asia birdI am by no means an expert at speaking languages, however, I do feel like an expert at learning how to speak a different language. I have been trying to learn to speak Spanish for years! I took Spanish 101 and 102 in high school. I followed that up with a repeat of 101 and 102 in college. Four semesters of Spanish and nothing stuck. You might think I didn’t practice. I practiced. Looking back I think the main obstacle in my ability to learn Spanish back then, was I didn’t have a reason to continue. I was only taking the classes to fulfill a credit requirement.
- Step 1. Define a Reason – Why do you want to learn another language?
- Step 2 – Take Action
- Step 3 – Do Something Else.
- Step 4 – Make your new language a part of your daily life.
- Step 5 – Engage all your learning senses.
- Step 6 – Practice speaking with others.
- Step 7 – Keep Advancing
- Step 8 – Help Others
Is it because you think you should? Not good enough.
Is it because your mom wants you too? Not good enough.
You need a personal reason that is compelling and motivating to you. I came across my reason by accident.
A friend of mine was planning a trip to Peru with her boyfriend, when they broke up 2 weeks before the trip. She asked me to go to take his place. Of course, I said yes! I wasn’t going to pass up that opportunity. Off to Peru we went. Suddenly I was surrounded by foreign sights, smells, and sounds. I instantly was drawn to the culture and the way of life of Latin Americans. I wanted to learn everything I could about the history, people, and culture. I wanted to be able to communicate with the people. Of course with my blonde hair and my pale skin, I stuck out like a tourist – but in a way I didn’t want to be a tourist. I wanted to go to places where the locals hung out, I wanted to understand what life was like for them. What drives them, what inspires them, what challenges they face, what events in their history as a people affected them today and how.
I came back to the United States with a renewed excitement about travel and I knew I would learn how to speak Spanish. I set a goal for myself that I wouldn’t quit this time. I would continue to learn Spanish everyday until I was fluent. I actually laughed out loud when that goal made me realize that I’m still learning English, even though I’m completely fluent! Still expanding my vocabulary, practicing grammar, spelling and comprehension. I had to revise my original goal just slightly. I am going to continue to learn Spanish every day. Period. There is no end, it’s a continual evolving thing for me.
What constitutes being fluent? Is there a line in the sand? No, fluency comes over time and is technically considered “achieved” when you can read, write, speak, and generally understand everything put in front of you. That’s what it means to me, anyway. Websters might have a different opinion.
So, figure out why you want to learn another language. What is that one thing that is going to make you keep trying even when you are frustrated. I want to travel and learn about different cultures directly from the horses mouth. I want the EXPERIENCE. That’s my reason. And well, yeah, I think that speaking another language is cool, kind of like being in an exclusive club
Right now you are thinking…’Wait, wait, wait! Isn’t action usually one of the last steps? Here we are only on step 2!”
Nope my friends. Action is the force that propels you forward. If you want to do something, anything in life, take take that first step. Start the momentum. Even if you don’t quite know where you are headed or how to get there, you can adjust your plan as you continue. But you can’t get anywhere without action.
For me, taking action meant signing up and paying for a class as soon as I came home from Peru. I didn’t wait. I don’t procrastinate. I knew if I didn’t the motivation, the passion, the fire that I felt in that other country would eventually fade and other things would take priority, and then, before I knew it, my goal would have turned into an intention. Days would go by, months would go by, years…..all that time I could have been doing something. I didn’t and I don’t want to look back on my life and see all the things I could have done. I already look back and think, four semesters of Spanish – If I had defined a real a reason back then to keep me anchored to continual progression, think how much Spanish I’d be able to speak today! Ah, but you know what they say about hindsight.
However, as a side note…..I don’t feel regret. Instead I choose to embrace the positive side of this and think/chalk it up to life experience. If I didn’t fail back then, then I wouldn’t now be helping you to succeed!
So take action. Maybe to you, a class once a week isn’t an option, but there are so many other ways to take action now! Get on Craigslist to see if there are any Spanish tutors, or Spanish speaking people in your community trying to learn English. You can learn from each other. Maybe your first step is buying a Spanish to English dictionary. I’ll write more about Spanish learning references later. But for now, just do something – even if it’s just a baby step!
This may seem kind of redundant, but it’s actually very important to help you keep momentum, and keep that passion alive!
Now that you’ve signed up for your class, or purchased your dictionary, or taken your first baby step. Take another leap forward! Do something else! Maybe your second step is brainstorming other steps, attending your first day of class, researching study tips, maybe your second step is telling all your friends and family about it – having other people in on your plan keeps you accountable. After signing up for my Spanish class, I went a little crazy and started researching everything I could about learning Spanish online. A lot of what I found and what helped me is listed in the reference section on this site. Obsessive compulsion took over and I scoured the internet. I bought books, I watched programs about learning Spanish, I questioned other people who knew how to speak another language incessantly, about how they learned, what worked for them. I started this site, which helps me to keep learning Spanish everyday! I told everybody that I knew about my goal of learning Spanish. They ask me about it on a day to day basis, and I always feel a sense of accomplishment when I tell them that I am continually progressing, that I am moving forward, and learning new things. Maybe for you’re the ‘snow ball’ effect of just consuming everything possible about how to learn your language will come a little later, but it will come.
