10 Secrets to Learning
Spanish Like Crazy
If you want to learn a language quickly and inexpensively, you have picked
the right language. With the exception of English, Spanish is spoken more
than any other language in the U.S. You will have plenty of opportunities to
practice your Spanish with native speakers of Spanish and even Americans
that learned Spanish as their first language.
The ability to speak Spanish also opens many career or business
opportunities. As an attorney, the ability to speak Spanish has enabled me
to represent many clients simply because I spoke their language.
Of course, if you live in certain cities or states you will have more
opportunities to practice your Spanish. For example, if you live in New York
you can find many Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Colombians, Ecuadorians,
Peruvians, Mexicans, and other Latin Americans an Latinos to practice your
Spanish. If you live in Texas or California you may find a lot of Mexicans
that can help you with your Spanish. In Florida, there are many Cubans.
My objective is to give you a multitude of tips and techniques to help you
speed up your learning of Spanish. I also want to reveal a number of things
that you can do to make your learning experience as inexpensive as possible.
Numero Uno: Immerse
Yourself
If you really want to learn Spanish, you need to immerse yourself in the
language and the culture. Do you know why you learned English so easily?
It’s not just because you were a child when you embarked on your study of
the English language. It’s mainly because you were immersed in it. As a
child you heard English 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.
If you could hear and speak Spanish 24 hours a day and 7 days a week you
would also learn Spanish incredibly fast. Although it may be difficult for
you to hear and speak Spanish 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, there are
things you can do to help immerse yourself in the language.
Instead of listening to your favorite music station when you’re driving in
your car, play a Spanish instructional CD. Of course, if your favorite music
station happens to be a Salsa or Merengue radio station, you can listen to
the Spanish lessons CD some other time.
When you’re home watching TV, try substituting MTV or the Discovery Channel
for Univision or Telefutura. If you are jogging, working out in the gym,
taking a walk, or just waiting in the doctor’s office, play a cassette or CD
from your favorite Spanish course. If you are waiting on line in the
supermarket, instead of reading that gossipy tabloid, press “play” on your
your cassette player and listen to a Spanish vocabulary tape or some other
Spanish lessons tape or CD.
Have you ever met a Hispanic person that has lived in the U.S. for many
decades and is still unable to speak English? That’s because he or she has
little or no exposure to English and is constantly immersed in Spanish.
That’s what you must try to emulate. Expose yourself and immerse yourself as
much as possible in the Spanish language and Latin American Culture.
Numero Dos: Develop
the Right Habits
This is probably the most important advice that I can give you about
learning Spanish or any other foreign language. More than anything else,
your habits will determine how quickly you learn Spanish. In fact, your
habits will determine if you actually learn the language or not.
Of course it helps if you have a language learning aptitude. Unfortunately,
I didn’t have a language learning aptitude. In fact, I couldn’t speak
English until I was four years old despite the fact that English was my
first language and the only language spoken in my home as a child. However,
my desire to learn Spanish was strong enough for me to develop the necessary
habits for learning Spanish.
Out of habit, every time I turned on my television it was tuned to Unvision,
Telefutura or HBO Latino. Out of habit, every time I got in my car the radio
dial was set to the Latino radio station Latino Mix. If not, then a CD or
cassette from a Spanish course was playing.
Out of habit, if I went out to a club it was a Salsa or Merengue club. If I
went out to a restaurant, it was probably a Latin American restaurant. Not
that Latino food “es mi plato favorito.” But if I go get a steak at Outback,
I am probably not going to get a chance to practice my Spanish with the
waiter.
In fact, if I was dating someone, she was either a native of a Spanish
speaking country or she learned Spanish as her first language here in the
U.S.
If you develop and cultivate these habits, you will learn Spanish extremely
fast.
Numero Tres: Learn
Spanish the Same Way that You Learned English
This may come as a shock to you, but in the high schools and colleges in the
U.S., the method that they are using to teach Spanish is all wrong.
If you want to learn Spanish, you must learn it the same way that you
learned English. Let me you ask you a question. Which did you learn first:
How to speak English or how to read and write English? Of course you learned
how to speak it first.
Then why are they teaching the students in the high schools and colleges to
read and write Spanish first? That’s because they don’t expect the students
to ever be able to speak Spanish. And that’s exactly what happens. Students
take several years of Spanish, graduate, and cannot even speak Spanish.
There’s another problem with learning to read and write Spanish before you
learn to speak it. By default, you subconsciously learn how to pronounce the
Spanish words the way you would pronounce them in English.
I made that same catastrophic mistake. It took me countless hours and
countless dollars in private instruction to correct the error. After much
wasted time and money, I discovered that the mistake could have been
avoided. I should not have learned to read and write Spanish until I had at
least reached the intermediate level of conversational Spanish.
You are going to have to trust me on this one …. Nothing sounds more
excruciating to Latin American ears than a “Gringo” with a thick American
accent speaking Spanish. How do I know? Because now that I speak Spanish
fluently, every time I hear an American with a strong American accent
speaking Spanish it makes me cringe.
Numero Cuatro:
Relate to What
You Already Know
Many words in Spanish are related to English. When you learn words in
Spanish and you relate them to words in English, it is much easier to
remember the Spanish words. For example, the word “beber” means to drink. If
you make a mental note or written note that the word “beber” is related to
the English word “beverage” it is easier to remember. Here’s another
example. The word “vegetales” is related to the English word “vegetables.”
If you make a note of this, the Spanish word “vegetales” will be much easier
to remember.
