The first time I stepped off the plane in Spain, I was hitting a mini-crisis on my way to my study abroad program in Sevilla. I was horribly lost on a layover at the Madrid airport, afraid of being so far away from home for months on end, and worried about making my flight on time. Little did I know, a long battle with the Spanish language was about to begin.
The good news: I can speak fluent Spanish today. The bad news: it was a tough process. That’s why I’ve written up some of my tips for learning Spanish quickly.
First, let me share where I was coming from when I set off for my very, very rocky Spanish learning adventure.
Back at the airport in Madrid a few years ago, I tried asking the help desk staff for assistance. The guy didn’t speak English. I was forced to stammer out a few sentences of what was had stuck from my high school Spanish classes (where, it should be noted, we spent many days watching Finding Nemo in English with Spanish subtitles in the hope we would read them. We did not).
The airport employee frowned and stared blankly back at me. I tried again. Nothing. Next, he spat out a stream of directions so quickly I wasn’t sure he was even speaking Spanish. It became clear I wasn’t going to comprehend a word he said, so I pretended I understood and walked off with my stomach churning and palms sweaty. Eventually, about an hour later, I managed to make it to my gate.
By the time I finally boarded my flight, I felt a little more relaxed for the first time in hours. But when my plane pushed back from the gate, the security announcements went on in rapid-fire Spanish and my heart sank again. Once more, I could not understand a single word said in Spanish.
That’s when panic set in. My college had only sent one person to Sevilla – me. How on earth was I going to survive on my own in a foreign country where I obviously didn’t speak the language?
When a Spanish teenager leaned over, looked at my snack tray, and asked – in English – if he could have the mini chocolate I had been saving as a treat for when I calmed down, I was so panicked at the thought of having to even potentially communicate in Spanish I just said ‘yes’ (and instantly regretted giving away the one highlight of my flight). I was on the verge of tears the whole way there.
Hours later, with my first encounter with my host family, the only thing I understood them saying was “You don’t speak much Spanish, do you?” I flushed with embarrassment in the elevator and felt my eyes tearing up for the umpteenth time that day.
During my time in Sevilla, there were a whole lot more tears to come, lots of them language-related.
But by Christmas time just a few months later, when I packed my bulging suitcases for my trip back home to California, I could speak reasonably fluent Spanish.
How did I go from not being able to say a single coherent sentence to being able to have a conversation with pretty much anyone in four months? That’s what I’m going to let you know. And no, I’m not one of those people who is naturally good at languages. Spanish was hard for me, and some days it still is!
Source: GlobalCool
A word of warning: you do NOT “just pick it up”, no matter what study abroad programs will tell you. It is hard work, it’s frustrating work, and the beginning stages are not fun at all (in my experience).
Having said that, you can definitely make learning Spanish easier on yourself. And maybe, just maybe, you can have a little fun. 🙂
So, in my Spanish “hacks” series, I’ll share the things that helped me figure out the language and be able to use it – fast.
This first post is all about getting the basics down for learning Spanish quickly. A hint: most of it is about changing your mindset and having the right attitude, rather than re-inventing the wheel when it comes to learning.
Don’t set your standards to “perfect Spanish”.
Let me be clear what I meant by “reasonably fluent” a little while before. I could talk to most people and have a nice conversation. Speaking about everyday stuff wasn’t something I had to really think about anymore at a certain point (this was probably about 2.5 – 3 months in). It was no longer a struggle to form a sentence.
Was my grammar correct? No, I made loads of mistakes. But did people understand me? Definitely. I could absolutely use the language as a communication tool at real conversation speed. What I mean by “fluent” is ease of expression and communication, rather than that people mistook me for a native speaker, or that my grammar was textbook perfect.
My first tip is to move the language goalposts you’ve set. Instead of aiming for grammatically perfect sentences, focus on communicating, even you end up having months of clumsy attempts.
