Tips to learn Spanish
Preparation
Buy a very good Spanish-English dictionary (though not for use in
Spanish classes). Recommendations are the University of Chicago
Dictionary and Larousse Dictionary. For those who are just beginning
to learn Spanish, buy a small phrase book (with some basics in pronunciation)
and learn some useful phrases such as “please”, “thank
you”, “excuse me”, “good morning!”,
“Can you help me?”, etc. You will be surprised how many
simple situations you can deal with.
During your stay - Start!
Don’t wait until you think you have learned “enough”
before you start communicating in Spanish, start today and you will
learn by practice.
Listen. You are going to hear a lot of Spanish
spoken in your classes. You may hear Spanish on the radio, on TV,
or in music. Listen actively to Spanish whenever you have the chance.
Use what you already know. Many Spanish
words have the same Latin roots as English words you already know.
You are going to hear some words that seem familiar. Take a guess
at their meaning.
Watch. Look at the expressions, the gestures,
and the movements of people who speak Spanish. You will pick up
many clues about what they are saying.
Read. Try
to read in Spanish as well to improve your vocabulary. For example
buy a newspaper sometimes or buy a book in Spanish. Depending on
your level, good books to read are from the series called “El
Barco de Vapor”. These are books for children on several different
levels, which are recognizable by their colors. You can find them
for example in Libreria Lehmann’s. The newspaper La Nacion
also produces small and very cheap books for children every two
weeks, you can find them in every newsstand on the streets. Reading
will help you improve your vocabulary a lot and gives you a better
idea of the content to use the words. Also reading out loud can
help to improve your pronunciation.
Work with someone. To communicate in Spanish,
you need to talk with and listen to someone. Work with a friend,
your teacher, an exchange student. And work together…juntos!
Also try speaking with non-Spanish students in Spanish, helping
each other with the language will improve your Spanish because you
have to explain it.
Relax. You are going to learn Spanish. It
will take time. As you are learning, don’t worry. Make an
effort, and you will make progress every day.
Take charge. Be positive and assertive.
Know that you can and will succeed. Ask a question when you don’t
understand what is said. Look up words that you don’t know.
Find Spanish magazines and newspapers to read. The biggest factor
that will contribute towards your success is you. Set goals. Take
charge of your own learning!
Observe. On the way to school, write down
all signs in the streets and look at these words in your dictionary
or discuss them with your teacher.
Remember the fact that even though you may have a bilingual in
class, a monolingual teacher (Spanish) is considered to be the ideal
within the learning process because the student is forced to listen
to, to answer and ask questions only in Spanish (like a child acquires
the language).
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