How to learn Spanish? Let’s start by dispelling a myth – that you need to be in a Hispanic country to speak it. Anecdotally, I can say that this is not true, as I have met a number of people who can speak Spanish (far from perfectly, but they speak it nonetheless) and who have never set foot in a Spanish speaking country. Moreover, a number of these people (some of them have been my students) are not particularly good at languages, and didn’t even know what a verb was when they started. So there you have it. You have people who have never travelled to Spain or Latin America, and who are not linguistically inclined, but they can speak Spanish? What’s going on? Well, quite simply it’s all about enthusiasm and passion. I know it’s cliché, but if you try, eventually you will succeed. Fancy ‘immersion’ programs have their place, and being ‘over there’ is a definite advantage. I mean, why wouldn’t you want to do something like that? But more often than not, I feel that this attitude towards learning or making statements like ‘you have to be there to be able to really learn it’ are just easy ways out. It all really boils down to attitude, and I’ve seen it done over and over again. There’s nothing wrong with being honest and saying ‘I kinda want it but I’m not really that interested in learning another language’. We all have different reasons for (and levels of intended commitment) learning a language. I mean, I am currently making a mess of trying to learn German right now with the abysmal number of minutes per week I put into it. Still, there are so many people out there who continue to chant the mantra of ‘you have to be ‘over there’ to learn it!’ And I’m here to say that it doesn’t have to be that way.
How to learn Spanish
Over the next few weeks, we’ll have a look at the sorts of materials you’ll need to embark on your journey of how to learn Spanish. Once we’ve covered those bases, it’s on to the method employed by the successful student. Finally, we’ll wrap up by covering some general tips and thoughts on the issue as a whole. Next, we turn to making a schedule for your studying.
¡Hablamos!