Yup, this came up when I Google Imaged “move the goalposts”. I guess people were accusing badgers of resulting in moved goalposts? (Source: Independent)
Mistakes are unavoidable, so don’t use that as an excuse not to practice.
It’s really uncomfortable to know you’re making lots of mistakes and doing badly at something. Unfortunately, when you’re a beginner at a foreign language, that’s just going to happen. It’s totally unavoidable. You are going to make mistakes, and you are going to make lots of them.
You’ll feel like the Jon Snow of Spain and spend lots of time sulking about knowing nothing (Source: Mashable).
There are two common ways language learners I’ve met tend to deal with this.
Method 1: trying to perfect the grammar before they leave the house. On my study abroad program in Barcelona, I met a few people who were dead set on getting their grammar 100% perfect at home before they even attempted speaking in public.
The result? They never actually practiced, even at a coffee shop where they knew perfectly well how to order what they wanted. And that meant they never actually improved their language skills.
Method 2: sinking into embarrassment. The other way is that they become really embarrassed and totally clam up. That’s what I did. I had so many times where I thought I’d never learn Spanish, my brain wasn’t meant for it, and that I should just give up.
While it’s true that some people have an easier time learning languages than others, a large chunk of language acquisition comes down to practice. You’ve got to put in the hours, plain and simple. (Hint: sometimes that’s easier after a beer or two).
If you are too set on avoiding mistakes, whether it’s out of perfectionism or embarrassment, you’ll miss out on tons of great practice opportunities. No matter how good your Spanish may be as far as textbook exercises go, if you don’t practice speaking to people, it will be very, very limited as a communication tool.
By the way, I still make mistakes, although they’ve moved on from mixing up “cuchara” (spoon) and “cuchillo” (knife; the trick is that the “ll” in “cuchillo” looks like two little knives).
Now, my mistakes are more like thinking the new word I learned meant “blessed”, but it actually means “endowed”. I learned that when I used it in reference to a male friend. Yes, the connotations are the same as in English; yes, I made the mistake in the middle of a big group of people who thought it was hilarious.
(But I honestly was just talking about his nice hair!).
And hey, at least my mistakes aren’t usually as publicly embarrassing as this one by Starbucks (Source: Huffington Post)
Stop speaking English.
The reason all those study abroad programs try to sell you a “language immersion” is because it really is the best way to learn a foreign language. Even now, my Spanish still suffers a bit after a few weeks away in California!
So how can you get a real language immersion experience?
Go somewhere they don’t speak English…
OR
Be very, very demanding with yourself.
I got lucky in a sense; in Sevilla, barely anyone I met spoke English. Everything was all Spanish, all the time. That’s how I learned so much so quickly (it is absolutely no credit to an innate capacity for languages; I found the whole process frustrating and slow. I am not a language person). It was easy to have immersion experience in an environment that forces you to speak a foreign language, but sometimes you have to create your own immersion situation.
When I did a follow-up study abroad program in Barcelona, I spoke enough Spanish to be able to seek out opportunities where few people spoke English (I’m talking high intermediate level here). I used every chance I had to limit my English spoken and to force myself to speak Spanish.
Similarly, I met a Londoner at a party who moved to Barcelona to learn Spanish. She insisted on speaking Spanish to everyone there, even with me, though it would obviously be easier for us to communicate in English. Stuff like this does pay off!
Use the “circling in” method
Another girl I know who briefly lived in Barcelona got frustrated all the time because her vocabulary wasn’t large enough to say all the things she wanted to say.
Newsflash: that still happens to me quite regularly.
One skill that’s very helpful is figuring out multiple ways to explain the word you’re looking for until you circle in on what you want to say.
Let’s say you don’t know the word for “bookcase”. Well, how else can you describe it? Maybe “that brown thing in the corner with the shelves.” “The tall box for books.” “The place where you put books.” “The thing for books in your office.” Or even just “The thing for books.”
