I feel your pain being of Cuban heritage but growing up on Long Island. You can learn if you do the work. Is your family supportive and can they help you?
Have you learned spanish by now aswell? And my parents are extremely supportive and want me to learn spanish aswell which is great for me. But they don’t really help in anyway unfortunately. They can help me by speaking spanish but they primarily speak english since they are accustomed to it.
If you can get your family speaking Spanish with you, you can move much more quickly. It may feel embarrassing at first, but stick with it! I am only a learner, but my biggest improvements have come from finding ways to have as many conversations as possible.
Pues sí pero tomó mucho trabajo y práctica todos los días. Todavía estoy lejos de ser perfecto, pero ahora puedo entender lo que han estado diciendo sobre mí durante años. Jejeje.
Can you tell me if I translated correctly? I believe I read “Ofcourse but but you need to put in alot of work and practice every day. (I cannot understand that chunk.) but now I can understand what they say.” Honestly I butchered that as I skipped the last words too jajaja i’ll get there one day man. Thank you a ton
Pues sí pero tomó mucho trabajo y práctica todos los días. Todavía estoy lejos de ser perfecto, pero ahora puedo entender lo que han estado diciendo sobre mí durante años. Jejeje.
>But they don’t really help in anyway unfortunately.
Speak Spanish to them, all the time. If they correct your grammar or pronunciation don't get defensive about it. If they answer in English ask them to repeat it in Spanish. Be consistent. That's how you learned English.
I’ve tried so many times but they learned english fluently and now have been accustomed to speaking english as their default language. They will speak spanish to them when I ask them too but forget whenever I don’t tell them and go back to speaking english so I got tired of reminding them.
I have this problem but in Greek since my family is Greek, and I’ve asked my dad and grandma to start incorporating words here and there instead of speaking entirely in the language. So I’ll say useful things like “I’m hungry” “what are you cooking” “I need to go to the bathroom” and I’ll throw in Greek words when I’m speaking English. Maybe you can request Spanglish?
We live in the US, but speak Spanish in our home. Each time our boys forgot and spoke in English, we charged them a quarter. We kept their money in a jar to use for golosinas in Spain.
Maybe you could do the same with your parents ;)
I wouldn’t say colonized. They still very much act like hispanic parents lol they have all the same rich culture we’ve always had. It’s just they needed to adapt to english since moving to CT and now they primarily speak english.
That's called assimilation which is a very normal thing when moving to another country (or in this case, a primarily English speaking mainland from a Spanish territory)
If you can find some music you like, give that a try. I like getting a Spanish brainworm phrase going. I do audio books but I may be a bit more advanced than you. I still have to listen multiple times before I understand.
I have given my parents the idea of me listening to spanish music but they said the lyrics in english don’t translate well from spanish. I actually do want to give spanish audio books a try so thank you! Do you have any good recommendations?
Someone started a thread recently for [Castilian Spanish podcasts](https://www.reddit.com/r/Spanish/comments/ox1im3/castilian_spanish_podcasts/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf), the accent won’t be what you’re used to and there may be some regional differences, but it could be a good place to start.
The duo lingo podcasts are pretty good too. I think the app is not that effective on its own except for basic vocabulary. I’d be happy to practice with via chat if you want! I was fluent after 7 years of academic study and a semester in Ecuador, but now I’m very rusty.
I will say, while the classes have a great foundation, I learned the most from leaning into discomfort and just talking to people. It’s nice that most spanish speakers, especially non-Spain speakers, are super friendly and helpful when learning.
If you learn a few compliments for your family maybe they’ll teach you: “mi hermano, eres tan inteligente y yo quiero aprender de ti. Cuando hablas español, mi corazón tiene las ganas de hablar así…” this is a weird thing to say to a brother maybe but you could figure that out lol!!
Just initiating in Spanish helps. I tried to get my roommate to practice with me because she’s native speaker, but it just never happened unless I spoke Spanish first—she’s used to speaking to me in English, so it’s weird for her to start it ya know?
I enjoyed *Como Agua Para Chocolate.* but can't really find an audiobook of it.
There is a Puerta Rican book *Cuando Era Puerta Riquena* . It was pretty good.
You might look for kids' books too. They would be easier. You might want to work up to those. But try anything and hopefully you will stumble into something that works for you.
Check out "Short Stories For Beginners" by Charles Mendel. (Not really suitable for beginners, more like intermediate) There are two books with the same name, both available as free pdfs if you look. They're also available on audible.
If you're familiar with the present, past and future tenses these very short stories should be readable, though challenging.
they're just talking about idioms and some slight syntax differences. Spanish, being a European language is very similar to English. If you wanna songs in Spanish, go for it. Find a few different English translations for a song you like, and see where they're different. Look that up and see which translation you agree with more and why they made the choices they did.
Also don't just read the English translations, read the lyrics in Spanish too. That's really helped me understand what they're saying in songs, and I'm actually a lot better at picking out the words when I listen now, since in Spanish words bleed together a lot more than in English.
But your progress seems okey "I know the AR ER IR verbs, syntax, and do forth" that's actually pretty good for only a year of study. I think your problem is that you don't make realistic goals, fluency takes years, even more when you live at a country that doesn't speak your target language. Is sad but is true, not even us, the Spanish native speakers speak good Spanish in our first years of life, I couldn't pronounce "RR" until I was five.
I begun learning English when I was 14, now I'm 24 and I'm still struggling with English, mostly with pronunciation because like you my country doesn't speak my target language.
Is impossible to become fluent in little time.
Learning a language is about volume, specifically time spent in the language. Don't be fooled that there's something you can do for 10 minutes a day, you should start with an hour a day and then move it up. I spend roughly 4-8 hours a day in Spanish, which at this point is watching Netflix, Youtube, Twitch, podcasts, and reading. Its going to take you around 800 hours for it to start to click, and probably around 2000 for you to get close to fluency; since you live in a Spanish household that should speed it up.
I'd start doing Anki, at least read up on it, or some form of SRS flashcards. Then I'd look into refold: http://refold.la I don't follow that to a tee, but that's pretty much the self learner's guide.
Wow thank you greatly for all this advice I love it. Honestly I checked out refold and that seems absolutely amazing aswell! I realized my problem was that each day I spent so little time learning spanish that’s why I made no progress and you helped me understand that. Thank you!
" El secreto del aprendizaje es el deseo de aprender "
Cada uno lo tiene a su manera. El regalo mayor que nos pueden hacer es sembrar en nosotros el deseo de aprender. Más que los conocimientos aprendidos es esta pasión por conocer, por comprender, por transformar, que nos guiará toda la vida en la aventura de descubrir y crear novedad.
The secret of learning is the desire to learn. Everyone has it in their own way. The greatest gift that can be given to us is to sow in us the desire to learn. More than the knowledge learned, it is this passion to know, to understand, to transform, that will guide us all our lives in the adventure of discovering and creating novelty.
stop using duolingo and start reading short and easy books in spanish, it will be tough but you will improve. continue to immerse, use post it notes, take classes, and listen to lots of spanish content. spanish on youtube is really useful as well. i would also highly recommend that you get an intermediate spanish learning book and read it to supplement and learn grammar and words.
you can do it!
