The best way to learn Spanish is…

…with an experienced, professional tutor who you meet with face-to-face, 3-5 days a week for a minimum of 1 hour a day, preferably 2, and who assigns you homework which you then spend another couple hours on every day.  However, very few of us can afford either the time or the money this costs.  So, what to do?

The best you can.  I strongly recommend a heavy emphasis on using popular media in the language you’re learning (in this case: movies, YouTube videos, music, TV shows, books, etc. in Spanish) for two reasons: you can choose things that are fun and interesting, which helps keep you engaged and prevents boredom, and because you learn to speak Spanish from native speakers who are using the language in precisely the way it’s used in conversation (when you see two characters conversing in Spanish in a movie or YouTube video, that’s how those people naturally talk, which is what you want to learn, so copy them – I’ll teach you how).

This doesn’t mean passively listening or watching, it means studying them.  It means actively learning from them and that requires real work, just so those of you who are rightly sceptical of any such “passive learning” nonsense know that I’m certainly not advocating it.  This does not, though, mean that it has to be at all unpleasant.  It can be fun, interesting, engaging, and rewarding.  It never has to be boring, tedious, or frustrating…but it very easily can be if you don’t do it right.

I tried and failed to learn various languages on at least 5 separate occasions until, finally, in my mid-20s, I taught myself Spanish entirely on my own and was able to speak fluently in just 6 months.  I used the method I advocate here, still advocate, and have since used to learn French and German as well.

That is the main focus of this site: how to learn to speak Spanish on your own, that is how to teach yourself Spanish.  I help you do this here with articles on methods, tips, and tricks such as this in-depth look at how many words you need to know in Spanish (depending on your goals) or this article on “how not to sound like a gringo” where I cover common mistakes beginners tend to make and how to fix them, as well as articles where I teach you Spanish directly such as with my various posts on grammar, slang, colloquial expressions, and even profanity.  Not only will I give you all sorts of advice and tips on how to learn Spanish on your own but I’ll also teach a lot of it to you myself.  I’ll teach you:

• Where to find native speakers who will happily correct your spoken and written Spanish online, for free (if you have internet access you can do this).  This is done with something called a “language exchange”, where you help a Spanish-speaker who’s learning English with their English, and in exchange they help you with your Spanish – see here to understand why language exchanges are so useful and how to do them.  Right now I recommend iTalki (reviewed here) for both language exchanges and finding paid tutors.
• How to learn Spanish from music videos (if you’re a Shakira fan you’ll really like these).
• Where to find Spanish-language videos online that include Spanish subtitles and/or a transcript (way more useful than an English translation as having the verbatim Spanish allows you to look up everything you don’t know and learn it).
• Spanish colloquialisms and slang from different countries and regions that I’ve visited (right now that includes Spain, Colombia, and Chile) or that I’ve learned from native speakers of that country (I’ve met Mexicans, Argentinians, Panamanians, and Peruvians in my travels).  The main place to look for this is in my Learn Spanish for Real series that I’m constantly adding to.
• Formal grammar, such as my recent guide to regional variation in forms of address in Spanish (e.g. when to use usted vs. tú vs vosotros etc. depending on where you are).
• How to learn and use Spanish vocabulary (learn, not just memorize).

…and much more.

Please stick around, check out my most popular posts below, feel free to use the menu at the top to explore the site, and let me know what you think or if you have any questions.

Andrew

“To have a second language is to have a second soul.”

– Charlemagne