You can also use the text to understand the audio which might otherwise be too fast. Reading teaches you so much. Many perceived difficulties with Spanish grammar can be solved simply by reading a lot. When you see the grammar being used in a real context, it intuitively starts to make sense. I believe this is much better way to learn grammar than trying to study it in an isolated way in a textbook.
Treat reading as your main Spanish study each day. For an effective reading strategy, click here. But rather than leave it to chance, you can use digital flashcards to help commit the most useful vocabulary to memory. The trick here is to be selective about which vocabulary you try to learn. The most effective way to learn Spanish vocabulary with flashcards is to do multiple, short sessions a day. The recommended minutes per day is best broken down into 3 or 4 short 5-minute sessions study.
You can easily fit these into coffee breaks or waiting for the train. Danger: The hardest part of learning Spanish on your own, especially at the month stage, is the lack of structure. This is the Inconsistency Villain at work! But it needs to be focused. Most people shoot themselves in the foot here by trying to learn too much.
What will really help me speak better? Your attitude is important here. Instead, focus on the process of simply speaking week after week, and the benefits that come from that. After 6 months of studying and — critically — using Spanish, you will be in a good place. In the previous 3 months you were looking for reading material that is simplified for beginners, and speaking opportunities that are designed for learners. However, now you need to dive into real Spanish.
The way to make this meaningful, and not get overwhelmed, is to continue basing your studying around your own interests:. Naturally, this is not easy — especially at first. The star of the Netflix blockbuster Narcos used these principles to learn Spanish in only a few months. Read how in this post! In other words, much of the difficulty comes at the beginning.
The reason is that most people believe the best way to learn Spanish on your own is to master grammar from the beginning. For the same reason, it makes sense to study grammar systematically at this stage, and you can do this by working through a good grammar exercise book. Simply focus on the areas of grammar you find tricky. At the same time as you work on your grammar, you need to start making Spanish the default language for your daily activities.
The best way to approach this is to start small. Introduce one new Spanish activity every week. Ideally, your speaking practice will come from a Spanish-based social life.
Given the choice, non-fiction tends to be simpler to read than fiction. Similarly, magazines and blog posts can make for good reading material. These things seem almost too simplistic, but failing to study regularly, or reading boring things, will quickly kill your progress. As I said at the beginning, the best way to learn Spanish on your own will always be the simplest. Take this plan as a blueprint, commit to sticking at it, and get stuck in! You can start today with a 7-day FREE trial.
Do you know someone who wants to learn Spanish? Please share this post with them, or click here to send a Tweet! But no matter if you go down the DIY route like I did or opt for something a little more structured like a course, there are a couple of things you have to maintain throughout your Spanish learning journey.
And those two things are immersion and consistency. Consistency is also a huge factor. Doing a little bit every day is way more effective than having an extremely long review session every weekend. So whatever you decide in terms of learning methods, just remember that the name of the game is consistency and immersion.
When I struggle with either of these two areas, I always look to FluentU for some help. All the answers are in the back of the book, and it was an excellent source for picking up the basics: past, present and future tenses; prepositions; popular phrasal constructs and explanations related to plurals and gender.
I set aside one hour at the end of every day to go through the exercises. By that time I was really quite fluent, but little grammar doubts would pop up here and there when in conversation with friends. In fact, I still carry a notebook with me! Reading at home was, without a doubt, the single most useful activity I made time for in the early stages. I read anything I could get my hands on, but I loved reading novels by Paulo Coelho , translated from Portuguese to Spanish. Why choose a Portuguese writer?
His sentences are short and easy to understand. His vocabulary is pretty basic too. For me, he was the perfect choice. I read every evening and weekend for about eight months. Most Sundays I read from the moment I got up to the moment I went to sleep. I learned so many new words and phrases, and it thoroughly prepared me for stringing sentences together. The first is for beginners: watching Spanish movies with English subtitles. It might seem odd to watch in Spanish and read in Spanish at the same time, but it really does work wonders.
Reading skills develop a lot faster than listening skills. By reading and listening at the same time, I was really able to improve my pronunciation. It also helped me to speak like the locals. After a year in Venezuela, I moved to Argentina, where I lived for five years.
Spanish in Venezuela is very different from Spanish in Argentina. Watching Argentine movies and looking for typical Argentine phrases helped me to fit in more and make friends. FluentU takes real-world videos—like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks—and turns them into personalized language learning lessons. Other sites use scripted content. FluentU uses a natural approach that helps you ease into the Spanish language and culture over time.
FluentU brings native videos within reach with interactive transcripts. You can tap on any word to look it up instantly. Also be sure to talk to your Spanish speaking friends, neighbors or co-workers. And remember to give your Spanish a purpose by finding ways to use it in your everyday life.
After all, speaking the language on a regular or daily basis is how you become fluent. Just do massive listening, from the beginning: massive listening input. Spanish language can be very complex. Instead: listen, listen, listen and listen to native speakers. Stop being a passive learner, waiting for someone to tell you what to do. Get active! In my opinion, the best way to learn Spanish by yourself is music, music, music! Actively discovering songs in Spanish that you like while reading and learning the lyrics, which is also the way I started learning English on my own.
This will increase your confidence speaking Spanish in public. With over 20 Spanish-speaking countries, in each country, you can find that they create their own type of music. So whether you like rock, reggaeton, salsa, merengue… eventually, you are bound to find songs to your liking in Spanish that you can use to turn the task of learning Spanish into an even more fun part of your life. I am a believer that the best way to learn Spanish on your own is with a natural method: listening, listening, listening.
I think listening is fundamental if you want to speak Spanish like a native. Although there is one condition: the materials should be authentic and natural, not adapted for foreigners.
I have learned 3 languages with natural method as an adult! Assess your strengths and weaknesses, set goals to improve, and identify the resources that will help you make progress. Within this general purpose-oriented approach what works best will be what you enjoy and can sustain doing-- kind of like exercise! A study by researchers at the University of Nebraska shows that the combination of persistence and goal setting helps language learners immensely.
How can you set goals? The key to goal setting is to be specific. For example, you can set a goal to know vocabulary words in 60 days. You can also set a goal to have a basic conversation in 30 days. Once you set a goal, you need to nail down the persistence part of the success equation. That means scheduling time for yourself to study.
You might find that an hour a day works well for you. If an entire hour is difficult to cram into your schedule, try two 30 minute sessions a day. An easy place to start is by starting with grammar and vocabulary. For vocabulary, I highly recommend using visual flash cards. You want to have pictures to relate to, instead of words.
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