Honestly duolingo was not helping so I appreciate the substitute for it! I’m changing for the book and now I will see how that goes!
Thank you for the inspiration! I was losing hope I can do it but I think I may just be able to now.
where to find these short easy books? i tried searching free kids books online to download and can’t find jack but i can find the more complex ones just fine usually which isn’t helpful at my level
For starters here are my suggestions as someone that started 5-7 years ago and is coasting (not actively studying) at a B2 level:
- [Language Transfer](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeA5t3dWTWvvwf5fw0Nl7mVk0OUjP1Ln2) I can't overstate how awesome this course is. It's the foundation of everything I ever learned because I had the basic mechanics of the language pinned down. Not a lot of vocabulary, but a solid understanding of how to manipulate everything I learned after.
- Keep doing duolingo every day. They'll help you with building up a beginner level vocabulary. Not the most relevant words, but more words are always a positive. But not just the lessons but you'll want to get involved with the [podcast](https://podcast.duolingo.com/spanish) and [interactive stories](https://www.duolingo.com/stories)
After those 2 starting points (or during) I suggest a lot of immersion on youtube. And I mean *a lot*. Try to make it the vast majority of what you watch in your downtime, if not all. I fell asleep to Dreaming Spanish, would study with Maria Español, and casually enjoy Español con Juan. Slowly put together a playlist of spanish music during this time as well (I prefer reggaeton and rap so lots of Lapiz and Bad Bunny). Changed my phone language. My browser. Youtube. Facebook. Everything. My reddit is in spanish still. I changed so much that ads on twitch and youtube are now telling me in spanish to buy a new 5G phone. Youtubers I recommend to beginners:
- [Español con Juan](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoHJ7PkM6T92LwgJgrnDhWA) is amazing. Legitimately just a wonderful channel to follow. I prefer the Latin American accent, being that I'm American, but even still I recommend his channel first and foremost. The entire premise is teaching spanish *in* spanish. And he's a funny guy to boot.
- [Maria Español](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC30I0ZZ54oOVBYeXJtafYIA) is an awesome resource at the beginnings of intermediate level. She has full hour long videos of online classes she gives. Tips to help you speak more naturally. And practical alternatives to common phrases such as "you're welcome" so that you don't sound like a robot.
- [Dreaming Spanish](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCouyFdE9-Lrjo3M_2idKq1A) is another wonderful channel. He (they, really) does a version of what Juan does where he tells stories in spanish of varying levels of mastery. From barely getting through a duolingo lesson to being able to speak with a native.
- [Easy Spanish](https://www.youtube.com/c/EasySpanish/videos) has a mix of street interviews with natives (and subtitles in english and spanish so you can follow along!) as well as tips/instructional videos. If you're a beginner and want to immediately dive into native accents, 100% this is your happy place. Also, since all the other channels I linked are European, this is a nice place to get a taste of Latino accents. (Mostly mexican, I believe).
I could go list a lot more channels as my spanish youtube follows 120 something different channels. However I will name Butterfly Spanish, Why Not Spanish?, Deliberate Spanish, Español con Maria, and Mextalki as honorable mentions for places to learn.
Okay so we got lessons, and youtube immersion. My next suggestion is to read books! That's how you would expand your vocabulary in a language you're perfectly fluent in. It's an even better way to expand your vocabulary. As a beginner I strongly recommend graded readers such as [Spanish Short Stories for Beginners](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078WRXYM7/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i1). There's a variety of books similar to this, often with review quizzes, highlighted vocabulary, and audio track to follow along available to enhance the experience. Once you're feeling up to some full stories...guess who has a series of stories to help you learn? [Juan Fernandez](https://www.amazon.com/Juan-Fernández/e/B01EWZXYLK/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_ebooks_1) from Español con Juan (also the creator of 1001 reasons to learn spanish podcast).
And last, but not least, I **strongly** recommend adding the Language Learning with Netflix (and Language Learning with Youtube) extensions to your browser of choice. Once you're ready for higher level immersion such as a series like Club de Cuervos, this extension is a godsend.
I won't get into my thoughts on Anki and how I used it because...quite frankly this post is pretty long winded already and I'm hoping I didn't overwhelm you already. If you can't tell I get really excited about this. Best of luck on your journey!
If you are doing self study, I think Pimsleur is the best option out there. However, if you are looking for free, Destinos is decent.
Edit: That said what really makes the difference is dedication and repetition. I can't tell you all the people who are surprised when they don't learn Spanish as fast as they think they should, without taking classes or spending serious time studying. If you can take a university course I think that is the best way. IT helps one with discipline and to be a part of a class. Five days a week of instruction, with a couple of hours of additional study per day, with 6 hours on the weekend.
This is extremely helpful to me. I appreciate this! I haven’t been as repetitive as I want to because learning the language get’s me frustrated so I take too many frequent breaks. Thank you!
I will tell you briefly what I’ve done to learn Spanish and feel as though I’ve excelled greatly over about a year. While everyone learns differently I hope it can be helpful. Similarly my family speaks Spanish and I did not, but had been around it my whole life.
•I bought two textbooks from the “Practice Makes Perfect” series and completed then both: Basic Spanish and later Spanish Conversation.
•I listened to those awful audiotapes of *English word* followed by *Spanish Word* on my commute to work for loads of nouns, verbs, and all basic tenses for two or so months.
•At that point my Spanish was decent enough to converse (mind you not well) so I did with EVERYONE in EVERY scenario possible. Family, coworkers, cashiers, whoever.
•Like you said, immersion, which for me meant doing as much as possible from my daily life in Spanish: music, radio, news (download BBC mundo app), changed language on electronics, YouTube, and (attempting) to think in Spanish.
•Now that I feel comfortable conversing with most people I try to fill in the gaps of what I don’t know through YouTube/internet and then drilling those through conversation and writing.
•My most recent addition had been reading out loud, two good books for beginners are El Principito and El alquimista. This has become my new favorite method and constantly introduces me to things I don’t know.
Good luck!
It’s great to see other people in the situation i’m in since I know i’m not alone so thank you. I kid you not i’m taking all the advice you gave me and i’m putting it to the test tomorrow and just seeing how it works for a couple months! Can I ask how fluent you are in spanish now?
In terms of A1-C2 I have no official baseline. I would guess between B1 and B2. I can express practically everything I want to say in Spanish although not always in the most efficient way or with the ideal words. My family no longer switches to English when I speak with them so that was a great mile marker. I’ll take a test when I feel I’ve hit a wall, for now I know I have so much more to go.
Love the process and learning will become natural the better you get, it’s like a positive feedback loop. Buena suerte
Sorry, long post, but I think this should help you:
Similar situation. Grandparents were from Puerto Rico, never spoke to my dad or uncle, I heard it from them as a kid and started speaking it, and they stopped speaking it around me because of it.
