Here are 6 tips to help you learn Spanish quickly. In a nutshell, they are: Create a habit… select a program… and listen to Spanish in the background. Now for the details:
1. Create space in your life for the habit of practicing Spanish.
Fifteen minutes every day is a better start than an hour once a week, because you are more likely to do it! Spend a little time right now to reflect on how to include learning Spanish in your life.
Here are some possible times to study Spanish:
Before doing your email
During one of your breaks at work, or during lunchtimes
Right after dinner
With your first cup of coffee… hey, that gets it done early!
If none of those work for you, you get the idea… tie in your time to learn Spanishwith something else you do every day. If you try a time and you find that you don’t do it then, no problem, just choose a different time.
We tend to do things that have become habitual, and this one simple tip could easily make the difference between success and failure in your learning Spanish!
2. Select a Spanish Language Program
The point here is that you need a systematic way to learn.
The programs I have rated highly emphasize conversation and let the grammar come along with it naturally. This is way more fun, and more effective for learning, than hitting the grammar right away. Some community classes are okay but many are not really going to help you learn to speak Spanish.
3. Listen to Spanish Language Audio in the background.
This helps you learn Spanish faster because you’ll be immersing yourself in the language to a degree and picking up little bits. It can also help keep you motivated.
When you’re at home, there might be Spanish television programs, or see what you can find on YouTube.
You could listen to Spanish when you’re out and about by listening to parts of the program you are using or to Spanish music in your car.
4. Use your English to learn Spanish Language.
This approach draws on the most current linguistics research into how adults learn foreign languages. Around 12 or 13 years of age, our brains shift and we are no longer “hard-wired” to learn in the way children are. (By the way, this seems to be part of why it is harder for adults than kids to learn new languages without an accent.)
You may have read that the best way to learn Spanish or any foreign language is to put yourself in a situation that is entirely in Spanish. Chances are, reader, that you are past the age where this is true for beginners.
Nonetheless, one of the programs I review on this website, the famous Rosetta Stone program, is set up this way.
Of course, once you are getting to be at home in Spanish, then it can make sense again to speak only Spanish at times.
One benefit of learning Spanish when you already know English is that you can draw on your vocabulary and on the fact that you know how your own language is constructed.
I find this point to be true all the time in Mexico, regarding vocabulary. Often, I don’t know the exact word I want but if I say, “In English we say…” and then use the word, the Mexican person often recognizes it.
5. Review what you have Spanish Languagelearned
When you are learning something new, it takes some repetition to become familiar with it. The best of the Spanish-language programs builds a lot of repetition into each lesson. They also construct subsequent lessons to use what you learned before.
Reviewing what you have learned, ideally the same day you learn it, will help move that material from short-term memory to long-term memory. Even then, more review later is called for.
6. Use mental rehearsal to learn Spanish Language
This method kind of grows out of reviewing the material, but takes it a step further.
Mental rehearsal means practicing in your mind. You can do it while sitting quietly but you can also make use of many times during the day, such as when you are waiting or doing things like cooking that may not require a lot of attention.
You can learn to speak Spanish much faster by incorporating mental rehearsal (sometimes also called visualization) into your habits.
For example, you could be making up an imaginary conversation — taking both parts — where you are buying some fruit in a street market, asking how much it costs, and getting much more comfortable with using numbers in conversation.
Spanish grammar rules for Spanish sentence structure, nouns and pronouns, verbs, and adjectives. Learn Spanish Languages by learning Spanish grammar, Words
Fluenz Spanish is one of the best programs I have used for learning Spanish. I really admire their way of thinking about language learning and their methods of applying that to their courses. I also think that the multi-media aspect suits the popularity of computers. The programs also come with mp3 files you can listen to on a computer or with any mp3 player.
Here’s a list of Fluenz Spanish programs currently at Amazon, though for some reason a few other things are on the list too. No matter, this will show you all the different levels and combinations of levels, along with their prices.
