Hey, I’m Rick, and I’ve learned Spanish at home on my own. All this without studying grammar books or attending Spanish classes. I don’t have any special talent and I don’t live in Spain or in Latin America. But I have always liked the sound of Spanish and I admired people who learned to speak it. One day during those long pandemic days I’ve decided to do it and I got into the languages learning. I studied how other people did it and it took some time to understand what their “secrets” were. But eventually I figured it out and found my own way how to learn Spanish language at home. Without any traditional language school and without touching a grammar book at all. Now you might be thinking:
Can You Learn Spanish At Home?
First let me tell you the answer is yes, you can learn Spanish at home and even very fast! If I could have done it, then anyone can do it. Wait, do I have any special talent for learning languages? Nope. Doing my research I realized there is no such thing as talent for languages.
Very soon I came across so-called polyglots. People speaking five, six, ten or even more languages. Many of them have one thing in common, they wouldn’t learn any foreign language before their late adults. They weren’t born with these languages in their head.
None of them ever said “I learned Spanish at school reading grammar book and by doing conjugation exercises”. They have all told different stories but something was common.
People successful with languages all have a passion for learning this particular language and secondly they study on their own instead of following the traditional way taught at school. No special talent is needed at all, just following methods and using tools which have worked for someone else before.
Don’t Stick With Methods That Don’t Work For You
A wise man once said: “Insanity Is Doing the Same Thing Over and Over Again and Expecting Different Results”. Stop doing what you’ve been doing if it only brings you frustration instead of progressing in your Spanish. You can’t progress in this boring textbook? Are you having hard times understanding the dialog in the Narcos? Then stop it at least for now, and move on to something else. Sometimes as little as choosing a different TV series, or a way how you watch it can do the trick.
The Thing is That Learning Spanish is Easy
I know, I know, you say it’s not. You’ve tried it all but nothing works for you. And in addition there is always some kind of obstacle on your road. You have always an excuse why it’s not possible. Let me guess, any of the following sounds familiar?
“I have no time to learn Spanish”. Let’s see, do you use your time effectively? For example do you drive to work an hour every day? Instead of radio have you considered listening to a Spanish audio book or a podcast? Waiting at the doctor’s office or while walking? Before sleep, in the bed, do you scroll your phone watching cats videos or reading news? Why not read or watch something in Spanish instead. Ten minutes here, fifteen minutes there, it adds up. Just start practicing it and by no time you’ll realize you have invested tens or hundreds of hours of your time to learning Spanish.
“I don’t understand native Spanish speakers”. Guess what, there are Spanish speakers as well who might not understand another native speaker if they’re from different regions or social backgrounds. And that’s normal too. You will want to focus and practice listening to people who speak clearly and simply enough for you. You can only understand what you’re being exposed to frequently. There is an endless content in Spanish available for your comprehension level too. Please move towards more difficult speech only when you’re ready for it. Step by step.
“I don’t know anyone who could practice speaking Spanish with me”. Many websites and mobile apps like Tandem or iTalki for example, can help you find dozens of Spanish natives or students like you who would love to practice with someone. Or you might try searching for a Facebook group in terms of “Latinos in North Carolina”. Chances are someone new to town is willing to practice Spanish with you in exchange for your local knowledge.
“They don’t sell any books or magazines in Spanish in my town”. Couldn’t be simpler. As simple as heading to Amazon, the company which started as an online bookseller decades ago, rings a bell? Also, there are even tons of free eBooks online in any genre and the Internet is full of blogs in Spanish about any topic you could imagine. Google is your friend too.
“We don’t have any Spanish or Mexican TV channels at home”. With YouTube you will never run out of videos to watch in Spanish. For any level, whether you’re a beginner or advanced. And there is Netflix, HBO, Amazon Prime and others.
“Language schools and private teachers are expensive”. Yes that might be true usually. But remember you can also find virtually anything on the Internet for free or very cheap. Language exchange for example is a terrific way to learn a language. Imagine you chatting with someone on Zoom or Facetime, while they teach you Spanish online for free and in return you can help them learn your native language instead. Win-win for both sides. Also, with proper materials you might even be more effective on your own than in a language school.
And the List of Excuses Could Go On…
But let me tell you, don’t be held back by any of this. People like you or me have learned Spanish and it’s actually no big science. In fact, I believe with right mindset and approach anyone can learn any language on any level they desire. I can hear you now:
“But What Should I Do to Finally Learn Spanish?”
Alright, let me briefly explain what I’ve done in my beginnings of learning Spanish. Actually it’s something which I never stopped doing because it still works for me perfectly. Here we go.
- In the beginnings focus on listening and understanding first.
- Find content which is interesting to you and adequate for your level of comprehension. Make learning Spanish more like enjoying the process than a chore.
- It’s fine if you don’t understand everything. Do focus more on the context than on actual verbatim meaning of the words or translation.
- Aim for more than 80-90% understanding every time. If it’s too hard to understand for you, you need to find simpler material.
- Be exposed to even more spoken Spanish and repeat the above steps until… forever 🙂
- Don’t rush with speaking or reading until the time comes. Yes there are exceptions, if you study formally for school or profession and that’s cool too.
- Later, start reading but again adequate to your level.
- Keep consistent.
- Once in a while go back to a previous content to see how you can suddenly understand even more of it!
- If your favorite content starts being too boring and you feel like you understand it above 90% you might want to find another content to listen or read.
And that’s the big SECRET to learning Spanish in shortcut!
It Really is So Simple!
I know, you might doubt it and you have questions now. Like, what if you don’t understand ANYTHING AT ALL in the beginnings? Where do you begin? Yes, this can be harder but doable. You will want to start with the super easy level first. It might sound silly but kids cartoons will do the work. Some good examples would be Pocoyó, Caillou, or even Peppa Pig!
Am I saying Don’t do anything else besides? Not really. You can combine the technique with whatever you’re doing now if it helps you. If you’re happy having private lessons with your current Colombian teacher, go for it! If you’re using a study book or a cool app (ahem, DuoLingo), who am I to judge if it helps you. Should you drop the language school? You don’t have to if you don’t want.
But you can focus on what I just introduced to you and then later, once you have solid foundations, come back later to doing exercises, analyzing grammar etc. Be aware though it could slow your progress down if you’re not ready for it yet. You decide on priorities. Remember, all people are different and you might want to need your own mix of ingredients.
Not sure if this all works? Well, that’s what I did and it worked for me amazingly and for endless people globally too. No reason why it wouldn’t work for you if you do it correctly.
Is it all too vague yet? You might feel even more lost now after reading all this. But don’t worry, it all makes sense.
If you should take only one single thing from all this information here, be it:
There is no single correct method of learning Spanish and the learning process can be enjoyable.
Think about it and put into practice!
Hope this all here has been useful and you see a different perspective to language learning now. In fact, I have so much more to share and explain in details. These above are not the only existing steps out there and there are many more ways to reach your goal of Speaking Spanish.
I would love to forward my knowledge further to you! You can improve your Spanish level no matter what you are currently. And a notable progress could be visible as soon as in months. I will teach you and show you a way if you allow me to.
I’ll Teach You How You Can Master Spanish Rapidly
There is way more to come, so stay tuned. I will go into more details and interesting ways to learning Spanish in my next posts. Go ahead and bookmark this website, come back to read my other articles and keep learning! Don’t just take my word on it but try it on your own.
If you have any comment, or questions, or maybe want to share your unsuccessful story of learning Spanish? Let me know in the comments below.
That’s it for now, enjoy!
Chao chao,
Rick