Numero Cinco: Make
Use of On-Line Resources
There are a number of on-line resources that can assist you in learning
Spanish. Many of them are free. One of my favorites is
www.MyLanguageExchange.com. My Language Exchange is an on-line community of
language learners. You can meet people who are learning virtually any
language at www.MyLanguageExchange.com.
Since you are studying Spanish you would try to meet someone at My Language
Exchange that’s a native speaker of Spanish and is trying to learn English.
You could become pen pals with the person. But I recommend that you become
more than just pen pals. As I mentioned earlier, the only way that you can
learn how to speak Spanish is by actually speaking it.
At My Language Exchange, you can meet people that are interested in doing
“voice chat.” Voice Chat permits you to have a live audio chat session with
one or more persons on-line. This is one of my favorite techniques for
learning Spanish. I have practiced with people from Mexico, Spain and
Colombia at My Language Exchange.
Normally, I would help them with English for 30-45 minutes. In exchange,
they would help me for the equivalent amount of time with my Spanish.
The last time I checked, My Language Exchange was offering two memberships.
There’s a Free membership. And there’s a Gold membership. The Gold
membership costs only $12 for a full year. That averages out to just $1 per
month.
Numero Seis: Become
an Imitator
From the very beginning of your learning-Spanish journey, try your best to
imitate native speakers. Try to imitate their pronunciations, their
intonations, etc. This is not something that you should delay. In fact, this
is one of the most important facets of learning any language.
Have you ever had someone come up to you and speak in what sounded like a
foreign language. Maybe the person was asking for directions or some other
information. And after the person rambled on for a while, you realized that
the person was not, in fact, speaking a foreign language. He or she was
actually speaking English. But his or her accent was so thick that you
initially believed that the person was speaking a foreign language.
This can happen to you as a student of Spanish if you are not careful. You
must make a purposeful effort to sound like native speakers. I know many
Americans who claim that they speak Spanish fluently but their accents are
awful. When I hear them speak, I say to myself “what a Gringo.” So I can
only imagine what a native speaker of Spanish says about the person.
If you wait until you reach the intermediate level to start sounding like
native speakers it will be too late to break the chains of habit. Make a
deliberate effort to start now. It will begin to pay off when you start
noticing how many native speakers of Spanish tell you how great your accent
sounds.
Numero Siete:
Practice Makes Perfect
Practice Makes Perfect is more than just a saying. It’s a language-learning
reality. When we were children we were completely unaware of the emotion
called “embarrassment.”
Throughout my teenage years and adult life, my mother would tell me about a
story – a true one – that when I was four years old I had wanted a drink of
water, and I asked “wah wah – wah wah.” My sister, on the other hand, barely
two years old at the time would say “mother may I have a glass of water
please.”
Despite the fact that a child not much more than a toddler was speaking
perfect English and I was grunting like a caveman, I never became
discouraged or embarrassed. I kept at it until I got it right. And now I can
say water in two different languages – actually three if I include
Portuguese.
You have to take the same child-like attitude toward learning Spanish. You
will make many mistakes. You will mispronounce words. You will use the wrong
vocabulary. And you will make grammatical errors. But never let this hold
you back from practicing your Spanish with a native speaker – even if the
native is a total stranger.
You must accept the reality that making mistakes is a part of learning any
language. If you are not making mistakes, it’s because you are not speaking
Spanish to anyone. And if you are not speaking, then you are not learning.
Keep in mind that Rome was not built in a day. And neither was Madrid, San
Juan, Santo Domingo, Cali, Mexico City, Colón, Havana or Buenos Aires.
Numero Ocho: “But
First You Must Believe . . .”
I don’t know if it was Peter Pan who first said this one, but I am going to
borrow it. It is imperative that you believe in yourself and your ability to
learn this beautiful language. I cannot overemphasize this point.
I am a strong believer in the power of thought. This is a technique that has
not only helped me to learn Spanish, but it has also helped me immensely in
everything that I have ever set out to do in life. I encourage you to use
this same technique – not only in learning Spanish – but with any goal that
you wish to accomplish.
In anything that I am striving to accomplish, I first visualize the
successful outcome of the goal.
After I have visualized the successful outcome of the goal, in this case
speaking Spanish fluently, I then map out the steps that I must take in
order to arrive at the accomplishment of my goal. For example, the steps may
involve practicing Spanish everyday for one hour. I then put in writing the
steps that I need to take on a daily basis to accomplish my goal. Then I
take action. Not sporadic action or inconsistent action. I take daily,
consistent, tremendous action until my goal is accomplished.
Numero Nueve: And
now for my favorite
Learning-Spanish technique: Get a Latin Amor
This technique may get you in a lot of trouble if you are already married or
otherwise in a committed relationship. In other words, this suggestion is
only for the single people.
If you really want to learn Spanish quickly, find a “significant other”
that’s a native of a Spanish speaking country. Preferably, someone that
speaks very little or no English. This way you will be forced to listen to
and speak Spanish.
Numero Diez: Last
but Certainly Not Least:
NEVER, NEVER, NEVER Give UP
If you stay focused you will surely accomplish your goal of speaking Spanish
proficiently or fluently. And you have total control over whether you reach
that goal in a year or two or a decade or two. I hope that the techniques
that I have outlined in this report will enable you to accomplish your goal
as quickly as you desire.
You are also welcome to pass this report on to anyone who you think may
benefit from this report. However, I do ask that you do not make any changes
to this report if you pass it on to anyone.
Patrick Jackson
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Patrick Jackson is the Founder of the Learning Spanish Like Crazy system of
learning Spanish. To learn more about his system of learning Spanish visit
his web site at
www.LearningSpanishLikeCrazy.com