Fluenz Spanish is for both Windows and Mac. It guides you step-by-step through a relatively small vocabulary but one that you know well by the end and that you know how to combine.
Here are the product features of the package that includes the levels from 1 to 5:
150 sessions of up to two and one-half hours each — the most comprehensive software application covering the first five levels of Spanish anywhere. Fluenz Spanish 1+2+3+4+5 will guide you in English through the challenges of Spanish with a proven system.
Language tutor Sonia Gil guides you on video every step of the way, recreating a one-on-one tutoring experience, utilizing explanations in English, placing you in real-world contexts, and immersing you in the culture.
Fluenz blends beautiful full-motion video with a range of engaging, interactive workouts to improve your reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills including a recording engine to perfect your accent.
Fluenz’s unique approach is currently being used by elite units of the US Navy, senior personnel at the UN and UNICEF, executives of Fortune 500 companies, and students at Harvard Business School and other leading universities.
Includes Fluenz Spanish 1, Fluenz Spanish 2, Fluenz Spanish 3, Fluenz Spanish 4, and Fluenz Spanish 5 DVD-ROMs, five audio CDs for additional learning, exclusive, downloadable podcasts for further practice, and the handy Fluenz Navigator for on-the-go referencing of important words and phrases.
Rocket Spanish: Review
Rocket Spanish is a “learn Spanish” audio course, well-known for giving you a good start in conversational Spanish. It comes with a variety of useful add-ons, but I’d say that the heart of the program is the 31 mp3 files which you can listen to, on your computer, on CDs, or on mp3 players.
I’ve taken the course and say more about my experiences further down this Rocket Spanish review page.
In short, it is a practical, easy-to-use method to learn Spanish fast — you can get a lot of the basics in just a few weeks. I like it.
I think it’s especially good for you if:
You are planning a vacation in a Spanish-speaking country and want to be able to talk some with people there.
You are “on the go” or have more time to learn from mp3 files on an ipod (or other mp3 player) than by sitting in front of a computer.
You aren’t a big fan of intricate computer software, or your computer is kind of an antique.
You want something you can start today.
You want something clear and straightforward, teaching you the words and phrases you are most likely to need in conversation.
So What Exactly IS Rocket Spanish?
Its core is the audio course of 31 Spanish lessons, each one about 20 minutes long. The discussions are between Mauricio Mauricio Evlampieff who is from Chile and Amy Waterman, whose first language is English but speaks a far better Spanish than I ever will!
At first I thought, “Gee, I’d rather hear two native speakers,” but as I worked with the course more, I realized that Amy became a kind of role model for me. This was useful in motivation, and she has a great accent.
An accompanying e-book gives you the actual transcript of the dialog, along with further comments and vocabulary.
There are several more e-books as well. The beginning and advanced grammar books are actually fun to read, as they are attractively laid out. A lot of care obviously went into making the lessons enticing.
There are also some enjoyable ways to enhance your vocabulary, an online forum, email support, and a 60-day money back guarantee.
Consider These Points About Rocket Spanish
Rocket Spanish is very easy to use. Basically, just listen to the audio files, practice out loud, and do a bit of reading in the e-books.
Because it’s easy to use, I would guess that people are more likely to do the Rocket Spanish lessons than they are to do some of the more complex computer-based programs out there. It’s easy to fit into your life, with no computer hassles.
The add-on vocabulary building is very useful, as is the online forum where you can get your questions answered.
If you download Rocket Spanish, you can have the whole package just a few minutes from now… or from whenever you purchase.
My Experiences Testing Rocket Spanish
My husband and I were both pleasantly surprised by how nicely Rocket Spanish is put together. We listened to a number of the lessons on a long road trip from central Mexico to the US. We picked up quite a few phrases and grammatical points, rather to our surprise. (The Rocket Spanish team was kind enough to provide me with a review copy of the program. My Spanish would not be called anything like perfect, but I am at a pretty advanced level, and I wanted to do a Rocket Spanish review here on the site.)