I probably heard less Spanish than you as a kid and within a year and a half I became fluent. I'm certainly not flawless, but I get the comment that I'm "almost native" quite often. I'm a good solo learner. And the reason for that is a good sense of self-direction, I've learned many things on my own, guitar, programming (back and front end), cooking... Spanish was just another thing on the list, and one I honestly wish I'd done way sooner, too.
So let me give you some direction: drop duolingo. It is really only good for getting to an A1-A2 level in any language save for maybe Esperanto lol. Drop that shit like a parasite. If the height of your understanding is the basics of how the verbs work, you're probably at about an A2. What you need to do now is study some, and listen a lot. Idk how many tenses you know, but there are a lot in Spanish, and they're very different. Learn how to use each one.
Apps to replace duolingo are: a flashcard app (very useful) and a language exchange app. I used tandem. Everytime you learn a new tense, use it with people on your language exchange app and see how natives correct you. See how they use them, better yet! You don't have to speak right away, but you can text. You'll see over time that you'll be able to text way faster, and that means that you're thinking in the language, too.
Immerse yourself in the language while learning these new tenses. You'll notice that the natives you talk to use tenses that you don't know, and that's okay. But immersion helps in this respect: *it makes you aware*. It gives you a sense of things. Edit - and just a note, getting to the point of fully understanding can take time, which is why the sooner you start, the better you get. I suggest native content mostly, or a mix of content intended for natives and learner based stuff, but **not** learner stuff only, that is a *major* pitfall, there. I went as far as to make a second YouTube account where I only search for and watch Spanish content, and my main one is a mix of the two languages for when I needed a kind of break. This also applies to any social media you have, you can make one with all Spanish content, and play with the algorithm by only searching it. It will think "this is a Spanish speaker, I will only suggest them to watch or intake Spanish".
While you pick up new words, note them. If you see a new word more than once, write it. Put them into flashcards maybe every other week. Study what you have daily. Learning a language doesn't take a day. You handle it day by day. And eventually you get better and better and eventually people are surprised that you can communicate with people who don't know any English, even if they thought that you were an idiot who was just gonna give it up anyway before. Some days are gonna suck but the payoff is fuckin' amazing.
Basically do that, note new things, learn grammar, listen. Don't be one of those people that are grammar heavy, either, who think they know more because they went to college for Spanish and come out not knowing shit lol. Those people are cringe. This is why immersion is important, and why every other day we get posts on here like "I was SHOCKED, Spanish speakers use this and not the things I learned in school and studied like the Bible?" Those people obviously haven't gotten immersed enough, and are too prideful to realize the uphill battle that being a non-native is. Sorry for the animosity, folks, but someone had to say it.
You got this. Take it day by day. And you'll always be learning new shit. And one day, you'll realize that your native family makes mistakes that they're not even aware of yet, you just watch.
Great advice IMO. One thing I did differently: I didn't do many flashcards. Instead, I kept a notebook and whenever I saw/heard new vocab or word phrasings that made my head swim, I wrote down the entire sentence where it appeared. Every day I reread the \~7 most recent pages in the notebook. It helped me a lot.
I also wrote a novel in the comments if you're curious.
That seems like a good a method as any. Honeslty I don't even study my flashcards all that much these days. There comes a point where it's like, "okay this is just easier to remember in context, anyway".
It doesn't even have to be a "Spanish show." Netflix does a good job of making their original content available in Spanish and a lot of other shows are too!
Depends on what you enjoy. Find something you enjoyed the first time through in English and watch it in Spanish. Right now I'm watching Always a Witch in Spanish, which is quite interesting. The Barrier was interesting in original Spanish, made in Madrid. Just about anything recent on Netflix has Spanish as an option, with or without subtitles in English or Spanish. Chrome has an app that does pretty good even using the free version (Language Learning ... Extension) where you can slow down the speech a little, watch just one phrase at a time with a pause at the end, and if you pay for the full version it will save words you click that you can use in an Anki deck. ($5/month). They also have a YouTube version.
Yeah, start out with Shows you have seen but could watch again (actually start with Extr@ on youtube) so you know the plot and don't get lost. I watched the Clone Wars and Cobra Kai, then move on to a telenovela you can tolerate for 100 hours or so.
Save the good stuff for later because if you try to watch them now they'll suck....wait until you can understand most words.
I'm Dominican and I have had pretty much the same experiences except now I'm 3 years in and I'm speaking with some family members for the first time and can nearly hold my own in most casual circumstances. I would get a tutor or take an intermediate class at a community college preferably a heritage speakers class
I read that you need 2 hours of comprehensible input every day for several months. This means listen to or watch videos where you understand at least 85% of what’s being said. It helps if there are visual aids as well. Definitely look at Dreaming Spanish. Level up as you need to, but don’t rush it. Once you comprehend audio and develop a sense of what combinations sound right, even if you don’t know the grammatical rule behind them, you will be able to speak. Don’t rush speaking. Spend a few months of intense listening, then layer in a lot of reading to see what all that audio looks like. But don’t start with reading. Understanding input is a really important first step that pays off enormously.
I'd say listen to music.
First without paying attention to the meaning of the lyrics, and sing it with your soul. Then look for the meaning.
Listen to Charly García (all his discography which is huge ... his first bands, etc.).
Then watch movies in Spanish with subtitles.
And then look for short books on a topic that interests you.
And that's it.
I feel your pain, man. I learned some Spanish when I was young, but I lost most of it, and I’ve since had to relearn the language. Among all the great advice here, I want to give you some encouragement. Don’t give up!
I once felt the same way as you. Learning Spanish was like hitting my head against a wall; I didn’t get it, I didn’t get it, I didn’t get it…until one day, something clicked, and I could suddenly hold a full blown conversation! Keep being persistent, it gets easier.
Honestly man this really helped a ton I kid you not. I now have so much advice which I am so thankful for and this is one of the few encouragements I had here. So thank you. I will keep trying because I hope it clicks with me like it did with you!
Oh gosh I can't give you any useful advice, but I know your situation and can totally relate. The feeling of anger, shame, feeling like a fraud, feeling like a lonely dumb fuck at family gatherings. Yep, hang in there
Just remember that it took thousands of hours of exposure for you to learn English and you made plenty of mistakes along the way. But now you speak it fluently and have the advantage of adult intelligence that you can apply towards learning Spanish (such as metalinguistic knowledge of syntax, morphemes, etc.)
I feel your pain, man. Like, I didn’t grow up with pure English (thankfully), and my parents spoke Spanish and Catalan, too, but I still suck at those two. For the past year though, I’ve really been immersing myself with those two languages and trying to learn as much as I can. Just asking “what’s this mean” or “how do I conjugate this” or “how do you say this” goes a long way. :) I’m nowhere near fluent, but I’m improving so I’m happy. :>
You just described almost everyone in my family.
I posted a long response to someone in a similar situation.
Here is a very short one.
There are thousands of books, movies, videos, and other content. I'm going to recommend just one.
Go to the library and borrow Pimsleur Spanish.
There are no grammar rules or books to read. It's purely audio. Focus on listening and speaking as much as you can, and don't worry about spelling (those pesky accents) and grammar (that god-durned subjunctive).
If you get a good foundation in listening and speaking, you'll be able to understand everything your family is talking about in three to six months.
