pepper ¡Yo hablo español! pepper

Spanish Lessons

¿Quieres aprender español?

Sí, you want to learn Spanish! Or, maybe you just want to improve your Spanish. Well, you will if you put your mind to it. I've been teaching Spanish at the college level since 1995 and I've noticed that persistence leads to fluency. The secret to learning Spanish is to think in Spanish. You should always be learning Spanish. Continue doing whatever has been working for you, such as taking college courses, listening to podcasts while you drive, or utilizing computer programs. You also need to expose yourself to Spanish in different settings. But try a few new activities.

  • Think in Spanish. You have to think in Spanish as much as possible. Avoid translating into Spanish. If you see a bird, you must learn to think "pájaro" instinctively. Look at your hand and think "mano".
  • Watch the news in Spanish. If you keep up with current affairs, watch the news in Spanish. You'll be surprised by how much you will understand. The pictures and films will give you a context that will help you understand what they're saying.
  • Watch DVDs in Spanish. What's your favorite movie? I imagine that you've probably seen it a few times, so you know exactly what certain characters will say and what will happen next. Most DVDs of recent movies allow you to listen to the movie in Spanish . Display Spanish subtitles while you're at it. Just beware that sometimes the subtitles don't correspond exactly to the soundtrack.
  • Read in Spanish. What's your favorite hobby or topic? Search for it on wikipedia.org and read it in English. Most articles are fairly short, so reading them won't take so long. Now look in the left margin for the link that says Español. Click on it and you'll be able to read the same article in Spanish. And this is proper Spanish and not this horrendous Spanish produced by some computer translator.
  • Study Spanish grammar. That's right, grammar! Most Spanish students hate to study grammar, so if you do, just skip over the grammar explanations, and study the Spanish examples provided. That's all you really need to improve your Spanish. Memorize some of the sentence constructions and substitute your own words to suit different situations.
  • Read websites in Spanish. Google translates websites into Spanish. When the cursors hovers over the Spanish text, the text is displayed in English.
  • Translate with your iPhone. You can download a free translator from the Apps Store and translate on the go.

Of course, you should continue to practice speaking Spanish whenever possible because perhaps the most difficult part of learning any language is developing your ear for understanding what is said. Find someone with whom you may speak Spanish. If they don't know any English, so much the better! Espero que aprendan español con un poco de ayuda.

David Diego Rodríguez, Ph.D.

Tips

Aprender

Aprende una palabra nueva cada día.

Charlar

Busca un amigo con quien puedas platicar.

Escribir

Escribe una carta en español.

Escuchar

Escucha una estación de radio en español.

Estudiar

Estudia con un amigo.

Leer

Lee en español lo más que puedes.

Ver

Vee un programa o una película en español

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