Thinking about moving to a Spanish speaking country, to learn the lingo and teach English?

Read about my mistakes, so as not to repeat them! :)


Need to get the lowdown on Spanish language practise events in Madrid?

Step this way...

Teaching English to live, living to speak Spanish




GOLDEN RULES TO MAKE BEGINNER´S SPANISH EASIER

  • DO NOT write English in your Spanish notes (or any other language for that matter)


Remember that your brain is really lazy and that you shouldn´t have vocab that is like this
"gato=cat"

because you´ll be making life more difficult for yourself that way. You need the Spanish word, and then a picture, and for things you can´t draw pics for, have a sentence with the context e.g.

   

wrist
muñeca
Doll

                                                                       
Me llamo Sarah. Tengo 22 años. Soy de Gales en Reino Unido. Me encanta españa porque...

Contrarios:
grande ≠ pequeño
claro ≠ oscuro
viejo ≠ joven

  • Be disciplined about studying

Listen to music and watch TV in Spanish. Even when you´re watching things in English, put on the Spanish subtitles if you can. It all adds up.

  • Read, read, read.

 Being able to read is the basis of every other skill in a language. Try reading a portion of a children´s book every day. Don´t think that because you can "only read" a language that you're not getting anywhere. You are building a foundation.

  • Make nerd cards

Learning grammar (like the conjugations of the verbs) is dull, so make nerd cards that say something like PRESENT TENSE -AR -IR -ER and then on the other side have the answers. Sellotape these to the bathroom wall so you can test yourself while brushing your teeth. Rinse and repeat.

  • Leave your pride at the airport

 You're going to make a complete arse out of yourself many many times before you can hold the most basic of conversations. FACT.

  • Practise with other learners

It´s going to be a long time before you can understand the live speech of native speakers, but if you speak to someone else who's also learning Spanish but who is a level or two above you in the process, then you will be able to understand them and interact with them. Also, if their first language is English, their Spanish vocabulary will most likely be made up of words and phrases that you will find easier to remember.

1. Watch

RTVE Kids

RTVE is the Spanish public broadcasting site. Start off with watching "Dora the Explorer", then progress to "Spongebob". If you´re like me, and you really enjoy watching documentaries/comedy, then do yourself a favour and forget it! If you want to be able to talk to other people, then you need to almost be able to spy on them...For learning conversational Spanish, watching soap operas can be really helpful, if less than intellectually stimulating.

Level 1Dora the Explorer                           
Level 2 Spongebod Squarepants                 
Level 3 The Simpsons dubbed into Spanish, with subtitles (in Spanish), or any other show you know well (like FRIENDS or CHEERS)
Level 4 films you know in English, dubbed into Spanish

When you watch a film in English, put Spanish subs on, and try to read them at the same time. Every little bit of practice helps!

2. Listen

Here are some bands and artists from Spain and elsewhere:

Muchachito Bombo Infierno
Nat King Cole (Spanish)
Vetusta Morla
Julietta Venegas
Pereza
Bebe
Carla Morrison
Cldscp

Audio:
A great set of free podcasts for the beginner, focussing on the language you´ll need for everyday situations.


Michel Thomas (annoying voice, but interesting method--uses cognates to help English speakers learn grammar more rapidly, in a more natural way)

A great podcast that showcases a wide range of music from Spain and Latin America.


3. Read

Usborne "First Thousand Words in Spanish" is a good place to start, although if you are really serious then you should pick up an adult picture dictionary. I photocopied pages and put them in appropriate areas, ie clothes and body parts were on my wardrobe door, food was in the kitchen...It just reminds you to study a bit every now and again while you're waiting for the kettle to boil.

The best grammar book I´ve come across is "Acción Grammatica". It's the standard higher education text book for Spanish and it explains things so clearly that even I could understand! I found the best way to study was to read a chapter, make notes, and then copy the examples/exercises onto nerd cards so I could drill myself over and over. I think I'm a particularly slow learner when it comes to grammar memorisation, so you might not have to do this the way that I did, but I was desperate to learn as rapidly as possible.

When reading, it´s important to FORGET the bits you can´t understand. I know that sounds weird but let me explain. Learning nouns is easy, but learning the mechanics of the language is difficult and tedious. It will be weeks or months before you know how the grammar works, so you will see mysterious pronouns and conjugations, but just glide over them and take the general meaning of a sentence. A 3 year old child doesn´t know what a “possessive adjective” or a “reflexive pronoun” is. (Eventually, if you become really fluent, you might be able to forget this too…) What you are really doing is implanting the rhythm of the language into your mind, so actually understanding things is not the soul goal. This applies to music/TV also.

4 Tandems

Meet up with someone who wants to improve their English; you can find these on websites like Lingofriends/Lingobongo.

DON´T BE TOO HARD ON YOURSELF

A child learning their first language goes through a “silent period”, so give yourself time to subconsciously absorb the language. Particularly ignore people who try to put you down and belittle you. A lot of people are self-concious about their English level, and delight in making anglos squirm, but there are also plenty of really amazing people too.


So, to summarise, learning a language is dull and repetitive, and you have to study daily. This doesn't just mean reading a text book, or sitting in a class. We forget that it has actually taken us about 7 years to learn the basics of our native language, and how hard we had to work in primary school to learn the things we now take for granted.

At one point, you will come to the depressing realisation that EVERYONE you know who speaks English as a second language has probably been learning for a long, long time. Learning a language is a life´s work; we are continuously learning new words in our native tongue, without even realising it. You have to find a way to make it a labour of love.

Don't give up practising receptive skills (listening and reading)...poco a poco!
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