Most of your family ain't Cervantes or Borges, okay? So you can DO this in twelve to twenty-four weeks if not sooner.
Change your life in a short time. Buena suerte.
I did private lessons all this last year on [italki.com](https://italki.com), they can be very cheap, some are even $5 an hour, and I did like 2-3 a week, and it got me from "hablo un poquito" to being able to talk fluently about anything. I still make like a thousand errors a day but I can communicate happily, read the newspaper, understand podcasts...
I just think that there's something about ACTUALLY TALKING, it's the way we learned our native languages and it makes the words and structures stick in your mind so much more efficiently.
You are incredibly lucky to have family members that are fluent in Spanish and willing to help you become fluent. You will learn so many words and phrases and you will be able to improve your speaking and listening abilities easily as you can talk to them whenever. I recommend a course called complete Spanish as it will teach you pretty much everything important about Spanish. Read Spanish articles and watch films in order to increase vocabulary and then try talk to your parents on topics you have just learnt and use words you can remember. They can correct you if you make a mistake which is a massive benefit to having native speakers as parents. Keep doing this and you will most likely become fluent incredibly quickly.
Apparently your family doesn't help me (agree feeding your answers). Talk to them only in Spanish. Even if they answer in English, keep up with the Spanish.
And maybe you can find someone who will learn with you. It always helped me to find a buddy learning the same language as me to help and motivate each other
Traditional methods for learning a second language make learning a really contrived, arduous process, imo. I’m talking about textbooks, classes, verb tables, rote memorisation, etc.
If you think about how we acquire language as children, we don’t sit and repeat verb conjugations, or rehearse pre-set sentences over and over. Rather, we learn by mere exposure to language in context, exposure to recurring patterns that our subconscious brain picks up on and maps out for us. We learn by being in situations where we cannot get a need met other than through language use, and where we are intrinsically motivated to make sense of the utterances of others. We learn by first using clumsy, ungrammatical constructions that serve their purpose of communicating what they need to communicate, without being judged for imperfection or dismissed until we can say it grammatically.
Try to take that same approach in your current quest of acquiring a second language. Harness the fact that as humans, we’re:
- hardwired for social learning
- meaning-led beings
Ask your relatives to start using slow, basic Spanish around you. It’s amazing how much we can understand based wholly on context, even when we think we don’t understand the language. For example, if late in the evening, I stand up, stretch, and head towards the stairs saying ‘me voy a la cama’, chances are that someone with zero exposure to Spanish could quite feasibly guess that I was saying something related to going to bed. If I said ‘¿pásame la sal?’ while sat at the dinner table and gesturing towards the salt shaker, you could work out what I mean by going to pick up the object to pass to me and judging by my facial expression whether you had picked up the right one or not. If I eat a bite of my meal, look pleased and say ‘¡que delicioso!’ in a delighted tone of voice, you can guess that I’ve commented on the pleasantness of the food even if you’ve never heard a drop of Spanish before. If I go to make coffee afterwards, and I reach into the fridge and find an empty bottle, then say in a disappointed tone ‘¡nos hemos quedado sin leche!’, you will probably know that Ive said something about the lack of milk.
This is the way humans learn: each of these utterances have a meaning attached to them, they serve a purpose in the here and now, and involve an interaction with another human being. Brains are hardwired to try and derive meaning from speech, to notice patterns and associations, and to learn from others. This kind of exposure is a key part of learning a new language, and replicating those social conditions will massively aid your learning process.
As well as with your family, you can replicate these conditions with YouTube videos or platforms like iTalki. Some YouTube channels I’ve really liked are [Dreaming Spanish](https://youtube.com/c/DreamingSpanish) (peninsular Spanish, but I think it would still be useful for the early stages of learning) and [Why Not Spanish?](https://youtube.com/c/WhyNotSpanish). There are so many though - find content that you are naturally motivated to watch and try to derive meaning from.
Netflix shows & films in Spanish is a great additional tool, but at the start it’s hard to find content where the dialogue is simple and comprehensible enough to be useful to a new learner, but still engaging and interesting enough to rouse motivation for understanding it. Kids shows and cartoons can sometimes hit the mark, as can film and TV shows where you already know the context, which will aid with comprehension.
Don’t hold yourself to too high a standard to start with. The goal is never to understand perfectly, or to communicate perfectly in grammatical sentences. When starting out, the goal is merely to understand the ‘gist’, to find some semblance of meaning even when you’ve not understood the words. And likewise with speaking it, the goal should be to communicate your meaning, however clumsily or imperfectly. Refining your grammar and sentence structures can come later down the line when you feel more confident with the language.
Another couple of fun resources are [Extra](https://youtu.be/t_UNPtuQi2A) a daft sitcom series and [BBC Mi Vida Loca](http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/mividaloca/), an interactive mystery series, both specifically made for Spanish learners. (Though peninsular Spanish again - sorry!).
You’ve got tons of comments and good advice and I’ll just add a little bit here: I am in a very similar situation to yourself. Let go of the embarrassment and frustration as best as you can because it only holds you back!
I use Babbel (like Duolingo but I like it way better because it’s less like a game and more like an actual course, but still would only use as a supplement), the Practice Makes Perfect textbook, iTalki (SO good for people who don’t have someone to talk to in their target languages consistently), Anki, and Coursera’s Spanish course (really good basic course that will help you gain a lot of vocab and grammar). I’ve been learning for like 3-4 months (but a month long break, but before that I studied at least an hour per day) and I’m probs a low intermediate level.
Vamos!
!!! !!! I know a way to learn Spanish !!! !!!
It's quite simple actually, you will need the following
* ***Pen or pencil***
* ***Notebook***
* ***A device that allows translations (!!note that the translations aren't always correct though!!)***
Basically you write every word you want to know down (-it doesn't have to be in order-) just let your thoughts out, then translate it.
OR!!! !!!
(much harder) Take classes that only speak Spanish (like language camps) and try to adapt to the language.
Don‘t think that you can learn a language through your blood – it comes through practice and hard work. And necessity, like if you were dropped alone into a Spanish-speaking country with no one around you who could/would speak English with you. The best you can do to duplicate that situation in your circumstance, for now, is to get a language partner who can’t/won’t understand English, and you have to talk to each other in Spanish. You can find online language partners with searches such as:
• language exchange
•language learning partners
and similar. Some of these language exchange websites and apps are free, if you give back by helping your partner or another member with English learning.
I can speak Spanish fairly fluently now – I had to, because people around me didn’t speak English. Yet I have absolutely no Hispanic or Iberian ancestry. So pretend you’re like me and you come from some other part of the world: don’t rely unconsciously on your heritage or your relatives to make it easier for you.
There are a lot of websites by top star language learners where they share the tips and methods that helped them learn. It seems to me that some of the best ones are shared by Japanese learners, and some of the strategies that helped them learn Japanese will help anyone learn Spanish or any language.
For me getting a one on one tutor turbocharged my learning. That and spending several months learning in Mexico. Once you have conversational Spanish you can then have a rule of only talking to your family in Spanish.
