When you first learn vocabulary and grammatical structures in another language, it's tempting to think of your native language first and then translate it word for word. If a native English speaker sees a table, the word table comes to mind rather than mesa. Yet, over time the brain can learn to associate objects with other words too. Just like with riding a bike or advancing in math, the more you practice, the more natural a foreign language becomes and less time you spend thinking about each step.
The single most important thing to do when learning a foreign language is to practice. Class time is limited, and in large classes there's only so much time a teacher can listen to each student. For this reason, students must practice outside of class. Unfortunately, many either don't know how or aren't motivated to spend a single minute more than they need to thinking about Spanish.
The following strategies will help you practice; they've helped me become fluent in Spanish and learn Chinese, Japanese, and French to the extent that I did. As a student, your job is to push yourself to do these. The first time you do something, the harder it is — especially if it's a change in one's daily routine — but it becomes easier over time. Begin with simple tasks like making and using flashcards to develop basic vocabulary and move on from there.
Interactive Websites
Two websites that I strongly recommend and use with my students are DuoLingo and FluentU. Both are free and fun to use, and there are materials for all levels.
DuoLingo is a game-like site that introduce pieces of the language by topic. It's not comprehensive, but the smaller amounts are easier to manage. In a given unit (or skill, as the website calls them), there are a few individual lessons. New terms are gradually introduced during exercises, which include choosing an option with pictures, typing what you hear, direct translation, choosing which option goes with the rest of a phrase, and similar tasks. New terms are in orange so that users can highlight them to see what they mean. Grammar is introduced gradually but aren't the focus of DuoLingo; there aren't lengthy explanations with exercises focusing on a single concept.
FluentU gives sentences that are displayed and spoken. Users can highlight a word to have it spoken again and see what it means along with parts of speech. Clicking a word brings up other examples of the word being used, which is convenient. Clicking "Next" or "I already know" allows the site to focus on unknown words. The listening section has a video of the concepts being used. Hovering the mouse over the video pauses it; and as always hovering the mouse over individual words shows what they mean, and clicking shows other examples of it being used.
Podcasts
Podcasts are great for listening. They're great to study with when you're driving, doing something relaxing, waiting for your food, or even falling asleep. One downside is that all of these advertise premium versions in each episode,
Coffee Break Spanish has podcasts for beginners all the way up to highly advanced students. For more advanced learners, magazine episodes are broken into three parts and include interesting topics and culture. Hover over "Free Lessons" on top to choose which level you'd like to listen to.
Spanish Obsessed is similar to Coffee Break Spanish. Some materials are available to go with each episode. There are also interesting topics here. Click "Newer Posts" on the bottom to see later episodes or "Spanish Podcasts" on top to choose a higher level.
Notes in Spanish doesn't have content for absolute beginners, but it's useful for those who know some of the basics. Like with the other two podcasts, there are interesting topics discussed.
Vocabulary
I've found that one of the best ways to practice vocabulary is to use flashcards. If you use physical (paper) flashcards, use one card per term. Using a pen or pencil that you can't see from the other side of the card, write English on one side and Spanish on the other, being careful to do all cards the same way so that no cards stick out; if one card is facing the wrong way, you'll remember the other side because of that instead of remembering what it means.
Start by looking at the Spanish side and thinking of what it means in English, then look to check your answer. When you get to the end of the deck, shuffle the cards and start over. When there are only a few cards that you don't know, begin putting the ones you don't know to the side to study by themselves. When you know all of them, flip them over, shuffle them as always, and now look at the English side. Studying both sides will help you to both understand and produce Spanish.
After a while, you'll have many cards. It's best to separate cards so that you don't have an enormous stack of several hundred. In Chinese and Japanese classes I separated them by chapter; you can do this or by part of speech (nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc.), letter (to help distinguish between those E words), or any way you'd like. Take at least one deck wherever you go so that you can study while waiting for your food, quickly before bed, while on the bus, and so on.