Unless you are going for a really abstract concept, there are usually a lot of easy ways to employ the vocabulary you do know to make people understand what you’re talking about.
This also helps you stay in a self-imposed language immersion situation. Don’t give up and use the English word; try your best to explain the target word in Spanish, no matter how limited your vocabulary.
YOU ARE THE JAWS OF LANGUAGE LEARNING (you know, circling in on your prey…) Source: FreeEnterprise
Skip the unnecessary stuff at first.
If you’re hoping to say everything perfectly, this strategy feels uncomfortable. However, as there’s no avoiding making mistakes, get comfortable with feeling stupid for a while.
Again, this is a focus on communication over grammatical correctness. At some point, of course, you probably will want to correct your grammar, but I’ll talk about that in a later section.
When you’re starting out, the big thing is getting a grip on enough vocabulary and verb tenses to string together a sentence so someone can understand you. That’s it. Just think about what you need to get your basic point across.
In my case, I decided it was most useful to communicate whether I was talking about the past, present, or future.
Spanish has a whole lot of verb tenses to convey all that information, with tons of subtleties. But I wasn’t interested in subtleties; I was more concerned about discussing things I did over the weekend and making it clear I was talking about last weekend, not the coming one.
So I picked the present tense, one form of the past tense, and one form of the future tense to work on. Actually, one form of the future tense is not even a new verb – you just say “I am going to…” and it takes care of all your conjugation problems.
That left me with really only one new verb tense to worry about at first – the simple past (ex. I went to the supermarket).
Which was a big relief. You can’t do it all at once, so pick your battles. Once you’ve gotten OK at one (remember, you’ll never get it 100% perfect), move on to the next.
(Above: a visual representation of my battle with the subjunctive).
And on that note, I can’t possibly cover all of my mini tips for learning Spanish quickly in just one post. 🙂 I mean, I could, but it will be about 40,000 words long. So I’ll cut things off here for now, but I’ve got a series of specific tips for vocabulary, improving and correcting your Spanish, and making learning Spanish fun.
If you’ve ever learned a foreign language, what are your tips or advice for beginners?
Besos!
-Jess
…You know nothing Jon Snow–especially not Spanish (sorry, I had to do that)…
I agree with all of this–becoming fluent in a foreign language takes time, and even then, you’re never 100% accurate with it…The big thing is to just. go. for. it!!…As you said–if you don’t try, you’ll never learn!!…
Yah, I totally felt like the world was constantly reinforcing how dumb I was at first in Spain – just like Jon Snow! 😀
And it’s true that you do just have to let go and go for it. It’s embarrassing and difficult at first, but you do get through that stage (as long as you practice a LOT).
I thought I was going to learn a lot more Spanish than I actually did in two years here (in my defense, being a former British colony, Roatan is easy to get around in English since it’s the first language of the islanders!) But I’ve progressed to being able to communicate with the taxi drivers and my cleaning lady, both who are very forgiving of my terrible Spanish. I just learned the phrase for, “I’m sorry, my Spanish is very bad but I will try” and that gets me farther than pretty much anything else – people immediately becoming more accommodating and slow their speech for me. I also love the ‘yo voy a ir’ trick too for future tense 🙂
I would have had the same experience had I not been forced to speak Spanish in Sevilla, so I totally get it! It’s really hard to speak it at a beginner level – I always felt so stupid and embarrassed. Good for you for finding someone you feel comfortable speaking with! 🙂 Most people are happy to help you learn (I only know one person who refuses to speak to Spanish learners in Spanish).
And yes, ‘voy a ir’ is so handy! You don’t have to learn anything new, but it opens up a whole new tense.
I definitely used, and still do use, the “circling in” method. It helped get me through studying abroad in Granada, and I know I’ll be using it when I move to Logroño this September. My Spanish has definitely gotten rusty since studying abroad 4 years ago. (I can’t believe it was that long ago!) All your tips will really help me as I head back to Spain. Thanks, Jessica!