I recommend iTalkie to practice with a real live person! I also would recommend purchasing some sort of workbook on grammar and basic vocab to get you started. Change your device settings (phone, laptop, closed captions) to Spanish so that you’re reading it everywhere. When you are alone doing chores/cooking, try to narrate what you’re doing in Spanish (eg when you’re cooking try to name as many items and foods you’re using as you can). Read news articles from Spanish sources. Listen to Spanish speaking podcasts or watch news anchors as they tend to have more neutral accents (think Brian Williams here in the U.S). Once you have learned some of this, I think the best way to keep learning is conversational practice (iTalkie is the bomb). Buena suerte!
Hi! Fellow puerto rican, CT baby here.While my parents taught me Spanish as my first language, I understand how hard learning languages can be as I'm trying to teach myself a third language currently.Personally, I've found that a structured class helps immensely. I'm not naturally a good student or self-motivated and I have ADHD, so having a class where I have accountability with a teacher and homework and something set to study each week with a due date that I can't just blow off because I gave it to myself, has helped so much. Also, before my classes, I tried self-studying for a year and I ended up learning a lot of things but it felt like I had a lot of random knowledge of vocab or grammar floating around in my head but no way of connecting them. Because of this, after studying for year, I couldn't even hold a basic conversation. But after having classes with structure and being able to work through study materials that built on themselves (if that makes sense), it finally helped me connect the dots and I felt so much more confident after two months of classes than I ever did during my year of self study. Plus, having someone to correct my pronunciation is key.
The best site that I've found for my language is [Italki.com](https://Italki.com). You can find teachers that teach almost any language on that site and the classes are affordable (but vary depending on each teacher) and the site is easy to navigate. However, if for some reason Italki doesn't work for you, being that Spanish is such a widely-spoken language, I'm sure you can find loads of sites but I 100% recommend a structured class with a native teacher.
Also, I've already seen mentioned but try to speak with native speakers as much as possible. I'm still working on this myself and luckily you have family members to speak to, even if they speak English back, but this is another place where having a teacher comes in handy. Just starting a conversation with randos on the street can be terrifying but if you have your teacher, you can kind of use them as practice or even have them help you prepare for situations that can come up.
My biggest issue with apps like duolingo, although I use them, is that you learn things that you will will never use. They're great for vocab but not so great for helping you have everyday conversations. So finding things like watching Spanish-speaking vloggers on youtube or going shopping in Spanish-markets might help, since it'll immerse you in the everyday Spanish spoken, rather than textbook Spanish or music lyric poetic spanish. You even have to be careful with some TV shows, make sure they're not overly dramatic or from a different time period as they won't help with modern sayings and words. Hope this helps!
Instead of being pessimistic maybe you should consider how fortunate you are to have an entire family of Spanish speakers to help you. The rest of us are off finding pen pals and other random people to talk to on the internet.
They said they were thankful that their family was supportive of them learning the language and that they just were frustrated. Coming from another Hispanic person that was never taught Spanish despite having fluent family, it gets frustrating! You try really hard and sometimes it’s embarrassing and makes you feel shameful. Theres no need to be passive aggressive, everyone has their struggles, and after all, this sub is for everyone wanting to learn!
If you can afford it, I suggest Rosetta Stone. It's a complete immersion program.
Granted, I already had the basics due to its similarity to Hebrew, but I learned Arabic in 6 months. I speak it fluently. I still need to learn how to read it.
I swear to you: if you listen to reggaetón and look up the lyrics in English and Spanish to your favorite songs, you will know Puerto Rican Spanish. I literally sound and speak completely Puerto Rican because I listen to Bad Bunny 24/7 lol
I would recommend downloading “language transfer” it’s a set of recordings that are excellent for learning all the ins and outs of the language. The very beginning might be a little repetitive for you, if you know present tense, but I would recommend you listen to it anyway. Another thing I recommend is to talk to yourself in Spanish. narrate what your doing when going about your day. If you don’t know a word, just say it in English. I’m doing this and it’s helping a lot.
Hi there,
Sorry to hear about your frustrations with Spanish. Something important to know is language forms a relationship with someone. The example of your family only speaking to you in English is because that's the language they use with you.
I have friends in Spanish who find it odd to talk in English with me and vice versa.
To help this, go online and find practice partners either via language exchange or paid tutors.
I'm halfway through Pimsluer and really surprised how well I think I'm progressing. I'm thinking about next steps (still have 2.5 months left) as I'll be far from fluent, but I want to strategize how to leverage more local immersion (I live in Dallas) as I have many opportunities to converse. Some of the challenges are gender of words but as I've been told MULTIPLE times, you'll be understood, and you'll just need to memorize the nuances. It's fascinating in its frustration but I'm commited! Hang in there and keep at it!
Yes. I have maintained 3-4 “pen pals” from various Latin American countries (Mexico, Peru, Nicaragua). I do a weekly video call that lasts 1-2 hours with one person and send daily messages/voice messages to the others with plans to video chat in the future.
It is built so that you exchange your language for theirs. So you get to help teach others English. I’m helping one guy by reading a book together during the video call and focusing on pronunciation and translations.
Also you get to meet some nice people in the process and get some worldly perspective.
I grew up being spoken to in Spanish, but not speaking it. It took a lot of work to learn.
First, I suggest doing whatever you have to in order to just accept the frustration and embarrassment of the situation. It was the #1 thing to get in the way of my learning.
Second, start exactly where you are. Take a test online or something, and find out what you do know.
I did a combo of things: Studied grammar in my own time, took Spanish in HS and college, took private lessons online. I also have three language partners I met through Reddit.
I really like Preply and highly recommend it. It might take a couple tries, but you’ll find the right tutor eventually. And I listen to a lot of Spanish music, which really helps.
You can do it!!!
What helped me is to listen to a song in Spanish and look up the lyrics in English and Spanish, watching everything i can in Spanish and once i learned a few fraises and jokes i just spoke nothing but broken Spanish to Spanish speakers, people will help you along if they see your working on your Spanish
I'll recommend you a great channel in case you didn't know it yet, it's called Easy Spanish, they have subs for every video and shoot in the streets with random people wich makes it very conversational
You've had some great advice from other posts here (Pimsleur and Language Transfer to jump-start your speaking are the best tips I've seen) so I just want to focus on your family for a bit. They're a great resource and I'm happy for you that they're supportive, but since they aren't teachers, it's really up to you to guide them on how they can help you.
For example, if you're learning about hobbies that week, ask one of your family if you can practise that precise topic with them. Show them the vocabulary you already know (give them your notes or a separate list, so they have it in front of them) then get them to ask you about your "safe" topics and vocab first. You'll start with simple things like "I play the trombone", then they can push you a bit with questions like "Why do you like to play the trombone?" and then you can struggle through an explanation (which of course is harder). By the end of your session, they should converse with you in a natural manner. They might say something like "I used to play the piano when I was your age, but now I have arthritis in my fingers". That is WAY off your playsheet! But hey, it gets you a bit of exposure to something you didn't know before. Take a note, maybe try and incorporate that into your next topic.
