I work at a place where most people speak Spanish, and I want to be able to hold conversations with them. I’ve watched a couple of YouTube videos, but I haven’t been able to retain the information. I need to write down flashcards and notes. I’m wondering, and I don’t mind if it’s proprietary, what is the best and fastest way to learn Spanish?
Fastest? Moving to a Spanish speaking country. Total immersion is how the French Foreign Legion teaches French from my understanding.
I would probably do a mix of a language program, say Duolingo, Pimsler tapes or Rosetta Stone, and asking a few of your Spanish speaking friends to speak primarily Spanish to you, switching to English only when you are completely lost on a concept. Between the two you should pickup Spanish or rather, their dialect of Spanish, fairly quickly.
I like this. Bonus: read children’s books and bilingual books; watch news or children’s shows in Spanish.
Find a good way to crunch vocabulary memorization with digital flashcard programs you can work during any downtime you have.
For spoken conversations, I think Pimsleur is great. I’ve used it for several international trips, and locals regularly asked if I lived there. What I like is that it 1. focuses on listening and understanding, 2. instructs you to learn first to pronounce words correctly and only to learn the spelling much later and 3. starts with the most useful phrases and develops from there. Instead of teaching you random vocab words like “milk” and “pants” the first phrase you learn is “I don’t understand Spanish.” It mixes in repetition and small changes in the just the right amounts so you learn actively instead of just memorizing. I love Pimsleur.
The quickest way is probably complete immersion, but I’m guessing that’s off the table. Second best would likely be one-on-one tutoring.
You have to completely immerse yourself in Spanish content if you want to learn it quickly. Switch your phone and PC to Spanish. Start only watching Spanish language videos and shows. Read only Spanish language news. Listen to only Spanish language music. The only time you should hear or see English is when you’re communicating with someone who doesn’t speak Spanish.
That’s the fastest way (without moving to a Spanish speaking country).
THE best way would be to go live in a spanish speaking country The second best is getting a latino girlfriend The third best is geting yourself a private tutor.
The cheaper the way the longer it takes.
One of the main reasons I’m learning Spanish is so I can talk to the Spanish girl at work, lol. However, I’ve already tried before with another girl who only speaks Spanish, and I honestly didn’t like the fact that we couldn’t communicate much. It was my fault because I didn’t know anything except “Hola” and very basic terms.
Google Translate relationships can be pretty frustrating. I’m wondering if I could reach a good level if I dedicated a full month to studying. So far, I’m doing one hour a day. Maybe this girl at work wouldn’t mind teaching me along the way if we get into a relationship?
Do the girl at your work speaks a little english too? If it’s 100% translate yeah, you can’t keep it, but my take on a latina girlfriend (as someone that was married to a latino mam) is not only her but the whole family.
(in my own experience, yours could be different of course) They are very loud and talkative which can be good when trying to learn. Also the families tend to be closer, emotionally and physically so you live the language and make friends (god knows how much I miss them and their food) but their biggest pro is that they don’t give a fuck. If you are tying to learn they will help you, even when you don’t want them to LOL
Having a latino girlfriend is like living the language no matter where you are in the world.
Just prepare to be fat coz abuela won’t take no mas as an answer! lol
Edit: also where do you work that have so many spanish people? spain?
I work at a laundry place that has atleast over 50+ Spanish women. It’s 90% women and 10% men, I am literally in heaven everyday here.
Thank you for the advice.
Lol! I bet you have some tias and abuelas there. Tell them some day “I would love to learn spanish”. Being “adopted” by the spanish is cheaper than any of the other options
Don’t bother with course materials I would say. Just speak Spanish with them as much as you can. Maybe watch a few Spanish-language tv shows, especially some intended for kids (Sesame Street?) since those usually have clear pronunciation.
Really the first important thing in a new language is to train your ear to break down the sounds of continuous speech, so it sounds like words instead of mush. That takes some tens of hours to get traction at all. So do lots of passive listening with your coworkers. Stuff like grammar and vocabulary come next and can be gradual. Course materials can help with grammatical subtleties but basic speaking and listening come first.
Also, try to quit speaking English quite early if your coworkers will put up with it. Speak Spanish and use a dictionary if you don’t know a word. Don’t bother with flash cards. You’ll forget stuff and have to look it up again and that’s fine. After a few repetitions it will stick.
Try to make your pronunciation very accurate. That will help in all areas. We think of phonetics, vocabulary (lexicon), and grammar as separate things, but they are all interrelated and mutually reinforcing.
You will find yourself thinking in Spanish instead of English pretty quickly. You are basically reformatting your brain so just roll with it.
Be aware that your English can actually get worse from this process. At least mine did. Decide if you are ok with that.
The best language learning system I’ve ever used is called Language Transfer, and it’s completely free (supported by donations).
It focuses on getting you to use constructs and patterns that you already know in your own language and transferring those to the new language. That way you start off with a good vocabulary and basic grammar.
They have Spanish, as well as German, French, Greek, Turkish, Arabic, Swahili.
There is also an app, which is plain but extremely usable.
Learn a hundred words,
The most common ones, or the ones that are most relevant to your vocation.
Use them incorrectly and ask “como se di-se” (how do you say) to those who are multilingual, or trying to learn English
Laziest fast way is to watch a ton of Spanish speaking movies with Spanish subtitles
You can have conversations with offline text gen AI models. They are usually fluent in many languages. It is not a great primary source but you can treat them like a private tutor that can answer your specific questions and it can point you in the right direction.
Use it as much as possible and don’t be afraid of making mistakes.
Live in spain
Picking up a 2nd (or more) language is just going to be hard. There’s not a magic shortcut, or anything you can buy or course to take that will make you fluent in a month.
That out of the way, there are lots of resources out there!
Look up comprehensible input channels on YouTube (eg, Dreaming Spanish). You can find something at your level, even down to the point where they’ll mostly point at pictures and say words. Eventually add in things like cartoons, news, podcasts, or social media when you feel up to it.
There’s debate about whether you need anything besides input. I’m partial to a mixed approach, so I’d say get a good textbook too.
Anki is great for vocab flashcards (but you’ll have to find decks, which can be annoying). Apps like Duolingo can be a good supplement too.
Make a habit through the day or thinking about how to say things in Spanish. Repeat your sentences in your head, or think about what the Spanish version would be of signs you see.
It’s just a long term goal though, to get anywhere meaningful. Engage with your target language every day.
To tack on - if you’re still pretty early, beginner textbook style lessons will be the most helpful at the start. If your main goal is to communicate with folks in a the short term, memorize set phrases and common verbs (along w/ basic conjugation rules).
It’s surprising how much you can get by with when you have limited vocab and speed, but know how to ask someone clarifying questions or ask if they can slow it down.
Spanish is my native tongue, so this might not work as well as I expect it to, but Pimsleur courses are GREAT to get quick phrases and learning to think in the language. They try to teach you very close to how native speakers learn it, and because of the repetition you tend to remember most of it.
That being said most of their content is focused on visiting a different country, so you might not need the very basic phrases like “I’m American, I don’t speak <language>”, but they give you an idea on how the language is structured.
Finally, while Pimsleur and many other suggestions here are great, it varies from person to person so you might need to find what works best for you.
