Learning Spanish – Part 3 – Taking Your First Steps

In the last article I talked about mental preparation. If you are thinking about learning Spanish then it makes sense to think carefully about what you hope to achieve and how you hope to achieve it. This is because the learning process is likely to be a long one and full of trials and tribulations. It is wise not to underestimate yourself.

In this article I'm going to talk about what I did when I was first thinking about learning Spanish. That was about four years ago now. At the time I knew nothing of the Spanish language, so for me it was a case of starting right from the very beginning.

My concepts of how other languages worked were really very basic. I thought all I had to do was to take any English word and simply learn what the equivalent word in Spanish was. Therefore I could simply put the words together and hey presto I would have a complete sentence. It didn’t’ take me long to realise that this basic theory rarely works!

For example, “I always buy strong coffee”. In Spanish, “ siempre compro café fuerte”. In this sentence there appears to be no Spanish word for “I” and the word for “coffee (café)” comes before the word for “strong (fuerte)”. This is only a simple example but it shows how my basic theory falls down. The Spanish word for “I” is “yo”, but it is often not used in Spanish sentences because the construction of the verb it is used with already tells us that “I” is being referred to “compro = I buy”. Secondly, in Spanish, adjectives usually come after the nouns that they are used with whereas in English they usually come before them. “strong coffee = café fuerte”.

If you know nothing about Spanish as I didn’t then you might already be a little confused. At this stage it probably isn’t worth thinking too much about how the structure of the English and Spanish languages might differ. You will simply come to realise these differences as you progress through your studies. However, I think it is important to remind yourself right from the very beginning that learning Spanish won’t be as easy as simply matching English and Spanish words!

Of course if you don’t know any Spanish words then you are not going to be able to make any sentences, regardless if they are grammatically correct or not. You need to start learning some words and phrases. Try thinking about some of the most common every day phrases in English.

You could start by learning some common greetings for example – hello (hola) goodbye (adiós), good morning (buenos días), good afternoon (buenas tardes). In these examples you might have noticed that the translation of the English word used for “good” is both “buenos” and “buenas”. This is because one is masculine and the other is feminine!! If you are not sure what I am talking about then don’t worry. I will talk much more about gender in later articles.

The point here is that when learning new Spanish words or phrases you are probably going to notice differences in the way they are used that you don’t fully understand. If you are anything like me you will always be asking yourself “why?” My advice is not to get too bogged down in trying to understand these things too quickly. It will probably just frustrate you!

As well as learning useful words and phrases you of course need to make sure that you can pronounce them correctly! The only way you can do this is by hearing some examples. It is important to make sure you pronounce Spanish words correctly right from the beginning. If you don’t then you will pick up bad habits that will become more difficult to shake off later on.

Spanish pronunciation is something you will probably want to study separately during your studies. It is a good idea to do this early on. The good news is that Spanish pronunciation is far less complicated than English pronunciation. I will be discussing this in more detail in later articles.

So, you need to start learning new Spanish words and phrases whilst making sure that you pronounce them correctly. When I first started learning Spanish I bought a basic level Spanish text book. I had about a six weeks before I was about to embark on a long trip to Central and South America and my goal was to finish the book before the six weeks was up. One of the first things the book taught me was how to introduce myself by saying what my name was and where I was from. It came with CD’s so that I was able to check my pronunciation.

In the next article I will talk more about my early studies and some of the pitfalls I encountered whilst trying to plough through a basic level text book in six weeks. I will also talk about the different ways you might want to think about how learning Spanish best works for you. Buying a text book might not suit you. Maybe you would prefer to study online or entirely from audio CD’s! Whatever you choose get yourself started. Start learning some basics. Hasta luego.....

Learning Spanish – Mental Preparation (A Guide to Learning Spanish)

In the last article; ‘Anybody can learn Spanish’ I talked about the different reasons why people might decide to learn Spanish. I also talked about the great sense of achievement that learning another language can bring you. In this article I am going to talk about the different things you should consider before embarking on such a crusade.

I think a lot of people believe that learning another language won’t actually be that difficult. Well, maybe it won’t be for some, but if like me you have never tried to learn a foreign language before then it may well turn out to be one of the most challenging things that you are ever likely to attempt. Of course I don’t want to put anybody off, after all, in my last article I said that anybody can do it. Well, I absolutely believe this, but I also believe that you should realistically think about how and when learning Spanish can be achieved for you.

Of course not everyone is the same. Some of us are better at doing some things than other people are. So, it stands to reason that learning Spanish might be easier for one person than it is for another. The truth is that learning a new language can be achieved by possessing any number of different skills. There is no proven formula for learning a new language that 100% works for everybody! What you need to think about is what methods work best for you.

When I first started to think about how and when I would learn Spanish I honestly thought it was going to be easier than it actually was. I think one reason was because I was comparing myself to the millions of Europeans that fluently speak English. Anyone who has been to Germany, or Scandinavia will know that pretty much everybody can speak English. I thought if so many of them can learn a new language then it couldn’t be that difficult!

Now, when I think about Europeans speaking English I realise that they are so good at it because they have been learning it practically since they started to learn their own languages. This is certainly one of the key things that you need to realise about learning Spanish. It will not happen overnight. It is a process that can literally takes years.

Some languages might be considered more difficult to learn than others but of course this is all relative. It is true however, that the structure and functionality of some languages are more similar to each other than they are to others. The structure of the French language for example more closely mimics the structure of the Spanish language than it does English.

I spent aew days on a trip to ‘El salar de Uyuni’ (a salt lake), in Bolivia with a French girl. Most of the time we spoke in English but we were able to have basic conversations in Spanish too. I didn’t realise until the end of the trip that she had only been learning Spanish for a month and yet she was almost as good as I was!!

If you can already speak another language then perhaps learning Spanish will be easier for you. Even if it isn’t then at least you will already be prepared for the learning experience that you are about to embark on.

At this stage you might well be thinking, how can I prepare myself for the learning experience that I am about to embark of if I have never tried to learn a different language before? How can I prepare myself for the challenges ahead if I don’t even know what the challenges are? The reality is that your not going to know how difficult or easy learning Spanish might be until you actually get started. All I really want to emphasise at this point is that you shouldn’t underestimate how difficult and frustrating it might turn out to be. Patience is the key!

Of course you should be very positive and excited about learning Spanish, after all if you don’t enjoy doing it then what is the point! Learning Spanish could be one of the most amazing and fulfilling experiences that you have ever had. It certainly has been for me. Believe me, learning Spanish could open new doors in your life that you had never before thought possible.

In the next article I intend to talk about some of the first steps that I took in my path to learning Spanish. I mentioned in the previous article that one of the main reasons I wanted to learn Spanish was because I was about to embark on a long trip to Central and South America. My first steps began before this trip was about to take place. I didn’t want to leave England without knowing anything!

Spanishexperto – All you need to learn Spanish

An impressive collection of 35 audio and video lessons, 100’s of Spanish to English word lists and word remembering exercises, Spanish pronunciation guide, Spanish verb tables, Spanish useful phrases and more.

This second article offers some advice to those thinking of learning Spanish. It makes the point that the entire learning process could take a long time and that it would be wise to fully prepare for this before beginning.