Pimsleur Spanish is a tried-and-true method for learning conversational Spanish. It’s essentially an audio course of half-hour lessons, developed by Dr. Paul Pimsleur based on his research into how people learn languages. The Pimsleur Method is available for many languages, and millions of people have used it successfully.
You can learn Spanish — at least basic conversational Spanish and likely even more — with Pimsleur. Recently a friend came to visit us in Mexico. He had never before spoken Spanish, and I was amazed at how well he was doing immediately in conversation with Mexicans. His secret? Pimsleur Spanish, repeated many many times.
(He had taken high school Spanish several decades ago, and he thought that helped some too.)
I used Pimsleur myself to review my rusty Spanish before coming to Mexico over five years ago, and found it particularly good for pronunciation.
Pimsleur Spanish Pros and Cons
Some Pros:
It’s audio, so you can take it with you on an ipod or whatever, and listen to it anywhere.
It repeats the same vocabulary a lot, so you really learn the words.
Some Cons:
The Spanish it uses is too formal in some cases. For example, “Encantado” instead of the more popular “Mucho gusto” for Good to meet you.
It’s relatively expensive.
The vocabulary is not really large.
What is the Pimsleur Method?
The Pimsleur Method is based on four ideas about learning language:
Anticipation — instead of just repeating what an instructor says, you have to think of what to say, just like in real conversations.
Graduated interval recall — Review the words you know at increasingly longer intervals.
Core vocabulary — learn the most commonly used words, and learn them well.
Organic learning — learn by listening.
These four concepts are worked into the programs.
Rosetta Stone Spanish Review
Rosetta Stone Spanish has been around a long time and it’s worth considering when you choose a program for learning to speak Spanish. It may well be the best-known Spanish language program.
Rosetta Stone is based on the idea that we adults can learn languages in the same way that we learned our first language as very young children. But current research shows that once past puberty, we don’t learn in the same way.
What this means in practical terms is that their software uses NO English to help you learn Spanish. In fact, everyone in the world who is learning Spanish via Rosetta is using the same program, no matter what their native tongue. The program uses images and Spanish.
Rosetta Stone uses the word immersion about their method, but the word is more commonly used to mean living in a foreign country at a school where you only speak the language you are learning.
Some Rosetta Stone Pros:
Many people really like this program and learn well from it.
It is easy to use.
It is well known.
It is said to have good voice recognition software that can correct your pronunciation.
It has a Latin American version, all the way through its 3 levels.
Clearly a lot of work went into designing it.
Rosetta Stone Cons:
Many people find its method to be boring and frustrating.
It is expensive.
People say that it did not really prepare them for conversational Spanish, that the words and phrases they learned first were not that important.
No English exists to explain things.
It is mainly meant to be used sitting at your computer.
Users of the program at Amazon have posted reviews detailing problems they have had in dealing with the company.
How Does Rosetta Stone Spanish Compare with Other Programs?
I personally would choose Fluenz over Rosetta in the category of multi-media programs, but we are all different of course, and you have to go with your own sense of what will work best for you. I used to prefer Rosetta over Tell Me More, but I have been told by the Tell Me More people that the latest version is much improved.
Spanish grammar rules for Spanish sentence structure, nouns and pronouns, verbs, and adjectives. Learn Spanish Languages by learning Spanish grammar, Words
Self-paced course from the University of Arkansas offers a good introduction to Spanish for those who have never studied it or a good refresher for those who have.
A popular free language-learning and crowdsourced text translation platform. As users progress through lessons, they simultaneously help to translate websites and other documents. Check out Duolingo’s iPhone apps.
