only a matter of time – and perseverance  – until you become fluent.

• The first thing, of course, is to make sure the course and the materials you are using are of a high quality.  There is no single rule as to what makes a good course, but you must definitely enjoy it.  If you don’t, you will not continue for long. It is very important that you like the voices of your instructors, the format and information of the course you are using.
  
• Next, you want to develop good pronunciation.  This will make it much more enjoyable to speak the language, you will develop your confidence and… you will be understood when you speak.  Feeling unsure of your pronunciation is also stressful.
• Vocabulary!  Well you obviously need to learn new words.  Fortunately, Spanish and English have a lot in common.  There are literally thousands of words which are the same  or very close in both languages.  For example, there are 1200 words that end in “tion” in English.  They are the same in Spanish but they end in”cion”.  Nation = nacion.  Revolution = revolucion.  There are more of 20 of these categories which allow you to quickly increase your vocabulary (different =- diferente; important = importante).  You can use flash cards to test yourself and keep the new words current.  The fastest way is to learn words that are related (for example, words about the weather, or traveling) and to create little conversations to practice them. 
• Grammar.  Grammar helps you put all those words together to create meaning.  We all learn know and use it automatically.  It is hard-wired in all human beings.  Take your time.  Understand the basic concepts first.  Then make sure you can create the grammar yourself – for example how to make the past tense.  Finally use it: make up some sentences, talk to yourself.   Do this for a few days so you retain what you’ve learned.  Spanish is a cousin of English so the two languages have a lot in common.  This make it much easier to learn.
• Comprehension is vital.  Take your time with that. The more you listen, the more you begin to understand.  The more grammar and vocab you learn, the easier it is to track what you hear.
• Last but not least is Speaking.  Start early.  As soon as you know the present tense and 50 or 60 words, start to speak.  It doesn’t matter if it’s not perfect, or if you don’t know all the words. Swimmers swim and speakers speak if they want to get either better.

These basic ideas should help you organize yourself as you begin or continue to study Spanish.   When you learn Spanish audio materials allow you to learn on your own and at your own pace.  You must hear the new language on a regular basis in order to progress. 

I teach courses in Spanish (as well as French, English, Chinese, Hindi and Punjabi) in Arizona. but I always consider myself a student: I always want to improve and I always want to learn new languages.

Visit Focus Language, Intensive French and Spanish Page  for more language learning tips.

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