I still use it too! It’s really helpful at all levels of language learning. It’s definitely a good skill to pick up early on, so that way you don’t just fall back on your English.
What worked well for me was checking out children’s books that I grew up on, but this time in Spanish. I already knew the plot, so didn’t have to look up every word. I eventually graduated to all the Harry Potter books, where the Spanish words for Magic Wand and Triwizard Tournament proved highly useful in Granada and Bilbao 🙂
Haha part of my advice for the next section is to avoid children’s books for that reason! 😀 They made me feel so dumb, and Harry Potter actually has a ton of difficult vocabulary. But hey, if they work for you, then go for it!
Reading stuff you already know the plot of is helpful (same goes for movies).
Reading this felt like you were writing the biography of my own study abroad to Seville. Seriously everything from having to ask someone for help at the airport to not understanding my host family happened to me as well. Though I didn’t have anyone ask if they could eat my snack on the plane.. I am so easily embarrassed and at the time only had taken one year of Spanish, so I definitely was struggling to keep up, and was to embarrassed to even try and talk because I didn’t want to make a fool of myself. One time I had a waiter call me out on it, and told me I didn’t need to be so scared. I’m still not fluent but by the time I went home my Spanish was so much better.
Thanks for the tips!
Oh wow, I’m sorry that you had a similar frustrating experience. Weird how it was in Sevilla too, isn’t it? Although I will say it’s nice in a way that somebody else went through the same thing – not that you had to put up with it, but to know that it wasn’t just me! After my program, everyone just seemed to talk about how wonderful and amazing everything was, so I struggled with NOT having enjoyed it.
I’m glad you improved your Spanish by the time you went home! Although I think if a waiter had told me I didn’t have to be scared, I might actually have been even more embarrassed haha. Still, most people are quite happy and encouraging if you try to speak their language.
you are right about having conversations and listening, that is better than, say, to focuse on textbooks or grammar.
by the way, i need to tell you, and perhaps you already know it, that if you only use or you are focused on the simple past as in “fui al supermercado” ( i went to the supermarker) then you will look South American or Mexican because such a thing is a very well known mark of theirs…..in Spain we do use the perfect tense “he ido al supermercado” (i have been to the supermarket).
in Spain nobody says “fuiste al centro medico esta mañana?” (did you go to the medical centre this morning?) we say “has ido al centro medico esta mañana?” (have you been to the medical centre this morning?)
we use the simple past when it comes to something really past as in “hiciste la Mili en 1995?” (did you do the military service in 1995?)
Yep, I figured that one out…but later on, after I passed the beginner stage. 🙂 At first, the simple past at least gets your point across – the event happened in the past. It may not always be correct, but it works for communicating something simple.
When I was in Sevilla, I was such a beginner that I couldn’t even recognize all the basic forms of the verb tenses. (Like, I would read ‘estuvieron’ and not recognize that it was a form of ‘estar’. It looked like a totally new word to me). So, I started with the simplest stuff and later added in another past tense. Then I just started listening for when that “new” past tense was used and correcting it bit by bit. It seems much easier to do it that way than trying to learn everything at once.
At first I sounded quite strange and of course made lots of mistakes, but at least people usually understood what I was trying to say. Luckily, the Spanish perfect tenses aren’t too different from the English ones…most of the time. 🙂
Loved your post and I identified myself a lot! only my situation was the opposite: being a native spanish speaker and having to learn English in Britain. Anyway, you´re correct, everything improves and gets better with practice and time. When I look back to those times when I thought I was not going to make it, I laugh, but I pushed and pushed, practicing everywhere, not only speaking but also reading everything in English, even blogs, you see me doing it right now :D…
I only stayed in the UK for one year and I knew that it was not going to be enough if I really wanted to be fluent in the language so back at home I kept practicing wherever I coud…. and eventually you improve a lot… right now I work as a Technical Writer for a software development company and the “writing” is well in English, so I guess I must have a good level since I managed to get the job 😀
Wow, you’re not a native English speaker?? I honestly thought you were! You should be the one writing language learning tips, not me! 😀
It’s true that you have to keep practicing a LOT if you want to be fluent in a language. I really need to start reading more in Spanish.