This course in the Latin American dialect prepares students to function effectively in conversations. Pronunciation, inflection, and intonation are heavily stressed
Produced by Ben Curtis and Marina Diez, a husband-and-wife team out of Madrid, Spain. Ben is British and Marina is Spanish and they too have built quite a large following for their conversational Spanish lessons, (for beginners, intermediates and advanced students), which promise to teach listeners “real Spanish” the way it is actually spoken every day in Spain.
A self-paced Spanish course by David Nance at Arkansas.
Best Paid Spanish Language Reviews
Fluenz Spanish Review
Fluenz Spanish is one of the best programs I have used for learning Spanish. I really admire their way of thinking about language learning and their methods of applying that to their courses. I also think that the multi-media aspect suits the popularity of computers. The programs also come with mp3 files you can listen to on a computer or with any mp3 player.
Here’s a list of Fluenz Spanish programs currently at Amazon, though for some reason a few other things are on the list too. No matter, this will show you all the different levels and combinations of levels, along with their prices.
Fluenz Spanish is for both Windows and Mac. It guides you step-by-step through a relatively small vocabulary but one that you know well by the end and that you know how to combine.
Here are the product features of the package that includes the levels from 1 to 5:
150 sessions of up to two and one-half hours each — the most comprehensive software application covering the first five levels of Spanish anywhere. Fluenz Spanish 1+2+3+4+5 will guide you in English through the challenges of Spanish with a proven system.
Language tutor Sonia Gil guides you on video every step of the way, recreating a one-on-one tutoring experience, utilizing explanations in English, placing you in real-world contexts, and immersing you in the culture.
Fluenz blends beautiful full-motion video with a range of engaging, interactive workouts to improve your reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills including a recording engine to perfect your accent.
Fluenz’s unique approach is currently being used by elite units of the US Navy, senior personnel at the UN and UNICEF, executives of Fortune 500 companies, and students at Harvard Business School and other leading universities.
Includes Fluenz Spanish 1, Fluenz Spanish 2, Fluenz Spanish 3, Fluenz Spanish 4, and Fluenz Spanish 5 DVD-ROMs, five audio CDs for additional learning, exclusive, downloadable podcasts for further practice, and the handy Fluenz Navigator for on-the-go referencing of important words and phrases.
https://fluenz.com/language/learn-spanish/
Rocket Spanish: Review
Rocket Spanish is a “learn Spanish” audio course, well-known for giving you a good start in conversational Spanish. It comes with a variety of useful add-ons, but I’d say that the heart of the program is the 31 mp3 files which you can listen to, on your computer, on CDs, or on mp3 players.
I’ve taken the course and say more about my experiences further down this Rocket Spanish review page.
In short, it is a practical, easy-to-use method to learn Spanish fast — you can get a lot of the basics in just a few weeks. I like it.
I think it’s especially good for you if:
You are planning a vacation in a Spanish-speaking country and want to be able to talk some with people there.
You are “on the go” or have more time to learn from mp3 files on an ipod (or other mp3 player) than by sitting in front of a computer.
You aren’t a big fan of intricate computer software, or your computer is kind of an antique.
You want something you can start today.
You want something clear and straightforward, teaching you the words and phrases you are most likely to need in conversation.
So What Exactly IS Rocket Spanish?
Its core is the audio course of 31 Spanish lessons, each one about 20 minutes long. The discussions are between Mauricio Mauricio Evlampieff who is from Chile and Amy Waterman, whose first language is English but speaks a far better Spanish than I ever will!
At first I thought, “Gee, I’d rather hear two native speakers,” but as I worked with the course more, I realized that Amy became a kind of role model for me. This was useful in motivation, and she has a great accent.
An accompanying e-book gives you the actual transcript of the dialog, along with further comments and vocabulary.
There are several more e-books as well. The beginning and advanced grammar books are actually fun to read, as they are attractively laid out. A lot of care obviously went into making the lessons enticing.
There are also some enjoyable ways to enhance your vocabulary, an online forum, email support, and a 60-day money back guarantee.
