Try it free for 14 days! Learn on the go Make your breaks and commutes more productive with our iPhone and Android apps. Download them and see why Apple and Google gave us their highest accolades. Studies of Spanish word frequency tell us that the 1, most frequent words in Spanish account for Watch this video to learn my method for memorising any word in Spanish so you never forget it, without learning from vocab lists or flashcards:.
The most efficient way to learn the basics is usually with a good Spanish for beginners course because all the important stuff is laid out for you in an easily-digestible away.
Most importantly of all, make sure the course you choose includes plenty of dialogues and comes with both audio and text so you can improve your listening skills and learn to understand real spoken Spanish.
My recommendation is Spanish Uncovered , which uses a unique story-telling method that's ideal for making Spanish memorable and fun.
Spanish Uncovered takes you all the way from complete beginner to the intermediate level and is based on the same principles you're learning here about how to learn Spanish fast. Study the video lessons in the course every day, and aim to complete it over the space of weeks. I recommend not spending too much time with the exercises provided.
The aim isn't to learn grammar rules to perfection! Instead, aim to complete the entire course so you get a good overview of how the language works, and use the grammar exercises as extra practice to complement your core study time.
Focus most of your energy on reading the story or dialogues, acclimatising to the sounds of Spanish. If you already speak some Spanish and instead want help to break through the intermediate plateau, invest in a resource that focuses specifically on that intermediate level.
You'll be hard-pressed to find anything better than the Fluent Spanish Academy. That's the mail remember — to be conversational in Spanish! One of the biggest traps beginner Spanish learners fall into is the desire to learn Spanish grammar perfectly. Now, while it's important to learn the basics, you can actually get quite far with an elementary knowledge of grammar, because Spanish sentence construction is often similar to English.
I still make occasional mistakes with the subjunctive, for example, and the verbs ser vs estar … and people still understand me fine! I don't wish to undermine the importance of grammar in Spanish. But the major risk is that you end up worrying so much about grammar rules that the rest of your study grinds to a halt.
So, take some time to understand the elementary Spanish grammar found in the first few chapters of your course or textbook, but then move on. Get to grips with these topics and you'll have covered pretty much everything you need to start using and living Spanish. Do this, then place your focus squarely back on the core tasks of learning vocabulary and speaking. And in fact, this is a theory supported by the work of renowned linguist and language-learning researcher Stephen Krashen.
Krashen's hypothesis is that we learn a language when we listen and read comprehensible input, in other words, language that we can mostly understand and that's just above our level.
You can read about an example of the impact of reading on second language acquisition in this paper on Krashen's website. By the way, if you can also find the audio version of the text you're reading, then you can listen along as you read.
This helps you form connections between the written and spoken word, and most importantly, will help you understand native speakers. For that, I recommend you pick up a copy of my short story books, which are written especially for beginners:. Or a copy of Conversations in Simple Spanish. If you're already at an intermediate level, you'll probably be looking for more challenging material!
If you're spending enough time reading and listening to Spanish, the learning will happen naturally and you'll reach Spanish fluency fast. They both incorporate Spanish culture into their lessons, which really helps spice things up—at least it did for me! Coffee Break Spanish has several options for Spanish courses. Their Coffee Break Academy offers courses ranging from beginner level to intermediate.
The focus of this course is to use weekly texts to introduce cultural insights while building reading skills. Fluencia is another excellent course for Spanish language learners to consider using.
Lessons use native speakers and are broken up into topics that make for an organized, efficient method for learning. Lessons include conversations—perfect for pronunciation practice! Many of us do really well partnering up to learn. A language partner will help challenge you and make your language learning journey less solitary and more social! Language learners upload personal profiles that list gender, age, hometown, native language, practicing language, hobbies and purpose for partnering up.
Most express a desire to practice a language with someone more fluent, with the hope of both partners gaining language skills. Having a language exchange partner will definitely help you with pronunciation, grabbing idioms and learning about the Spanish culture. Join a local club—maybe dance, cooking or even a book club! Depending on where you live, access to a native Spanish tutor, even just a short-term one, might be limited. Fortunately, there are plenty of digital tutors. Spanish via Skype offers Spanish tutoring with fully qualified language teachers.
Their lessons come with training materials, and their scheduling is intended to be flexible so that you can book a session to suit your needs.
Language learning on your time will fit into your schedule! LingQ is a sensational app to try out. As vocabulary grows, the SRS accommodates that by offering different words for reinforcement.
The Reword app allows users to create word lists, track progress and more. With over 4, words and phrases offered, this app will keep most of us busy for quite a while.