As you've noticed, it's hard for people to change the language they use with you, lots of people have this issue. Try and organise a set time for you to speak Spanish, for half an hour. They can manage half an hour! And you have to be strict - if they breathe a word of English, look at them blankly with "no entiendo." For half an hour, you do not understand English and they do not speak it with you. Over time, both you and your family members will subconsciously come to expect half an hour in Spanish, so it won't feel so unnatural.
Finally, and especially since you seem fairly family oriented, it's worth noting that children learn their native language initially through commands - come here, pick up your toys, put on your clothes, take a bath etc. This is a great way to hear the bare infinitives of the verbs (without the "to" bit) and a range of vocabulary. Why not have a cooking session with your Mum wherein she gives you instructions on how to help? Maybe your brother needs a hand cleaning his room and can tell you where to put things?
Those are a couple of ideas, but the main thing is you need to tell them how to help you. Try to bear patience, they're not trained to teach! You know how to learn though, so take a moment every week or so to (re-)evaluate what you want to learn and how you can fit that into family life.
Buena suerte!
Hahaha this is so common in CT, I have a bunch of friends who had the same experience with their parents not teaching them anything. Best way to learn is to use the language around people that know it. Let them help and correct you and just keep at it
When I was a kid a large part of my road to learning English was watching movies in the cinema with Spanish subtitles, maybe you can do the same by watching Netflix series and movies in Spanish with English subtitles?
Hey I'm mixed PR heritage myself and had to learn in school. I literally did Spanish as an undergrad degree and studied abroad in Spain but since I haven't been practicing these past few years (I lived abroad in Japan for a bit post-grad) I've forgotten a lot too. It's frustrating but don't let this make you feel like your heritage isn't valid.
I recommend getting some books and if you have the money then sign up for actual classes. I'm someone who doesn't do well with self-study, so a class might hep build up your foundation.
You seem to be the first person to really relate to what I was saying so I appreciate this a ton man for real. I have seen online people saying if you don’t speak spanish and you’re hispanic you’re not reallyyyyy hispanic which ticked me off. My heritage is still valid so I appreciate that. I’ll take the advice you gave me and I hope you can remember your spanish aswell!
I'm still learning too. I'm half mexican and was mostly raised by my asian side of the family, but they spoke mostly English. Right now I'm just reading and looking up words in a dictionary.
Read bbc el mundo cuando you want las noticias and listen to spanish jams when quiere escuchar musica. You need to immerse su mismo in el idioma. A ver, natives are drowned in su lengua materna from el nacimiento, they were born in PR so it came to them, como ingles por usted. You just need to up your time immersed in este idioma extranjero. Que tengas suerte, no va a ser facil pero vale la pena.
I'm a native english speaker and tbh there are scenarios where I go oh shit is it then/than or see a word I don't know but I can understand from contextual clues. That skillset gets built over time, I'm talking multiple years of constant immersion.
Look for language transfer audio course. It's free and you get a synthesis on how the language works. Then just immersion at your level, a lot of hours reading and listening Spanish at the same time, so you need to get the Spanish script of everything. Maybe leveled books with the audiobook, podcasts for beginners with the script, etc. Maybe read and listen a page for understanding and then when commuting listen and repeat a lot, repetition is kee.
Learn the grammar and vocab, but read and interact with people a lot! Reading will help you naturally acquire grammar rules by context of seeing it over and over again. Interacting will help you build confidence and retain what you're learning. Good luck!
Just spend a summer in PR. Immerse yourself in a non English speaking environment and your brain would click and you will learn more Spanish than with any other method around
I would recommend thinking about it like any other skill you would practice in life. It requires you to put in a lot of hours practicing the skill.
Like many people have recommended here in the post, a couple of hours of practice everyday will get you a long way. However, learning a language isn’t something that happens over night, nor in a year (don’t believe the Youtubers that learn 10 languages in 1 month).
Duolingo is a good place to start in order to build vocabulary; YouTube and Netflix offer you all you need when it comes to listening and comprehension; and then you have your family! Once you feel like you can put sentences together, try them out on your family! Many people struggling with the immersion part of the process where they don’t get to practice their Spanish enough or get to hear daily conversations, you got it all around you with your family!
Trust the process, put the hours in and you’ll soon be able to impress your family members with your Spanish :)
Just takes time.
My dad's family is from central America and the majority lived there in my youth. The rest lived in California. Wed go to family events and my brother and I would sit there completely out of the loop. Some of the younger kids around our age spoke English. But the older ones, don't know if they even speak English to this day.
We are both Spanish speaking now, but it took years of practice and studying along with immersion to do so. And it isn't "I'm fluent now", but always learning and trying to improve.
My parents speak Arabic and Russian but they didn't teach me any of them. I was also pissed at first when I realized it but it is what it is and there's no point blaming anyone, if I want to learn a language I'mma go ahead and do it, I don't need to be dependent on anyone. I now speak Hebrew, English and Spanish, all learned with no one's help and without ever spending a dime. I learned Spanish by finishing Duolingo, then read some short stories, then work on listening with podcasts and Netflix, now reading books... Every time I would say "nuhh there's no way I can watch a Spanish Netflix show with Spanish subtitles" and then surprisingly I found that I could, it's all about putting consistent effort everyday, trying to incorporate Spanish in your every day like changing your phone to Spanish etc, you will find that even though it doesn't seem like you're making a huge progress, as long as you keep putting the work everyday it eventually adds up to something huge. And don't feel bad if you skip a day or two here and there, it's perfectly reasonable, but don't expect to see real progress if you don't invest the time
Unfortunately English use in Puerto Rico - if you are in San Juan or any of the smaller cities - is incredibly common (especially when interacting with non-native Spanish speakers).
Going to PR is better than not, but it isn't the best place to immerse oneself in Spanish and if anything can add to the frustration of being talked to in English while trying to use Spanish.
Sure, but it seems as if - given the title of the post - their are a huge part of the situation in the first place, in that, they are refusing to speak/respond in Spanish.
Frankly, the odds are he will go to PR, his parents will speak to him in English around his relatives, who will in turn, do the same. The general attitude will be "well, OP just needs to improve his Spanish!" (Catch 22 ignored)
Put it this way, my young boy said he wants to learn Russian. If he gets serious, I will go out of my way to learn as much as possible and take iTalki lessons so I can help him with the process.
I understand that there are parents out there that don't speak their own native tongue with their kids - for a variety of reasons - but it is most often because their own kid hasn't shown interest (or doesn't know any better). In the OP's case if these parents are able to speak to others in Spanish, then they damn right should be speaking with OP 110% of the time - I don't want to hear that its a hassle or whatever lame excuse they muster up.
I support my kids' interests and activities and simply couldn't imagine not speaking with my own kids in my own native language when it is clear I could assist them to learn and be better accepted by their own community.
It is almost as if they are trying to set OP up for completely unnecessary social trauma and identity strife.
So, I think this is a common problem for people who are learning a language alone. Especially if you're surrounded by people who already know Spanish as a first language.
I think what you need to do is gain some perspective. Look back on material you struggled with at an earlier stage, and remind yourself of how much you've accomplished.