Consider These Points About Rocket Spanish
Rocket Spanish is very easy to use. Basically, just listen to the audio files, practice out loud, and do a bit of reading in the e-books.
Because it’s easy to use, I would guess that people are more likely to do the Rocket Spanish lessons than they are to do some of the more complex computer-based programs out there. It’s easy to fit into your life, with no computer hassles.
The add-on vocabulary building is very useful, as is the online forum where you can get your questions answered.
If you download Rocket Spanish, you can have the whole package just a few minutes from now… or from whenever you purchase.
My Experiences Testing Rocket Spanish
My husband and I were both pleasantly surprised by how nicely Rocket Spanish is put together. We listened to a number of the lessons on a long road trip from central Mexico to the US. We picked up quite a few phrases and grammatical points, rather to our surprise. (The Rocket Spanish team was kind enough to provide me with a review copy of the program. My Spanish would not be called anything like perfect, but I am at a pretty advanced level, and I wanted to do a Rocket Spanish review here on the site.)
Pimsleur Spanish is a tried-and-true method for learning conversational Spanish. It’s essentially an audio course of half-hour lessons, developed by Dr. Paul Pimsleur based on his research into how people learn languages. The Pimsleur Method is available for many languages, and millions of people have used it successfully.
You can learn Spanish — at least basic conversational Spanish and likely even more — with Pimsleur. Recently a friend came to visit us in Mexico. He had never before spoken Spanish, and I was amazed at how well he was doing immediately in conversation with Mexicans. His secret? Pimsleur Spanish, repeated many many times.
(He had taken high school Spanish several decades ago, and he thought that helped some too.)
I used Pimsleur myself to review my rusty Spanish before coming to Mexico over five years ago, and found it particularly good for pronunciation.
Pimsleur Spanish Pros and Cons
Some Pros:
It’s audio, so you can take it with you on an ipod or whatever, and listen to it anywhere.
It repeats the same vocabulary a lot, so you really learn the words.
Some Cons:
The Spanish it uses is too formal in some cases. For example, “Encantado” instead of the more popular “Mucho gusto” for Good to meet you.
It’s relatively expensive.
The vocabulary is not really large.
What is the Pimsleur Method?
The Pimsleur Method is based on four ideas about learning language:
Anticipation — instead of just repeating what an instructor says, you have to think of what to say, just like in real conversations.
Graduated interval recall — Review the words you know at increasingly longer intervals.
Core vocabulary — learn the most commonly used words, and learn them well.
Rosetta Stone Spanish has been around a long time and it’s worth considering when you choose a program for learning to speak Spanish. It may well be the best-known Spanish language program.
Rosetta Stone is based on the idea that we adults can learn languages in the same way that we learned our first language as very young children. But current research shows that once past puberty, we don’t learn in the same way.
What this means in practical terms is that their software uses NO English to help you learn Spanish. In fact, everyone in the world who is learning Spanish via Rosetta is using the same program, no matter what their native tongue. The program uses images and Spanish.
Rosetta Stone uses the word immersion as their method, but the word is more commonly used to mean living in a foreign country at a school where you only speak the language you are learning.
Some Rosetta Stone Pros:
Many people really like this program and learn well from it.
It is easy to use.
It is well known.
It is said to have good voice recognition software that can correct your pronunciation.
It has a Latin American version, all the way through its 3 levels.
Clearly a lot of work went into designing it.
Rosetta Stone Cons:
Many people find its method to be boring and frustrating.
It is expensive.
People say that it did not really prepare them for conversational Spanish, that the words and phrases they learned first were not that important.
No English exists to explain things.
It is mainly meant to be used sitting at your computer.
Users of the program at Amazon have posted reviews detailing problems they have had in dealing with the company.
How Does Rosetta Stone Spanish Compare with Other Programs?
