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Learning any foreign language be it Spanish, French, Russia or even Chinese can be a daunting task. The experience can however also be a challenging and exhilarating experience, depending on how you set about it.

In approaching any subject and that includes learning a language, if you possess the enthusiasm, passion and determination for your subject you are half way there in achieving your goal in learning Spanish

The aim of this blog is to provide the user with articles and information that will provide the user with advice and encouragement to enable them to take that first step along the road in learning Spanish.

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It is true that if we compare ourselves with foreigners from other countries living in Spain, the British appear to be the least successful at learning Spanish. For example, most of the Scandinavians, under the age of sixty can converse quite comfortably in Spanish at the fish counter in the supermarket, not to mention their near native command in the English language.

I find it bizarre how some of the most academically, intelligent British people, I know, simply cannot get beyond the concept of masculine and feminine words, let alone hold a simple conversation in Spanish. When I look around the urbanisation that I currently live on, the Eastern European cleaning staff have a level of Spanish that would put the average Brit, that’s lived here for a decade to shame.

So what exactly is wrong with the British, why can’t we learn other languages? Is it a question of laziness and complacency that “everyone speaks English anyway”? Could it be that we are stuck in a superior, coloniser mindset that the ‘other’ should learn our language for their own good? My own belief, based on what I have seen from living in the Costa del Sol, is that most British expats are desperate to be able to communicate in Spanish, or rather, Castilian. However, a number of factors hold us back.

Firstly, our naturally inhibitive culture prevents us from letting ourselves go. Therefore, we freeze whenever we have to communicate in a language other than our own. We hate to make a fool of ourselves by sounding silly in a foreign language so we stick to speaking in English, as it is the only language in which we can be taken seriously. Although, I previously disagreed that we still had a coloniser mentality, I do wonder if our reluctance to speak in another language apart from our mother tongue is our way of avoiding putting ourselves in the ‘underdog’ position. Therefore, we persist to speak in English, expecting to be understood by at least someone, in order to maintain an even power level.

When talking to friends about their experiences of learning Spanish, on courses here in Spain, many report that they have been heavily grammar orientated. It is often the case that beginners are presented with pages of verb tables and do very little conversation practise in the classroom. Such teaching methods do nothing to build the confidence of reluctant speakers and can actually do them more harm as they often become obsessed with grammatical correctness.

The consciousness of ‘getting it right’ can be very restrictive when trying to communicate spontaneously as is needed in everyday life situations. British people often fail to realise just what is required when learning Spanish. Many expect to be fluent after a few lessons. If only it were that easy, I would be fluent in about ten different languages by now.

Learning a language is never a fast project; in fact, it is a project that can never be completed. If you compare your English vocabulary today with ten years ago, you will realise that we are constantly working on our mother tongue never mind learning a second one. You have to accept that the learning pace is sometimes fast especially at the very beginning, but you often reach a plateau where you don’t feel like you are progressing for months.

It is worth putting in some effort and finding some learning techniques that suit your learning style. Although, you can get through life without speaking Spanish on the Costa del Sol, life can get pretty frustrating at times and you will miss out, especially if you intend to stay.

It takes time to learn a language, requires commitment and regular input. Investing small, regular bursts of time is the most effective way of doing it. As a learner of languages, here are my top tips for learning whilst in the UK.

1) Enrol on an evening class. An obvious one maybe, but as Spanish is such a popular second language, there is bound to be a class in your area that fits into the busiest of schedules.

2) If you really can’t make it to a class i.e. lack of childcare etc then once the kids are in bed log onto http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/, which is a great place to start and prepare yourself for your next trip to Spain.

3) Get Spanish television via satellite or digital and put on the subtitles to associate the sounds with the words.

4) Next time you are visiting Spain buy a few DVDs. You can find all the new releases, they’re cheaper than in the UK and you can select either Spanish language or English. Perhaps watch the English first to get the story line and then the Spanish for the language input. If you’ve got young children perhaps get them a couple of DVD’s. The language used for under 5’s is pitched at an ideal level for adult beginners. Look out for ‘Barrio Sesamo’ (Sesame Street) and ‘Los Lunnis’ some Muppet type aliens, really popular with young Spanish children. Try the big supermarkets e.g. Carrefour, El Corte Ingles.