I fully understand tu frustración. Too bad you were feeling triste y acongojada. The good news is that Spain is a very friendly country. Spanglish works too. How good is your Catalán now? During my last visit to Barcelona, I had to stop speaking Castellano. I was not getting a very warm reception when speaking it and got further along speaking English. It is that weird thing they have against España. Whenever people in Catalunya learned that I was coming from the USA, they would immediately switch to English while I kept replying in Spanish. Somehow I have a feeling that they did not like that because I received many strange looks.
Loved this! I especially like how you discuss getting around vocabulary holes – I feel like once you’re at the point where you can express almost everything you want to, even if you don’t know a specific word, you’re speaking fluently! I’m glad I’m not the only one still making mistakes – even though I’ve lived in France for two years and I speak fluently, I still get frustrated because I don’t speak like French people do (that’s a losing battle, am I right?!) Also, I loved the cat video. I had to watch it twice.
If you speak another Romance language, you will filter it through that first before translating into Spanish in your head (or at least that’s what I did and I can’t believe I’m admitting this too). My process was English –> French –> Spanish. More often than not, my totally made up sentence actually made sense and I was always surprised when my often asked “Tiene sentido esta frase?” was met with nods. It was rather exhausting and also not helpful for the subjunctive because French and Spanish do have slightly different rules which is super annoying! It’s even worse in French.
Haha that does sound confusing! But I guess if I learned another Romance language, I would probably filter it though Spanish first.
The Catalan rules for the subjunctive are also slightly different, I’ve been told. It’s already so confusing!
Great post! I think these tips can be applied to pretty much to learning any language. When I was living in Budapest, I got by with survival Hungarian. Most of my sentences probably didn’t make sense, but most people understood enough of what I was saying. I was so shy about it at first, but the more I used my crappy skills the less embarrassed I got about it. The circling in method really works! I’ve seen my friends learning English use it and my Hungarian teacher (who doesn’t speak English) used that to teach me new vocabulary in Hungarian.
Thanks, Adelina! I think the tips are probably fairly universal, but I’ve only seriously attempted Spanish. 🙂 As long as people can understand you, you’re probably doing a decent job at a foreign language.
My husband and I are using Rosetta Stone just to get a running start for a visit to Costa Rica in November (for at least three months). I think that the grammar part is so challenging while using this intuitive learning program. I hope to go to an immersion school in Central America for several weeks, once I have some basics down.
I notice that tv shows in Spanish leave me with my mouth hanging open. They talk so fast I can’t even tell it is Spanish!
I haven’t used the Rosetta Stone program, but I’ve heard good things. At the beginning of learning Spanish, everything is so, so hard! I couldn’t understand T.V. either at first. It takes a long time and lots of work, but you can get there.
Immersion really is the fastest way to learn. Good luck learning in Costa Rica!
Learning a second language can be very difficult. I speak Spanish and have been trying for years to get my husband to learn. He says he’s too old which I don’t believe. I agree with your statement that the only way you will really learn to speak the language is when you’re forced to speak it.
I don’t think he’s too old! It just takes a lot of practice, and in many cases being forced to speak it. I know I would have never learned if I hadn’t been forced because it’s so uncomfortable to feel stupid in public when you’re a beginner.
Excellent tips! I can relate so well. When I moved to Costa Rica I knew just a handful of words and I had never taken a class before, never had proper teaching. It was awful at first not understanding! I found something that worked for me to learn and it’s just a matter of practice practice practice. You can stare at the word on the computer screen all day but it will be of no use to you if you don’t use it in real life. It’s really hard work in the beginning and it seems impossible but if you take it slow and really work on it, it’s completely possible to learn. The one thing I’m terrible at in Spanish and need to work on more is my grammar since it’s backwards from English.