I personally would choose Fluenz over Rosetta in the category of multi-media programs, but we are all different of course, and you have to go with your own sense of what will work best for you. I used to prefer Rosetta over Tell Me More, but I have been told by the Tell Me More people that the latest version is much improved.
Spanish numbers are similar to English but with a different pronunciation. Further information about both the Spanish Alphabet and Spanish Numbers linked below. Understanding how to write Spanish numbers should take very little time and effort to learn.
Spanish numbers are easy to understand because they are written exactly like English Numbers but are pronounced differently.
It’s actually pretty straightforward when it comes to learning how to use the Spanish number system.
Pronouncing Spanish numbers on the other hands get a little bit tricky. Spanish numbers 1 to 10 should be your primary focus when you begin.
Spanish Numbers 1 to 10
Spanish Vocabulary for Numbers
Zero
cero
One
uno
Two
dos
Three
tres
Four
cuatro
Five
cinco
Six
seis
Seven
siete
Eight
ocho
Nine
nueve
Ten
diez
Spanish Numbers 1-10
Spanish Numbers 1 to 100
Spanish Numbers beginning at twenty gain prefixes and on top of that add “y” to the mix. So overall the pattern becomes an appropriate prefix + y + base number.
Spanish numbers after gain various prefixes added to the base number. To illustrate what I mean, here are Spanish numbers 1 to 100 and their prefixes.
Example of how to write the pronunciation of Spanish numbers below.
Pronouncing Spanish Numbers Examples
Understanding how to write Spanish numbers is really that simple to learn. Only takes an hour or two to fully memorizes the Spanish number system.
Spanish grammar rules for Spanish sentence structure, nouns and pronouns, verbs, and adjectives. Learn Spanish Languages by learning Spanish grammar, Words
The Spanish grammar rules you must follow and understand to properly speak the Spanish language.
Spanish Grammar Rules
Spanish sentence structure follows a Subject + Verb + Object format to their sentences.
Spanish Nouns can be either masculine and feminine. Masculines nouns are preceded by the article “el” and usually end in o”. Feminine nouns are preceded by the article “la” and usually end in an “a”. Although there are Exceptions.
Spanish Verbs have 5 tenses. Past, Present, Future, imperfect, and subjunctive.
Spanish adjectives appear after the noun they describe.
Spanish Sentence Structure
Examples of Spanish Verbs
Examples of Spanish Verbs
Spanish Grammar Rules: Nouns and Pronouns
Spanish Nouns can be either masculine and feminine
Masculine Spanish nouns usually in “o” while Feminine Spanish nouns usually end in “a”. There are Exceptions.
An Article precedes each noun or pronoun with either ‘el’ or ‘la’
Pay attention to Tildes and accents because they can completely change the meaning of words.
Spanish Grammar Rules: Adjectives
• Spanish adjectives appear after the noun they describe.
Basic Spanish Vocabulary Words
Basic Spanish Vocabulary Words
Spanish Vocabulary for Times & Days
Spanish Vocabulary for Times/Day
Today
hoy
Tomorrow
manana
Yesterday
ayer
Tonight
esta noche
Morning
manana
Afternoon
tarde
Spanish Accents
Spanish Accent Marks
The acute accent marks are used as an aid in pronunciation and also to distinguish some sets of words that are otherwise spelt alike and pronounced alike but have different meanings or different grammatical usages.
The dieresis, also known as the umlaut, which is placed over the u when it pronounced after a g in the combinations güe and güi. Umlauts are rarer than the other types of diacritical marks.
The tilde is used to distinguish n from ñ. In a technical sense, this might not be considered a diacritical mark, since n and ñ are separate letters of the alphabet.
Spanish grammar rules for Spanish sentence structure, nouns and pronouns, verbs, and adjectives. Learn Spanish Languages by learning Spanish grammar, Words
Spanish grammar rules for Spanish sentence structure, nouns and pronouns, verbs, and adjectives. Learn Spanish Languages by learning Spanish grammar, Words