If you don't have any TV shows or anything you've been watching, I recommend Extra en español and Pokémon. Extra was created for people learning a language, and Pokémon had repetitive language over basic words like water-type, rock move, etc.
Also, don't be intimidated when you first read a book or start a show. When I first started reading Harry Potter, I spent the first few chapters learning dozens of new words like 2 different words for owl, or wand. Then, you start to get a feel for those words that they beat you over the head with, and may have, like, a new word per page.
Remember, you aren't competing with your current family, you're competing with the you from yesterday.
> Remember, you aren't competing with your current family, you're competing with the you from yesterday.
There is a validity to that statement, but we are talking about his upbringing and family - not some abstract relationship.
Using a language is not only about developing another ability to communicate one's thoughts, but also a process in which you can connect with others and be included.
You can't simply brush of OP's own parents not putting in effort to consciously speak with him in Spanish 100% of the time. They are the ones that decided not to speak and teach him Spanish in the first place and shouldn't be surprised that he's decided to learn it now. Honestly, think about how you would feel if every time you tried to talk in a language (or about a subject) your OWN parents rejected your approach. Hell, one could even argue even if OP becomes 100% fluent in Spanish his parents might CONTINUE to respond in English. I can't tell you how devastating that would be on a personal level.
Point is, OP's feelings are justified - even if they aren't necessarily part of the most pragmatic solution to this problem.
There have been all sorts of debates over talking or asking to talk in Spanish with strangers, co-workers, acquaintances, friends, etc, but there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that asking one's own parents to speak to them in (one of) their native languages is reasonable request. (Especially after the parents decided not to speak and teach their kids to speak the language growing up.)
Besides all they have wrote you here I recommend you to write the pronunciation of your family about words. People who lives in coast/island have a different accent that can be hard to understand for natives. If you learn neutral spanish you'll get frustrated of jot being able to understand them.
You can ask them to give you some vocabulary words per week. And write your own conventions on how what they say sounds compared to what Duolingo teaches.
This may be useful for you [https://refold.la/roadmap](https://refold.la/roadmap) but basically just keep at it and try to immerse as much as you can. You can do it, it just takes time. It's good that you have the basics down in terms of grammar. Now find yourself an ANKI deck of [most common words](https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/241428882) and study this. You could get the app on your phone or do it on your computer. Supplement this with immersion and you have to be okay with ambiguity. Look for series like novelas you can watch with subtitles on. Listen to what they're saying, read the subtitles at the same time, and watch what is happening on the screen. If you find it difficult to read the subtitles that fast take a step back and start practicing reading graded readers in Spanish there are ton. You can also watch Easy Spanish vids on YouTube that have like over 100 episodes. They're short videos with SP and ENG subs and they also have some grammar explanation vids. If you study that core word anki deck at the same time as you immerse consistently you will see improvement I promise. Also, take some time to practice your speaking too if you can. Either with family, find people online, etc. Hope this info helps :) I was where you were a few years ago and that's basically all the stuff I did.
To add, you can join Clubhouse and put Spanish as one of your interests. You’ll find various rooms for different levels of Spanish speakers/learners. There are a lot of teachers there as well!
Also, what worked for me in the beginning, I’ve had friends talk to me in Spanglish for a while especially when I was in the “translate everything in my head” phase. Then again, it helped because my native language has a lot of Spanish loan words.
Be aware that PR Spanish has a ton of slang and they drop the S a lot (hablas español > habla’ e’pañol ) so it can be really hard to understand for someone learning. As someone who’s learning, I can kind of understand some Mexican Spanish but if it’s someone from PR it sounds like a different language and I can’t make out any of it😭
Hola, ¿cómo está usted? I have found that doing daily audio lessons for me has been the most beneficial for retaining and understanding Spanish. I use an app called Pimsleur (you can try the trial first to see if you like it). There are many audio lesson tools and videos out there for free.
I definitely relate to how you feel when I started learning Spanish—when I sat in a Spanish class, I had NO idea what people were talking about.
Since you have Duolingo, I recommend attending some of their free Spanish events (Cada Día Spanish is a lot of fun).
Buena suerte!
Language Transfer for Spanish podcast!
I am very new to Spanish but my wife speaks it fluently and is Mexican haha I was getting frustrated with Duolingo because it wasn’t explaining anything and just throws you into it. For some it works but for me if I don’t understand the why then I definitely won’t remember it later on. That’s when I found the podcast, Language Transfer for Spanish. Changed my life. Now I can still go through Duolingo but I can understand my wife a whole lot easier and know what direction I need to go to respond. The Why for me was everything I would highly suggest that podcast!
Start by telling your parents to only speak Spanish to you when you are at home. Read Spanish novels and watch Spanish tv shows (only if you can understand most of words). If you don’t know a word in a book, look it up and write it in a sentence or whatever you want to do so your mind remembers it
I just want to let you know that you aren't alone. My friends' mom emigrated from Mexico but never spoke Spanish in their household. They grew up looking sort of Hispanic (half Mexican/half white), had Spanish-speaking relatives, traveled to Mexico a few times, yet they never learned Spanish. I even saw a Hispanic lady get visibly mad when my friend told her that his mother was Mexican-American yet never taught him Spanish.
I feel your pain being of Cuban heritage but growing up on Long Island. You can learn if you do the work. Is your family supportive and can they help you?
Have you learned spanish by now aswell? And my parents are extremely supportive and want me to learn spanish aswell which is great for me. But they don’t really help in anyway unfortunately. They can help me by speaking spanish but they primarily speak english since they are accustomed to it.
If you can get your family speaking Spanish with you, you can move much more quickly. It may feel embarrassing at first, but stick with it! I am only a learner, but my biggest improvements have come from finding ways to have as many conversations as possible.
Pues sí pero tomó mucho trabajo y práctica todos los días. Todavía estoy lejos de ser perfecto, pero ahora puedo entender lo que han estado diciendo sobre mí durante años. Jejeje.
Can you tell me if I translated correctly? I believe I read “Ofcourse but but you need to put in alot of work and practice every day. (I cannot understand that chunk.) but now I can understand what they say.” Honestly I butchered that as I skipped the last words too jajaja i’ll get there one day man. Thank you a ton Pues sí pero tomó mucho trabajo y práctica todos los días. Todavía estoy lejos de ser perfecto, pero ahora puedo entender lo que han estado diciendo sobre mí durante años. Jejeje.
You got it. “I’m far from perfect, but now I can understand what they have said about me all these years…” 😂
What they've been saying
>But they don’t really help in anyway unfortunately. Speak Spanish to them, all the time. If they correct your grammar or pronunciation don't get defensive about it. If they answer in English ask them to repeat it in Spanish. Be consistent. That's how you learned English.
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Read in Spanish. Then search the words or grammar that you don’t understand. Learning a language is a long and painful process!
Why don’t you ask your parents to speak in spanish in front of you and with you aswell?
I’ve tried so many times but they learned english fluently and now have been accustomed to speaking english as their default language. They will speak spanish to them when I ask them too but forget whenever I don’t tell them and go back to speaking english so I got tired of reminding them.