As for electronic flashcards, Quizlet already has premade decks with other activities. Another option is a program and app called Anki, which lets you make your own decks, organize them the way you'd like, and download decks other people have made. Anki can be difficult to use, since your best bet is to learn the program on a computer, sync it online, and then sync other devices (smartphones are great for Anki since most people always have a phone with them); but the advantage of using it is that it gives you challenging cards more frequently than easy cards. You can also mix cards from different decks by using tags, which would be very tedious to separate using regular flashcards.
Another way to practice vocabulary is to look at a list of new words and use them in sentences, or even to picture what they mean as you look at them. When forming sentences, remember to use previous vocabulary as well instead of only words you're currently working on. To exercise your mind, try to use different combinations of words every time instead of using the same sentence with only one word being replaced. Otherwise you're only cheating yourself.
It's also good to keep a list somewhere of words you don't know or need to study more. Find out what these words mean and use them as often as possible. Eventually you should be looking around and thinking of sentences in your mind that you could try to say in Spanish. The end result will be you thinking in Spanish! You might even find yourself speaking Spanish during dreams while you sleep.
Grammar
To study grammar, practice a single concept over and over using different words, then combine it with what you've learned previously. Grammar can be particularly different to remember when it's different than in your native language. An example of this is possession; in Spanish, there is no apostrophe, so "Joe's house" becomes "la casa de Joe" or "the house of Joe." To practice this, think of sentence after sentence that uses "someone's something." Eventually you will create a memory trigger along the lines of "if I want to say someone's something, I have to do something differently," which will prompt you to remember the word order.
Vocabulary and grammar are both also improved by reading native Spanish. When reading, always ask yourself why each word is there and how commas separate words. Having a strong understanding of English grammar helps since both languages have similar grammar and structure. If it makes it easier, make a list of all grammar you've learned and go down the list when reading. Your goal is to get to the point where a rule of grammar is natural, where you instinctively correct yourself because something doesn't look or sound right in Spanish regardless of how it is in English.
Because of how easy it is to forget grammar, remember to go back and review the rules you've learned once and a while. If you want to, you can make flash cards with a rule on one side and when and how to use it on the other side. Challenge yourself by randomly choosing different rules and using them together. Here's an example:
- Possession: el/la/los/las + object + de + owner
- Present tense of ER verbs: o/es/e/emos/éis/en
- Stem-changers: e to ie (change in addition to putting the ending on)
- Stem-changers don't change for nosotros or vosotros
- Time: use es la or son las for "it is" and a la or a las for "at"
- Él come los tacos de María. (present tense of ER verbs and possession)
- Nosotros empezamos a las 2:00. (stem-changers, present tense or ER verbs, and time)
- La fiesta de Miguel empieza a las 4:30. (everything)
Start small and work your way up. Of course, you can also go to the Resources pages as well as sites like Quia and StudySpanish to review.
Pronunciation
Pronunciation is best practiced by listening to native Spanish, speaking, and being corrected by a native speaker or someone that is fluent. Some people can also correct themselves; it helps to record yourself and listen because you can compare it with how it's supposed to sound.
Learning the rules of pronunciation will help your pronunciation and spelling. Spelling makes much more sense in Spanish than in English because there are specific guidelines for how to pronounce each letter or combination of letters. Even better, accent marks (when used) show you where to give emphasis.
Try to listen to Spanish whenever you can, whether it's friends speaking, podcasts, videos, movies, or the radio. Pay attention to how vowels sound and how sentences flow. Just like in English, questions sound different from statements.
If specific letters give you trouble, try saying various combinations of letters using the trouble letters, such as "ba be bi bo bu" for B. Also consider making flashcards for individual letters or combinations of letters. Also learn names of letters; most letter names include the sound the letter makes.
Consistency
This may seem like a lot, but once you make Spanish a part of your daily routine, it will become a part of you. A few minutes a day is all it takes to drastically improve your vocabulary and remember those grammar rules. With so many opportunities to read, listen to, and practice Spanish both alone and with other people, why not start taking Spanish seriously today? Go to the Resources page, make or download flashcards, and dive in.
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