5) Listen to Spanish radio via the Internet to accustom your ears to the sound of the language.

6) Perhaps take in a Spanish student for a couple of weeks. Local schools and colleges often need local families to lend a room for a short period of time. A great opportunity to work on conversational Spanish.

7) Need an extra pair of hands around the house, help with kids, how about a Spanish au pair? A great way to introduce your children to the Spanish language.

Next time you visit Spain buy a couple of reading books for toddlers or pre-schoolers to learn the basics e.g. colours, parts of the body etc. Try El Corte Ingles, the big supermarkets, Imaginarium (Early Learning Centre equivalent toy shop)

9) Buy CDs by Spanish artists. Not only will you become familiar with the Spanish music scene, the rhyme and rhythm in songs can be an effective way of picking up vocabulary.

10) Hire a private tutor an hour or two per week. The lessons will be catered to your needs and it is more flexible than attending a class.

11) Ask your boss to send you for some Spanish language training.

12) Buy a course book and set aside ten minutes a day to work through it.

13) Be realistic and don’t expect it to happen over night. It takes a while before it all starts to sink in.

About the Author

Susan Pedalino is Masters degree qualified in Intercultural Communication and teaching English as a foreign language. Having moved to Spain to set up a business and buy property, she has gained invaluable experience in buying off plan property in Spain. Susan regularly writes for Eye on Spain (www.eyeonspain.com).

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¡LEER ES PODER!
¡Learning Spanish!

How can you best learn Spanish? It depends on your particular approach to learning. Take a look at the following approaches to learning Spanish. But if you already know where you are, you can skip the following reflections and go back to see what is available for your level ( beginning, intermediate, or advanced ) in Spanish, to sort and search for your specific needs, as well as to read reviews and summaries of the books that strike your interest.

DIFFERENT STYLES

Non-Virgins: Those who studied another language should use the skills they acquired with that language. They know what a conjugation is. They know that verbs are different from nouns. Their previous study gives them some mental hooks to help with their Spanish. They should not throw away their advantage by working on Spanish in a completely conversational manner. They should try to get an overview of some commonplaces in the language. They should get an “old fashioned” grammar and lean heavily on the tables to organize their thought. This type of learner should “invent” Spanish on the basis of what they know of the other language. They will remember a little of the structure of the other language. For example, what is the relation between adverbs and adjectives in Spanish? What is the most common way to express what happened yesterday (past tense)? If the other language is a Western language, they should observe the possible similarities. If the other language is non-Western, the very differences can be their starting point to learn the counterparts in Spanish. In short, they should study “the wrong way”. This is not for everyone. The learner should know his or herself.

Brains: These folks will operate much like the Non-Virgins. They will progress better by concentrating on the little points that intrigue them such as the difference in usage between the prepositions “por” and “para” and the verbs “ser” and “estar”. To master one or two of these elements so characteristic of Spanish will help the learn build on their conquests to go on to master other things. This analytical approach will be of great utility to the persons with the cerebral learning style.

Motor Mouths: The persons who are not afraid to try out their Spanish will progress very rapidly. These folks probably have a little genetic edge over the rest of us. However, we all should try to put together the pieces as we learn them. If there is no opportunity to talk with someone else, then we can tape our attempts. There are two parts to this early talking practice: confidence and pronunciation. The most important thing is to gain confidence or to be thick-skinned enough to speak your piece, knowing that the exercise will pay dividends. However, we should not put off working on our pronunciation until it is too late and we have given up on acquiring a valid accent. There are too many people who after living years in a Spanish speaking country are perfect in their grammar but who have a typical or even stereotypical English accent. There is no need for that. Spanish is perfectly regular in its phonetics. Motor mouths should also work on their accent!

People People: Anyone who likes being with people and who has a need to communicate will progress quickly in learning a language. Many outgoing, friendly people learn language in the “motor mouth” mode. However, other people without the gifts of the motor mouths can gain valuable exposure to the language by just following their social instincts. These folks, however, should not overlook the need to speak correctly. Although they are not interested in traditional grammar in the same way the “brains” are, they must work at speaking correctly. We all know people who learned English years ago, but still say things like, “I am interested to go with you”. You don’t want to spend your life in Spanish with a similar easily corrected error. Learn it right as soon as you can. The people people have to stay curious about the language.