Learning another language is memorization, repetition, and immersion. Also, when you commit to your self to do at least one thing everyday you stave off procrastination and continue moving forward with momentum. The laws of physics state that forward motion propels motion. Make yourself do something every day to learn Spanish. It doesn’t have to be a huge thing, just as long as you DO it. Hopefully you can squeeze in some of the bigger tips that I have listed, but each little tip brings you closer and closer to realizing your goal. At least one or two things a day, and of course, more is better.
It’s important to do something every single day. Even if it is only learning one new word a day, just that alone will give you 365 new words! Some days I feel like studying Spanish for an hour or more, some days I feel like studying watching a Spanish movie with English subtitles. Some days, I want nothing to do with Spanish at all so instead of learning a new word, I practice the words I do know. On those days when I say “muchas gracías” to the cashier ringing up my groceries at the super market, it counts as doing something for that day. In the end, I think it all balances out. But even though some days I do more than others, I do something to help my Spanish everyday.
Research has found that we human beings learn in three different ways. Typically one way is more dominant than the other depending on the individual. These three ways of learning are: visually, verbally, tactically (hands on),
For example, while I was in college, I was a ‘write it down person’. Writing has always been the best way for me to learn. Even writing this blog has been a learning experience for me. However, when it comes to learning a new language, you must engage all of your senses. One very important concept of learning is making a connection between what you already know and what you are trying to learn. Below are a list of tips by sense, and again the more you can incorporate, the faster you will learn. Also, the more vocabulary you learn, the faster you will keep learning new vocabulary. It’s a slow start, but once you start gaining momentum, it’s a snowball effect.
This has been the hardest part of learning another language for me. Speaking with other people. Often times I feel shy or afraid to put my knowledge to the test and actually try and have a conversation with another person (especially if that person is a native Spanish speaker). But you can’t pass up any opportunities to practice speaking! Isn’t that the whole reason why you decided to speak another language in the first part?
If you have the opportunity to speak to somebody in person that speaks your language, do it. Most of them would be happy to help you learn. Is there a church or a group in your area that speaks your new language? If you can’t find anybody locally to have conversations with, get a skype account and search for an online partner.
Don’t worry about your grammar, or saying things perfectly, just let it flow. Grammar will come. The person that you are speaking with will be able to tell that you are learning Spanish, that you are communicating, and most importantly that you are TRYING. They’ll cut you some slack, and just be happy that you are giving it a go. In situations like these, a few things that I’ve found to help relieve some of the anxiety that I feel when speaking to another person in Spanish are:
I’ve memorized the phrase “I’ve been learning Spanish, will you help me practice?” If nothing else I know that I can ask that question perfectly, and whomever I am speaking to WILL understand that.
I tend to do lots of “sign” language when speaking in Spanish, some how I think it helps me communicate and helps them understand. And even though the conversation we’ve just had isn’t 100% in words, there have been lots of words in there and it counts as a conversation in Spanish. But the biggest benefit is, that it helps me to build up my confidence for speaking to another person in a foreign language.
Another thing I do when I am speaking to another person in Spanish is (at the level that I’m at), I don’t worry about using the correct verb tense. For me conjugating verbs in is hard enough, but conjugating a verb in another tense, on the fly while trying to think of the correct words for the rest of the sentence is tough. So I pretty much just speak in the present tense and then add words like ‘yesterday’ or ‘tomorrow’ at the end. It’s enough to communicate for the time being.
You may be thinking, what? That’s not the way to do it. But I disagree. It is the way to do it, for the simple fact that I AM SPEAKING IN SPANISH. Yes, I know, it’s not perfect Spanish, but it is Spanish, and the more I speak it, the better I get!
As I mentioned earlier, learning a new language is a constant endeavor. Learning another language will be harder some days than on others. But don’t give up, keep at it. Though it may or may not take you long to be come ‘fluent’, you should continue to expand your vocabulary, composition skills, and pronunciation. If you stop moving forward, and stop learning, you WILL regress.
I know SO many people that have learned a new language, even lived in a different country for years speaking that language, but one they stop doing something everyday, whether it’s speaking the language, listening, writing, or reading – their vocabulary starts to slip, their pronunciation gets worse, their grammar starts to get sloppy, and soon they can’t speak the other language at all. Don’t let that happen to you.
Keep incorporating these tips into your daily life and doing something everyday.
They say the best way to learn something is to teach it to other people. Volunteer to help in a class, become a tutor for someone else, share the reference material that you have accumulated. Or start a blog to help share what you’ve learned!
Related posts:
It‘s quite in here! Why not leave a response?