How to write in Spanish and incorporate it into your study sessions:
How important is writing Spanish?
In our last entry on Spanish study sessions, we covered the topic of speaking, and how it is one of the most valuable things you can do as part of a program. We also mentioned that writing was perhaps equally important (give or take) for the same reasons (refer to above topic for an in-depth explanation of this) and that’s why we’re including “how to write in Spanish” as the fourth study session for the confused Spanish beginner.
“I don’t know how to write Spanish! I don’t know what to say! I get stuck! Plus I don’t have any time!”
These are some of the things students say when faced with the prospect of sitting down and actually putting pen to paper. Guess what though? You’ll have to overcome all of these things because you won’t get far without writing! Luckily, none of them are particularly hard.
Not having time is not a valid excuse. As we have already covered in a separate blog entry on how to make a study plan, there is no such thing as not having time. Time is everywhere you look. The question is: “how do I allocate my time, and how important is learning Spanish?” Very important? Ok, read on…
Not knowing what to say when you sit down and write in Spanish could be a minor hurdle, but here are a few ideas to get you started.
Getting stuck is something that is bound to happen. This might be because you only know the present tense, but this is not a problem. You’ll learn the past tenses soon enough, and then you can expand on the sorts of things you can talk about. You don’t want to wait? Here are a couple of ideas: write everything in the present tense (this is better than nothing, and it will get your mind thinking in Spanish). Alternatively, look up the ‘preterite’ in Spanish (simple past) and see if you can work it into your descriptions. Again, while your knowledge of the simple past will be basic and possibly full of mistakes, there is no substitute for actual pen-to-paper.
It doesn’t matter what you use, a computer or a pen, the important thing is to write.
Another sticking point might be a lack of vocabulary or grammar (with regards to putting accurate sentences together). Not to worry, just head for the dictionary! It can be slow and laborious stopping every minute (or more) to look up words you have no idea how to say, but trust me, this is how you acquire those words – this is how you improve. Have a look here for one of the earlier articles related to books and dictionaries in Spanish. Vocabulary should be the least of your concerns though. What about getting stuck on sentence structure and grammar? Again, don’t worry. This too can be laborious, slow and even boring at times, but again, it’s the only way to learn! Word Reference forums is a very good site where you can have a look at peoples’ posts and queries on how to say things in Spanish. It’s a goldmine, and much better than online translators. There is an article about the value of this site if you follow this link.
In any case, don’t be too concerned about how much or how little you know. Every student of the Spanish language will gain some value out of writing in Spanish, and there is no such thing as a person who is at a severe disadvantage over someone else who might know a lot more than them when it comes to sitting down and writing. There are no absolutes here, just a sliding scale of people who experience differing levels of difficulty when it comes to sitting down and writing something. What I’m getting at is that it happens to everyone, no matter what. Whether it’s the accomplished writer with writer’s block, or the expert blogger who has to look up the occasional word, or who stresses over playing around with the sentence and paragraph structure, writing is difficult for everyone at some time or another, and the sooner you accept this as part of ‘just what you have to do’, the faster you will make progress. Furthermore, if you really are a novice to learning a language, look on the positive side – your learning curve is going to be a fast one. These are some of the most exciting times for learning a new language. Writing relatively frequently is going to bring about some rapid changes, and ones that will improve the richness of your life. Look on the positive side!
So what do you write about? Here are some ideas to get you started:
- Keep a diary. Yes, this article relates to how you can incorporate ‘writing’ into a one-hour session per week, alongside all the other important sessions (grammar, vocabulary. etc.), but no one mentioned anything about not playing with the programming. These are just some ideas, so you might have two sessions per week where you write, and therefore have two diary entries. It’s up to you how you configure your time.
- What sorts of things should you write about in the diary? If you are only familiar with the present tense, then skip to the next point. If you are familiar with the present, the informal future (ir a + verb or location) and the past (preterite and imperfect), you can talk about what you did over the last few days (or however long it has been since your last entry). Then you might describe a few things in the present (what the weather is like at the moment, what the cat’s doing, what your partner or flatmates are doing). Finally, you might want to use the informal future to say what you are going to do later, or tomorrow. Next time you open the diary for an entry, you could start by talking about the previous entry’s ‘future’ remarks, but now they will be in the past. Then you would give another description in the present, and then another one in the future….each subsequent entry would rely and reflect on the previous one. Effectively, you would be saying very similar, if not identical things in each entry, but shifting the tenses between the various activities. This might be very repetitive, but the advantages of this are that you are not only practising the different tenses as you describe the same activities, and therefore practising using the same verbs in different tenses, but you are also making the everyday and the often mundane second nature – you are creating a new language reflex.
- So, if you only know the present tense, this one is for you. If you know several tenses and you got a few tips from the above point, then skip the following: Talk about things you have observed in the day. How is the weather? What are the people in your work like? Is that too boring or not challenging enough? Then as mentioned earlier, have a go at writing in the past. See if you can Google the ‘preterite (simple past)’ in Spanish.
- “Diaries are boring” you say? Another thing you might like to do is write a letter to a friend. Tell them about everything you can (or at least using the range of things you have learned in class).
- Grammar and exercise books are loaded with writing activities, and a lot of them are quite varied. Find the ones that appeal to you and get writing!
A couple of final points: what sorts of materials should you use for writing? Aside from the things already mentioned, such as word reference forums, a grammar book and a good dictionary (either physical or online), a question that is sometimes asked is whether a computer is better than using a pen. I actually don’t think it makes any difference. The only difference I can see is that using a pen and paper will be good practice for improving your handwriting, but that’s about it! Pick your weapon of choice and go for it, it doesn’t matter. The only thing that counts is your immersion in the language and the hard work you put in.
Next up, we will look at the fifth and final study session and how to plan it. We’ve covered vocabulary, grammar, speaking and writing. Now it’s time to look at the idea of watching, reading and listening and how we can incorporate those things into a session of one hour. But that won’t be the end of this series on how to study Spanish. After we wrap up the overview of the study sessions themselves, we’ll turn to a number of important issues and how they relate to study, such as motivation, dealing with stress, and developing a passion for language, among many other things.
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