If you’re looking for a few simple ways to make learning Spanish a lot easier, these tips will help you. Of course, you’ll need to have a good Spanish class, text, or online learning program to make full use of them. However, they can do a lot to speed up your ability to master the Spanish language.

Subtitles

Watch English-language movies with the Spanish subtitles on. You’ll slowly absorb the Spanish words and their meaning while watching your favorite films! This is an inexpensive and fun multi-media technique.

Kids’ Books

You can pick up a lot of the basics of a new language by reading children’s books. In fact, you can read more advanced material as well if you are already familiar with the book – try picking up Spanish translations of books you have read- when you know the book, you’ll have an easy time learning the Spanish words and phrases.

TV

Spanish and Latin American television and radio shows can be invaluable, too. One of the best choices is the type of show referred to as a novela – these are like American soap operas, and allow you to hear the language spoken with clarity and good diction.

Comic Strips

Spanish language comic strips online and in newspapers make a great source, too. They expose you to idioms you might not see in a textbook, and they’re relatively easy to understand.

3×5 Cards

These are flash cards, but not the usual pre-packaged type. Instead, carry these cards and write down new words that you encounter throughout the day. Find out what they mean and add them to your existing flash cards or other learning methods. This is also great for phrases you run into frequently.

Remember High School?

A lot of us took some Spanish in high school or college or perhaps a related Romance language such as French or Italian. These provide you with a good basis to build on, since you’ll have learned a bit about grammar and verb conjugation. If you know some Italian or French you will already have something of a handle on word order within sentences, but keep in mind that pronunciation will be significantly different.

Talk With Native Speakers

If you live in an area with a large Spanish speaking population (for instance, Texas, California, Florida or larger cities like Chicago and New York), you’ll have an easy time meeting native speakers to practice your skills with. However, even if you don’t have a lot of native speakers to converse with in your area, get in contact with a Spanish club or students from a Spanish class.

Practice Every Day

Practice makes perfect, but it’s far more effective if you practice daily. The more often you work on your Spanish, the better chance you have of learning it quickly and easily. You don’t have to get stuck in the same daily “learning” routine either – mix it up to keep it interesting!

Using these tips will make learning Spanish fun and easy. You should use these tips in conjunction with a self study course or classroom instruction which has a track record of success and mixes up teaching techniques to keep you interested. A lot of people give up on learning Spanish because of a dull instructional routine. Choose fun, interactive instruction which can keep you interested and you’ll master Spanish in no time.

Have fun and let us know if you have any questions!

Original Post: Learn Languages Now

Can I Honestly Learn Spanish Quickly? Absolutely!

If you are interested in learning Italian, you probably want to learn it as quickly and efficiently as possible. In this article I want to explore the option of gaining basic fluency in Italian in 3 months or less.

In reality, many Italian students end up learning Italian for years in Italian language classes only to find that they still can’t carry on a basic conversation by the end of their studies. On the other hand, I personally know many people who have learned Italian or another foreign language in 3 months or less.

Before I get more into the plan, I should note that those of you who already know another romance langauge like Spanish or French will find this much easier to do. Also, if you have studied a foreign language that wasn’t necessarily a romance one, you will still have a slight advantage. For those of you who have never studied a foreign language before, you may find that the process takes you a bit more time because you are not used to learning foreign languages yet.

However, you should know that it is definitely possible to achieve basic fluency in Italian in 3 months as long as you stay committed to studying Italian each and every day for a serious amount of time.

Let’s go over some basic numbers so that you can see for yourself what is required to get to the basic fluency level in Italian.

Many language experts say that in most European languages including Italian, the 1000 most commonly used words make up 85% of common speech while the 3000 most commonly used words make up 95% of common speech. For our basic fluency goals in Italian, we will want to hit the 3000 word mark.

Additionally, many experts in languages say that in order to become fluent in languages like Italian, Spanish or French, 200 hours of active study time is required.

Given that you are going to study every day for 3 months, you have about 90 days which means that you will learn about 33 words per day. If you devote two hours of study each day that means you will get 180 hours of active study by the end of your 3 months which is basically the recommended 200 hours.

Many of you might think that learning 33 new words per day is too challenging. However, if you think about it, given that you have 2 hours of study time each day, that means you have to learn about 16 words per hour or about 1 word every 4 minutes. This is not so hard, is it?

Take into consideration the fact that many coganates exist between Italian and English like the English word “international” being “internazionale” in Italian and you will see that you will be able to pick up many Italian words in less than 5 seconds.

But we should also remember that you won’t always have 2 hours to study only new vocabulary. It’s also important that you review old vocabulary that you learned as well as concentrate on improving your grammar use. However, even given these other study areas, you should still have enough time.

Given this goal of 2 hours of active study each day and a goal of learning 3000 words by the end of your study period, you will achieve basic fluency in Italian in 3 months. The important thing is that you stay committed to studying each and every day and make sure that you are continually progressing. If you stay true to your plan, you will achieve your Italian fluency goal.

Original Post: Learn Languages Now

Italian Fluency in 3 Months With This Plan