6 Keys to Help You Learn Spanish Online
Six Keys to Help You Learn Spanish Online
This article consists of six tips to help you learn Spanish online. If you follow these six tips, you can be sure that you will learn to speak Spanish online much more accessible.
Key Numero Uno to Learn Spanish Online:
“Stay motivated”
Everyone studying a foreign language will experience a time when they are becoming less and less motivated. You may feel that you are losing your desire to learn Spanish online around the same time you have reached a plateau.
If you feel you are losing your desire to learn to speak Spanish online, try planning a trip to a Spanish-speaking country. Since you want to get the most out of your trip, this should motivate you to study.
Here’s another tip to help you stay motivated and to make you want to learn to speak Spanish online. Find a native speaker that you are romantically interested in. Since you will probably want to impress them with your Spanish, this should motivate you to keep studying and make you want to learn Spanish online. You will also notice that you are making progress quicker by practicing your Spanish with a native speaker, and that should also motivate you to keep studying and practicing.
Spanish.
Of course, this tip only applies to single people or other people without a significant other.
Key Numero Dos to Learn to speak Spanish Online: “Don’t Be Afraid of Making Mistakes.”
Make lots of mistakes. And then, after you have made lots of mistakes, make some more mistakes. And then make some
more mistakes.
Many people are afraid of making mistakes when learning Spanish online. If you want to learn to speak Spanish online, you must accept that making mistakes is part of the learning process. The more mistakes you make, the quicker you learn to speak Spanish online.
If you are not making mistakes, that’s probably an indication that you are not making an effort to learn Spanish online.
Some people will try to learn to speak Spanish online by ONLY listening. They reason that once they learn enough Spanish, they will begin trying to speak Spanish online. But I can I assure you that it doesn’t work that way. It works
in reverse.
That is, once you start trying to speak Spanish and making mistakes, that’s when you will begin to learn to speak Spanish online. Not the other way around.
So go ahead and make mistakes. The mistakes aren’t there to embarrass you. The mistakes are there to help you master
Spanish.
Key Numero Tres to Learn Spanish Online:
“Focus on how to speak Spanish” Don’t focus on “why Spanish is Spoken the way it is.”
Many people have sent me emails with questions such as why is it “me gusta” (I like) instead of “me gusto” or why is it “me toma” instead of “me tomo.”
Of course, I could quickly answer these questions. (And I do) But the objective is not to try to equate everything in Spanish with English or your native language.
Accept the fact that Spanish grammar is different from English grammar. And focus on any language’s objective– to communicate effectively.
And to communicate effectively, you only need to understand and be understood. You don’t need to understand every grammatical facet.
Trying to do so will only hinder your learning and make it challenging to learn Spanish online. Imagine trying to teach a 4 yr old the definition of a direct pronoun vs. an indirect pronoun. We would never attempt such a thing. But the 4yr old child is still fluent in their native language.
So make your goal to understand and be understood. Focus on “how to speak Spanish” Don’t focus on “why Spanish is Spoken the way it is.”
Key Numero Cuatro to Learn to Speak Spanish Online:
“Master the Fundamentals”
Many people spend their time learning a bunch of Spanish vocabulary that they could go a lifetime and never use. That’s because the words are hardly used in normal conversation. If you want to learn to speak Spanish online without wasting time, I advise you to master the fundamentals. When I say the “fundamentals,” I am referring to the basic
vocabulary and basic grammar.
I know adults who have studied Spanish for a few years and know thousands of Spanish words. Although they may be proficient in Spanish, I would not consider them fluent. On the other hand, a three or four-year-old native Spanish-speaking child can speak Spanish fluently. It is not because the child knows thousands of words in Spanish. The child may only know about a thousand words or less in Spanish. But the child has mastered the fundamentals.
Mastery of the fundamentals is what separates the proficient from the fluent.
If you want to learn to speak Spanish online, make it a priority to master the fundamentals.
Key Numero Cinco to Learn Spanish Online:
“Take Advantage of downtime” Finding time to study can be challenging. Many people don’t have the time to sit down and study. But who said that you have to be sitting down? If you are waiting in line at the bank or the doctor’s office, turn on your mp3 player or iPod and listen to a Spanish audio lesson.
If you drive to work daily, that’s an excellent opportunity to practice your favorite audio Spanish course. If you like to jog or exercise on a Stairmaster or treadmill, bring your mp3 player or iPod with you and listen to your favorite audio Spanish
course
Instead of watching the 10′ clock News. Watch “Las Noticias” Instead of watching a movie on HBO, watch a movie on HBO.
Latino.
So to those that say, “I just don’t have the time to learn Spanish online.” My response is that you can make excuses or learn to speak Spanish online. But you can’t do both. The choice is yours. Key Numero Seis to Learn to speak Spanish Online:
“Become an Imitator”
Some Spanish courses do not put much emphasis on pronunciation. I think that is a big mistake.
To be understood, you must try to mimic native speakers.
Have you ever experienced someone who asked you for directions or some other question and couldn’t assist the person because you didn’t speak her language? And then you suddenly realized that the person was speaking English, but her accent was so thick that you thought the person was speaking another language.
The same thing happens to Spanish ears. If you do not develop good pronunciation, you will not understand.
If you say the word “dad” in Spanish and do not stress the appropriate syllable, a native Spanish speaker may think you are talking about “french fries.” To English ears, the difference may be very subtle. But to the Latin American, it’s the difference between “dad” and “potatoes.”
So focus on mimicking native Spanish speakers.
I hope that you enjoyed these 6 Tips to Help You Learn Spanish Online and that they genuinely help you in your journey to learn to speak Spanish online.
Patrick Jackson