Totally true! You have to use it in real life, or you’ll never really be able to use it to communicate – which is what languages are all about.
I can totally relate to this post. When left Austria for NYC, I didn’t speak English very well either, but I was very dedicated and definitely used some of your tips. The most important one on this list I think is that you have to stop hanging out with people that speak your native language. I mean in the end did you really go all the way to (enter destination here) just so you can hang out with the same people that you left back home?
One thing that still fascinates me are human translators and how fast they can translate sentences. I speak English and German fluently but I have a really hard time to translate from one language to the other because I think in English when I am in America and think in German when I am back home. I never translate anything.
Exactly – it always amazes me when people go live in another country and just want to hang out with other expats from their home country. You can get that experience back at home!
And yeah, I wish I was one of those human translators. They are incredible!
Thanks for this. I tend to get lazy knowing that English is spoken everywhere – It makes me mad because I wasn’t always this way. Only since relocating to Europe a decade ago. I’m thinking about another relocation, to Latin America this time, so the time to lazy will be coming to end. Please wish me luck. 🙂
Good luck, Bob! 😀 The beginning stages really are all about changing your mindset, so if you can conquer that, it’s way easier (not easy, but easier).
I’m new to your blog and still reading this article, hopefully it will give me a few pointers in learning the Spanish language. Just want to say that I found your mini chocolate story super adorable and funny 😉 Keep up the good work!
Oh, thanks very much Angela! 🙂 Good luck in your Spanish learning adventure – it’s definitely worth it in the end!
I love SO much about this! I booked a one-way to Barcelona in July and this was my biggest fear! Not picking up the language fast enough! This was the exact affirmation I needed! Now, 2 months later I feel so much more confident in my vocabulary and grammar. I live with a Catalan family, so I’m actually learning both languages, which can be overwhelming at times, but I love the challenge! Language exchanges, Duolingo and Rosetta Stone (a gift) have all been crucial in my learning. And then of course having a host family who speak very good English but talk in Castellano and Catalan to help me whenever they can is great!! Thanks for this!
Yes, host families can definitely help too – they help keep you immersed in the language. It’s always tough to learn a language, but if you stick to it and have the right attitude you can pick up a LOT pretty fast. Good luck with learning both!
Phenomenal article, great tips and a wonderful account of the experience of first learning to navigate a culture in a foreign language! Me encanta, un abrazo,
The International Mennis
Thanks very much! 😀
Hi Jessica,
I’ve been researching online for a language program in Spain for my daughter and I came across your blog. She’s a 20 years old college student in California. She took 2 years of French, but I’d like to proposed a Spanish program abroad for the summer. Could you recommend some great schools for someone her age and a very beginner level? Any other suggestions/advices will be great too.
Thanks very much!
Hi Mia! Sorry for the slow response. I did a program with IES Abroad that I had a good time on. I’ve also heard that Arcadia does some good programs as well. They’re institutions rather than schools, but there are lots of them that run programs. It’s easy to find one that meets what you’re looking for.
This site has lists of different programs and reviews too: http://www.studyabroad.com/
I love this!! So true everything you are saying! I was in Buenos Aires for three months learning spanish. I loved go shopping or at cafes, because then I was forced to speak spanish. In the end of my spanish course, I got an E for grammar, but at the same time they did say: You can communicate, that´s more important than grammar in the real life. Yes, I do not speak perfect, I maybe understand 60% or more if Lucky, I have so much fun with it 🙂 When traveling, people love that you actually can have silly conversation about the simplest things 🙂
Thanks Pauline! I had a really similar thing – not great marks for grammar, but I could absolutely communicate. That’s the whole point of languages anyway, right? 🙂
If you struggle to fit everything into one day, and you find reading Spanish takes you too long, try to set a simple daily “minimum quota” of reading: A chapter every evening before bed – for example.