Time – something we all feel is never enough! If only there were more than 24 hours in a day to pack in every little thing we wanted to do. Especially with goal setting – it’s human nature to want to achieve and master a skill as soon as possible. If you are on a journey to mastering Spanish – you probably feel the same way – “How soon can I learn Spanish?”. Lucky for you, you’ve come to the right place to look for answers. You may find a few, if not all, of the below tips easy to incorporate into your daily routine to help you learn Spanish faster and more effectively.
1. The goals you set need to be realistic
The goals you set will largely depend on the intent behind learning Spanish, your current level of fluency, and your lifestyle. Once you have defined your goal, ask yourself what a realistic time frame will be to achieve the goal. Break the tasks down into what can be reached within three months, six months, and a year. Ensure the functions within each time frame are measurable and achievable, tying in with your main goal.
2. Pay attention to commonly used Spanish words
Identify and build a word bank of the 1000 most common words in Spanish. It’s a known fact that these 1000 words account for 87% of all spoken Spanish. Master these words, and you can rest assured that your learning time will reduce by a significant amount.
3. Identify what type of learner you are
Do you learn better visually? Or are you better at auditory or kinesthetic learning? Visual learners are better off with study material that can be seen and read. Auditory learners benefit from listening and speaking, while kinesthetic learners learn via touch. Depending on which category you best define yourself, the study method will need to be chosen accordingly.
4. Pick the best tools to learn Spanish
From textbooks to audiobooks, from online tutors to traditional courses, from learning apps to library books – you have a whole range of options to pick from that most appeal to you.
5. Listen to Spanish everywhere and anywhere you can
Tune in to the news in Spanish if current events interest you. Or catch your favorite Netflix episodes in Spanish by changing the audio or subtitles. You can access podcasts like Unlimited Spanish, Notes in Spanish, and LightSpeed Spanish can be easily through app stores. Most of these podcasts and audiobooks are designed for beginners will help expand your vocabulary.
6. Read books in Spanish
If you have an intermediate level of fluency in Spanish, an excellent practice to adopt would be reading in Spanish. Go to your local library and choose books like “Short Stories in Spanish For Beginners,” – which will be ideal to understand and enjoy. Books with audio versions are even better and will help with pronunciations and grammar.
7. Practice speaking Spanish with a native speaker
Suppose you can’t physically head to Spain or Latin America to practice speaking Spanish with a native speaker. In that case, there are many tutors available online who can help you improve your conversational skills. There are more than enough websites that offer great resources for online tutoring.
8. Try not to worry about grammar too much
It’s easy to get caught up and worry about perfecting Spanish grammar from the very start of your journey. Although Spanish is easy, grammar can get tricky and becomes particularly hard to understand. However, if you focus on listening and speaking Spanish as often as possible, the grammar will eventually fall into place.
9. Include Spanish in different aspects of your life
There are so many more ways to learn Spanish apart from a formal program or an online tutoring session. From listening to Spanish music to radio stations, from watching Spanish movies and TV shows to reading about Spanish culture, from becoming a member of local Spanish society to attending salsa classes, your options are aplenty! So go ahead and immerse yourself in as much Spanish as you can.
10. Make use of Spanish social media
We spend hours on end on different social media apps like Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest in a day. Why not attempt to use all these apps entirely in Spanish? Not only will this be fun and interesting, but it will give you additional exposure and familiarity with Spanish.
So, there you go! Follow these tried and tested hacks, and you are sure to be successful on your journey to learning Spanish – fast!