Spanish is a beautiful language that can take you to many places. With numerous benefits ranging from new friends to more career opportunities or a different outlook on the world, there’s so much you can gain from picking up this Romance language.
WHY DO YOU WANT TO LEARN SPANISH?
This is one of the first things you should establish before embarking on your language journey. Who or what inspires you to learn Spanish? Maybe you’re hoping to boost up your skills on your resume by studying another language. Or you’re someone who’s simply passionate about Latin culture whether it’s the food, music, or Telenovelas.
Regardless of your reasons, it’s important that you reflect on your motives for taking this path because learning another language is a lengthy process that needs an ample amount of time and genuine dedication. If you’re not excited about Spanish (or any other language you study) it’s going to be hard to stick with it when you start to face challenges. Remember, if you like the language it will like you back. So take a moment to jot down your reasons and goals for choosing Spanish.
Consider Choosing A Specific Accent
Spanish is a very diverse language with more than 450 million native speakers, making it the second most common language in the world. Even beyond Spain and Latin America, you can hear this language spoken in other countries like the Philippines, Equatorial Guinea, and of course right here in the United States. So as expected, it’s practically impossible for all Spanish-speakers to sound the same. And for that reason, you should think about learning a dialect.
Should I learn Spanish From Latin America or Spain?
So many factors can influence which type of Spanish you learn such as where you live and your personal tastes. If you’re based in the United States, you might want to consider learning Latin American Spanish over European Spanish especially if you’re coming from a practical perspective.
But all things considered, you need to think about your own personal preferences. Which countries spark your interests the most? Ultimately, you should go for whichever accent you’re passionate about the most.
Videos on Spanish Dialects
- Which Spanish Should I Learn? – Spanish and Go
- Why I Switched Spanish Dialects – Elysse Speaks
- Which Type Of Spanish Should I Learn – Bilingüe Blogs
LET’S STUDY
Like any other skill learning a new language is an investment that needs to be nurtured continuously. In other words, use it or lose it. Set some time aside to study the language such as the grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation. Some people can have a study session every day or three times a week, either way, you should consistently dedicate time to study.
Learn the basics
When starting out with Spanish these are some key areas you should cover for everyday conversations.
- Greetings + responses
- Common verbs + their conjugations
- Polite phrases
- Expressing opinions + feelings
- Talking about your hobbies
- Describing yourself + others
- Describing your daily routine
- Filler + transitional words
- Asking and answering common questions
One tip that I strongly recommend for beginners and intermediate speakers is to familiarize yourself with the common errors that students make in Spanish. From false friends to faulty direct translations, it’s normal to make mistakes in another language. And fortunately, there’s plenty of teachers available online who can help us learn from our mistakes.
Here’s a list of some Spanish professors that offer great lessons on YouTube. As mentioned earlier in this article, Spanish offers a rich and diverse variety of accents, so I decided to include teachers with different dialects across the Hispanophone community.
Online TEACHERS (YOUTUBE):
- Why Not Spanish? – Colombia 🇨🇴
- Spanishland School – Colombia 🇨🇴
- Spring Spanish – México 🇲🇽, Venezuela 🇻🇪
- Mextalki – México 🇲🇽
- How to Spanish Podcast – México 🇲🇽
- Speak Spanish With Paula – Venezuela 🇻🇪
- Spanish With Vicente – Spain 🇪🇸
- Spanish After Hours – Spain 🇪🇸
- Hola Spanish – Argentina 🇦🇷
- Speak Spanish Faster – Puerto Rico 🇵🇷
- Bilingüe Blogs – Dominican Republic 🇩🇴
Create An Immersive Environment
Travel is one of the best ways to immerse yourself in another culture. However, for some of us who aren’t able to go abroad, we’re going to have to work a bit differently. You may not be in San Juan, Bogotá, or Madrid, but you can always create your own immersive bubble for yourself, especially with the Internet which is our biggest asset in this language journey. It’s important to constantly expose yourself to Spanish both in spoken and written forms.
Use YouTube to help bridge you closer to the culture and people. Search for topics and interests that you already like but in Spanish. For instance, If you love fashion, type “shopping hauls en español” in the search bar to find results catered to your hobbies. Don’t worry if you can’t understand everything that’s said, the constant exposure and repetition of the language will get you accustomed to the way words are pronounced and the common phrases used.
The list below just mentions a few of the vast amount of content-creators from the Spanish side of the Internet. As you watch the videos make sure to pause it every now and then and REPEAT the phrases, so you also practice speaking as well.
Cool youtubers to watch
Beauty
School
Entertainment
Lifestyle
Music & Film
Create a music playlist on YouTube or Spotify for your favorite songs in Spanish. There’s a lot of genres to choose from such as Cumbia, Merengue, Reggaeton, Latin Pop, and more. You can’t go wrong either way. Whether it’s Miguel’s “Te lo Dije” or “Todo de Ti” by Rauw Alejandro, explore whatever you like.
Also, watch the interviews of Hispanic singers and actors in Spanish to familiarize yourself with their accent and flow of conversation. This helps train your ears for listening comprehension with normal dialogue. You also get to see facial expressions and mannerisms to give you cues about the context of the conversation.
Look at foreign movies and TV series as well. There’s a great selection to view on Netflix such as Élite, La Casa de Papel, La Casa de las Flores, and my newest obsession ¿Quién mató a Sara?. On YouTube, Spanish dubs of English-language films are available too.
SPEAK WITH NATIVES
Make an effort to speak with native Spanish speakers in your community. This can be a daunting task if you’re scared of making mistakes or if you’re a shy person. But it’s important to overcome our fears, especially since they can hold us back from reaching our potential. Don’t worry, you’re not the only one in this, everyone gets nervous when speaking their target language.
Another option you could do is speak with people online, to eventually build up the confidence to speak with people in person. There are apps you can download that allow you to talk with different native speakers and in exchange, you can help them with English. HelloTalk and Lingbe are some of the common ones out there. SpanishDict is another good resource to have as well. Although it’s not a language exchange app, it’s a great Spanish translator to have.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Follow Spanish-language content on other social media apps like Instagram or TikTok to see the language more often in your daily life. For example, I’m a beauty enthusiast so I follow Vogue México y Latinoamérica and Refinery 29’s Somos on Instagram, which helps me stay up to date on cultural trends and issues occurring in the Hispanophone world.
find people who inspire you + FINAL ADVICE
Learning a new language can be a very enriching hobby that helps you communicate with other people from different cultures, but the process can also be challenging at times. It’s important to remember why you started your language journey to keep you motivated to continue it. There are people on the Internet who are also in the same place as you or were and they’re sharing that path with other students. One of my favorite YouTubers is Lindie Botes, a South African polyglot who is always creating healthy reminders and encouragements for the language community such as this video.
Don’t rush the process, it’s all part of the journey.
Regardless of what skill you’re trying to develop, you need to be consistent and persistent. Everyone has a different style of learning and their own unique experience with languages. Your methods and timeframe will probably look different from other people and that’s completely ok. Comparison is the thief of all joy. There’s no point in comparing your journey to someone else’s. How long it takes you to have a grasp of Spanish depends on the amount of time you put into it and the effectiveness of your language-learning routine (which again depends on your learning style).
At the end of the day, languages are supposed to be fun and exciting for you. Enjoy the language and the culture!