Top Tips for Learning Spanish

Learning a language is difficult and challenges both your brain and time. There’s ultimately no easy route to studying a language, but there are some hints and tips from seasoned language learners that can help you on your way.

With Newsdle, you can study both Northern Spanish (from Spain) and Latin American Spanish, otherwise known as Andalusian Spanish. Before you begin, why not read our brief history of Spanish language? There’s never been a better time to learn Spanish!

Our top tips for learning Spanish

1.Little-and-Often Study

When we first started studying languages in school, we became frustrated with the lack of engaging content. Textbooks continued to follow repetitive topics and themes, and we were left craving real-life evolving stories to facilitate language study. We created Newsdle and our partner platform, The Chairman’s Bao (for the study of Mandarin Chinese), to facilitate little-and-often study and to break down as many barriers as possible to studying a language.

Whether reading up a level to challenge yourself on an evening, or down a level to freshen up on a bus, we stress the importance of studying a little bit each day and building on your foundations over time. Gone are the days of spending hours and hours cramming for an exam or translating a long piece of homework with the ‘I can’t wait to be done with this’ attitude.

Break down the barriers by studying in manageable chunks and you will be surprised to see how quickly you can progress!

2.Go Digital

One of the most painstaking things with learning a language can be access to engaging content. The great thing about the move to online with language study is that you now have a wealth of resources right at your fingertips.

• Struggle with remembering vocab? Use flashcard tools!
• Find current and engaging content (like our daily, news-based lessons)
• Connect with friends and language exchange partners… which brings us neatly on to point 3!

3.Practice with Friends (Speak and Listen!)

It can be rewarding and fun to practice speaking Spanish with a native speaking friend. Don’t know anybody Spanish living local? Fear not! There are plenty of places online where you can make online language exchange relationships to connect with someone learning English (or another native tongue!). In exchange for supporting them with their language learning, you can improve your Spanish in return. Always be careful with who you are interacting with online and please seek a guardian’s permission and supervision where relevant!

One of the hardest things about learning a language is not having anybody there to correct your mistakes and a language partner can be the perfect antidote to this!

Top tip: We would always advise a language ‘parent’ over a language ‘partner’ relationship. A parent will always correct in a gentle way, while continuing a conversation. Example below:

Child: I no want to go outside today.

Parent: Oh, you don’t want to go outside today. Okay, let’s go and play with your toys over here.

In the above example, the parent corrects the child with their own response to their statement, rather than outright saying “you mean you don’t want to go outside today”.

A ‘language parent’ can be a great guide as you move on your journey to second language fluency!

4.Watch Spanish TV Shows

Watching TV can be a great way to learn Spanish. It opens you up to a whole heap of new vocabulary in context and phrases. TV’s not only a fun way to incorporate study into your daily routine, it also exposes you to ‘daily’ Spanish that you don’t always find in the classroom or formal textbooks. You'll also find great content from all over the Spanish speaking world, so there's plenty to feast your eyes on!

Why not check out our blog on the best Netflix shows to study Spanish this year?

5.Sing Spanish Songs

Why not study subconsciously on the move, by listening to your favourite music genre in Spanish? Music is not only a great way to learn Spanish, it’s also a great way to embrace Spanish and Latin American cultures.

Music can also be helpful for learning vocabulary in context and often it just "sticks". Music helps us to make associations and many people find it one of the most effective methods to study a language.

6.Travel

We appreciate visiting a Spanish-speaking country isn’t always accessible, but of course another way to learn the language is through travel. Forming relationships with local people, ordering and trying new food, getting yourself through challenging situations such as paying a bill… these are all great for your language study.

Spanish is the national language of 20 countries and is spoken by over 430 million mother tongue speakers. It’s also studied by over 180 million second language learners worldwide. Travel extensively through Latin America and embrace a variety of cultures and language nuances.

You’ll already be familiar with a whole heap of accents when studying Spanish if you study using Newsdle! All lessons are spoken aloud by a member of our native speaking Spanish content team. How many accents have you managed to catch?

7.Patience is Key!

Overall, our top tip is be patient. It can be easy to forget how far you have already come when studying a language. Take stock of each milestone and celebrate your successes, even if it’s something as simple as ordering every topping you wanted on your Subway completely in Spanish!

Measure your milestones and don’t be too hard on yourself. Although studying a language is a lifelong process, it’s also supposed to be fun! Don’t let it weigh you down and you’re sure to reap the benefits.

Why not learn the most common Spanish phrases for beginners?