Spanish learning games are an ideal addition to any language program. I know I do! Drops will definitely add a level of entertainment to your learning program. This is a convenient learning and practicing method that can be done in five-minute increments. See what I meant about a little friendly competition against yourself? Digital Dialects is a go-to spot for Spanish learning games.
There are many to choose from—and they cover essential topics that learners will need to know. Numbers, colors, nouns, basic phrases, food and so much more are up for grabs here. The games vary by topic, but all are worthwhile and interesting. There are options for additional games within each topic, so once you finish the first games that are offered, you then have a chance to play more difficult games. Each month, we teach on a specific grammatical theme and provide weekly study material with engaging videos, dialogues, and reading material to keep you focused on your Spanish studies.
We even have a special private Podcast and small group speaking opportunities just for our Parcero students. You can learn all about it and join at the next available enrollment date here. Pro Tip: Look for a fully structured course or membership that you connect with in a meaningful way. It's so important to enjoy the process. After that, you can change things up and focus on the things that you are enjoying most. This is meant to be an example, not a hard and fast study plan that you must go by.
As you start getting to a more intermediate level it is important to start putting in time focusing on grammar with a textbook you can work through. It's never too late to work on grammar. Ultimately, the best way is the one that you enjoy the most and can make consistent progress in. For me, that was scheduling consistent time to speak with native speakers. By the way, I don't consider myself an extrovert at all so I am living proof that anyone can do it!
This article set out to provide you with the 7 best ways to learn Spanish. I have tried and tested all of these methods and many more. Without a doubt, these 7 are the most effective. They most certainly are. If the goal is to get to Spanish fluency, then you need to focus each day towards interacting with the Spanish language and speaking it early on.
There is nothing quite like meeting someone else in a Spanish speaking country and then also speaking their language. A nanometer is a billionth of a meter, and so forth. Hi Steve, very interesting. It truly struck a resonant chord with me. I immediately realized why my group Spanish classes were not very effective in increasing my fluency.
Thank you so much for the terrific advice. Hi Sandy, thanks so much for the kind words and I am glad you enjoyed the article. I hear you on the group classes. You can definitely still learn from them, but from what I have found is you have to go the pace that the teacher is teaching for the whole class and can only move as fast as the slowest student.
Thanks again for checking out the article and site. Could you write a short dialogue of two people speaking together basic conversation in Spanish? The important thing is not so much the activity, but the fact that you are making consistent forward progress.
Absolutely the best article that I have read on learning a language. I have been using Anki and watching a few shows but the suggestions for the live conversations with native speakers is by far what I had been lacking.
Hi John, thanks so much for the kind words on the article and glad you found it useful! Keep pushing forward! I lived in Spain in for 6 mths and became fluent while there — I had no choice as I was completely immersed in the culture, read, wrote and watched everything in Spanish. Being in the states all these years have made me lose the fluency. I have been meaning to get back to learning it on an advanced level and your steps reminded me of what I had to do back then to assimilate into the culture.
Thank you so much for this article! Glad you found this article helpful Meera! Thanks Nate, these are some excellent tips! I am doing a few of the things you mention but I know I need to talk to my Spanish friend more often.
I will try to keep it simple instead of wanting to speak our usual complex English thoughts in Spanish — fortunately my friend is very patient! Perhaps a theme and a number of phrases relating to the theme can be put onto flash cards to make it interesting. Awesome Jenny. It sounds like you are on the right track.
Just have normal conversations like you would in English and it will slowly start to come together. Thanks Nate. This is really useful advice, especially about finding ways to speak with a native speaker. Thanks for the article. I actually wanted to learn 15 years ago, but back then I allowed other things have more importance than learning. I changed my phones settings to be in Spanish, I listen to podcasts on my commute, and When I see various stuff written in English, I try to see if I can figure out what that would be in Spanish.
And when I see something written in Spanish, I try reading it. Awesome to hear Bob and I appreciate you sharing a bit about your story and how you found us.
I have no doubt with those methods and the right consistency you will be upper intermediate in a short amount of time. Keep it up! Nate, Thank you for a very well thought out and concise article. I learn new words regularly and now can try using them with the flashcards. Les deseo lo mejor con el negocio. Andrea seems like a great woman, you are a lucky man. Thanks Gurds. She is and has a bigtime love for helping others. Do you have a recommendation as far as a grammar text book goes?
At this point I am a complete beginner! Sarah, unfortunately we do not at the moment. I have used Assimil and it was okay. This is something we are looking to create in the future though. I live in Spain now, and before that lived for 13 years in Cuba.
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