Learn-while-doing People: I was told once that the only way to learn French was to sleep with a French woman. The idea behind this is that we learn the expressions and words for the activities we are interested in. People who learn like this try to get their Spanish-speaking friends to accompany them as they cook or fix their car. They find that they learn better when their whole body is involved in learning the new words and phrases. For example, the person who learns the word “serrucho” while sawing a board will remember it better than the person (see the “word collector”) who just learns the vocabulary from a list.

Word Collectors: This person may be great at crossword puzzles (Crucigramas) in Spanish but rarely gets to speak it. If you find yourself learning words and not getting any further, break out of it! We once had a houseguest, a young man from Spain who came to learn English. There were times when our family would be talking Spanish, and he would echo all the Spanish words with their English equivalents. He had a great vocabulary but never got around to talking English. This kind of learner should alway make sure that they make up sentences to practice using the new words they learn. They can combine their ability with vocabulary with the “divide and conquer” tactic. They should not only invent sentences to use the new words; they should run through diferent grammatical constructions as the setting for their vocabulary.

Divide and Conquer People: Every learner of a foreign language has to learn to incorporate the learning style of dividing and conquering into their own style. If they are “brains” they should concentrate on one grammatical turn of phrase, such as conditions contrary to fact, (If my grandfather hadn’t died, he’d be alive today!) until they can handle it.
The people people should repeat in the same conversation the new expression that they just heard. The same goes for all the others. The only way to learn a language is by following the “swiss cheese” method, nibble away at the things you don’t know, and master them until they are all gone.

Lost Latinos: This person should try to remember the nursery rhymes that they might have learned in Spanish. They should run over the names of their cousins and uncles. All of this will loosen up their rusty language skills. They should listen to how others speak “spanglish” and try to figure out the proper way to say things. They should make a game of trying to spot the influence of English in the Spanish they hear at home or in the barrio. This detective work will make them more aware of correcting whatever bad habits they have picked up. However, don’t think that these persons have all the advantages. The person learning from scratch will probably spell Spanish words better than those who know a little Spanish. I’m not sure why.

What works for EVERYONE… There are two activities that will help everyone, no matter what their learning style, move forward rapidly: They are: 1. Passive Listening, and 2. Pattern Response Drills.

1. Passive Listening. Everyone should keep the Spanish radio on as much as possible. Keep the radio or TV on while you doing other things. It has to be the sea of sound that you swim in while you are beginning your study of Spanish. You don’t have to concentrate on it; you are not listening to try to understand. After a while you won’t hear it but it will be affecting you. Little by little you will begin to anticipate the rhythm of the language, even before you understand everything. You will also begin to recognize certain words. You will begin to hear “beyond” the differences in pronunciation of different people and recognize the underlying word. Once you clearly hear a word or phrase, you can look it up and progressively expand your vocabulary.

2. Pattern Response Drills. You have to run through all the permutations of the new expressions that you learn. For example, suppose you just learned to say. “Pedro tiene cuatro años” rather than translating from the English incorrectly, “Pedro es cuatro”. Now to make this new element of the language stick with you, you should go on substituting different ages and the names of different people. You have to be able to say comfortably, “María tiene cuatro años.” “Juan tiene ocho años.” “Yo tengo treinta años.” “¿Cuántos años tienes tú?” “Nosotros tenemos cuarenta años.” This type of drill is necessary for all the different learning styles.

Do you want to return to look at beginning ; intermediate , or advanced books? Or you can check out other Books ON Spanish at: http://www.bookslibros.com/spanishbooks.php to help you out.

Or do you want to see our books IN Spanish? You will find books on health, the family, self help, literature, etc. and the possibility to search for any other topic. Check out http://www.bookslibros.com/LibrosEnEspanol.php

Kids Can Learn Spanish! Take a look at: http://www.bookslibros.com/SpanishForNinos.htm

About the Author:

Frank Gerace Ph.D has lived and worked in Latin America on Educational and Communication Projects. He currently teaches English in New York City at La Guardia College/CUNY. He invites learners of Spanish of all levels and styles to visit him at: http://www.bookslibros.com/spanishbooks.php

Read more articles by: Frank Gerace

This article is distributed by: www.iSnare.com

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