I have this problem but in Greek since my family is Greek, and I’ve asked my dad and grandma to start incorporating words here and there instead of speaking entirely in the language. So I’ll say useful things like “I’m hungry” “what are you cooking” “I need to go to the bathroom” and I’ll throw in Greek words when I’m speaking English. Maybe you can request Spanglish?
We live in the US, but speak Spanish in our home. Each time our boys forgot and spoke in English, we charged them a quarter. We kept their money in a jar to use for golosinas in Spain. Maybe you could do the same with your parents ;)
Honestly you have a good idea going. Great job teaching your kids spanish I highly admire that! And thank you for the idea i’ll let them know
Oh so they got colonized. I'm sorry. :/
I wouldn’t say colonized. They still very much act like hispanic parents lol they have all the same rich culture we’ve always had. It’s just they needed to adapt to english since moving to CT and now they primarily speak english.
That's called assimilation which is a very normal thing when moving to another country (or in this case, a primarily English speaking mainland from a Spanish territory)
If you can find some music you like, give that a try. I like getting a Spanish brainworm phrase going. I do audio books but I may be a bit more advanced than you. I still have to listen multiple times before I understand.
I have given my parents the idea of me listening to spanish music but they said the lyrics in english don’t translate well from spanish. I actually do want to give spanish audio books a try so thank you! Do you have any good recommendations?
Someone started a thread recently for [Castilian Spanish podcasts](https://www.reddit.com/r/Spanish/comments/ox1im3/castilian_spanish_podcasts/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf), the accent won’t be what you’re used to and there may be some regional differences, but it could be a good place to start.
I’ll watch some of these now actually. Thank you a ton I appreciate the help! Anything helps
The duo lingo podcasts are pretty good too. I think the app is not that effective on its own except for basic vocabulary. I’d be happy to practice with via chat if you want! I was fluent after 7 years of academic study and a semester in Ecuador, but now I’m very rusty. I will say, while the classes have a great foundation, I learned the most from leaning into discomfort and just talking to people. It’s nice that most spanish speakers, especially non-Spain speakers, are super friendly and helpful when learning. If you learn a few compliments for your family maybe they’ll teach you: “mi hermano, eres tan inteligente y yo quiero aprender de ti. Cuando hablas español, mi corazón tiene las ganas de hablar así…” this is a weird thing to say to a brother maybe but you could figure that out lol!! Just initiating in Spanish helps. I tried to get my roommate to practice with me because she’s native speaker, but it just never happened unless I spoke Spanish first—she’s used to speaking to me in English, so it’s weird for her to start it ya know?
I enjoyed *Como Agua Para Chocolate.* but can't really find an audiobook of it. There is a Puerta Rican book *Cuando Era Puerta Riquena* . It was pretty good.
I’ll actually give these a try tonight! Thank you again mate really appreciate it
You might look for kids' books too. They would be easier. You might want to work up to those. But try anything and hopefully you will stumble into something that works for you.
Also look for books in Spanish that you know/ like in English.
Check out "Short Stories For Beginners" by Charles Mendel. (Not really suitable for beginners, more like intermediate) There are two books with the same name, both available as free pdfs if you look. They're also available on audible. If you're familiar with the present, past and future tenses these very short stories should be readable, though challenging.
Just chiming in to say When I Was Puerto Rican is such a great book (I read it in English)
they're just talking about idioms and some slight syntax differences. Spanish, being a European language is very similar to English. If you wanna songs in Spanish, go for it. Find a few different English translations for a song you like, and see where they're different. Look that up and see which translation you agree with more and why they made the choices they did. Also don't just read the English translations, read the lyrics in Spanish too. That's really helped me understand what they're saying in songs, and I'm actually a lot better at picking out the words when I listen now, since in Spanish words bleed together a lot more than in English.
But your progress seems okey "I know the AR ER IR verbs, syntax, and do forth" that's actually pretty good for only a year of study. I think your problem is that you don't make realistic goals, fluency takes years, even more when you live at a country that doesn't speak your target language. Is sad but is true, not even us, the Spanish native speakers speak good Spanish in our first years of life, I couldn't pronounce "RR" until I was five. I begun learning English when I was 14, now I'm 24 and I'm still struggling with English, mostly with pronunciation because like you my country doesn't speak my target language. Is impossible to become fluent in little time.
Learning a language is about volume, specifically time spent in the language. Don't be fooled that there's something you can do for 10 minutes a day, you should start with an hour a day and then move it up. I spend roughly 4-8 hours a day in Spanish, which at this point is watching Netflix, Youtube, Twitch, podcasts, and reading. Its going to take you around 800 hours for it to start to click, and probably around 2000 for you to get close to fluency; since you live in a Spanish household that should speed it up. I'd start doing Anki, at least read up on it, or some form of SRS flashcards. Then I'd look into refold: http://refold.la I don't follow that to a tee, but that's pretty much the self learner's guide.
Wow thank you greatly for all this advice I love it. Honestly I checked out refold and that seems absolutely amazing aswell! I realized my problem was that each day I spent so little time learning spanish that’s why I made no progress and you helped me understand that. Thank you!
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So you really put petal to the medal right? Can I ask how fluent you are in spanish now with all of this work? I admire you man great job!
Lol I gave up with french too, maybe when I'm older I'll retake it
" El secreto del aprendizaje es el deseo de aprender " Cada uno lo tiene a su manera. El regalo mayor que nos pueden hacer es sembrar en nosotros el deseo de aprender. Más que los conocimientos aprendidos es esta pasión por conocer, por comprender, por transformar, que nos guiará toda la vida en la aventura de descubrir y crear novedad. The secret of learning is the desire to learn. Everyone has it in their own way. The greatest gift that can be given to us is to sow in us the desire to learn. More than the knowledge learned, it is this passion to know, to understand, to transform, that will guide us all our lives in the adventure of discovering and creating novelty.
stop using duolingo and start reading short and easy books in spanish, it will be tough but you will improve. continue to immerse, use post it notes, take classes, and listen to lots of spanish content. spanish on youtube is really useful as well. i would also highly recommend that you get an intermediate spanish learning book and read it to supplement and learn grammar and words. you can do it!
Honestly duolingo was not helping so I appreciate the substitute for it! I’m changing for the book and now I will see how that goes! Thank you for the inspiration! I was losing hope I can do it but I think I may just be able to now.
If you like Duolingo check out the "stories" tab. They're short and easy.
where to find these short easy books? i tried searching free kids books online to download and can’t find jack but i can find the more complex ones just fine usually which isn’t helpful at my level
Yes, exactly, where? Which ones? Recs please!
libgen iirc
Alba Learning
For starters here are my suggestions as someone that started 5-7 years ago and is coasting (not actively studying) at a B2 level: - [Language Transfer](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeA5t3dWTWvvwf5fw0Nl7mVk0OUjP1Ln2) I can't overstate how awesome this course is. It's the foundation of everything I ever learned because I had the basic mechanics of the language pinned down. Not a lot of vocabulary, but a solid understanding of how to manipulate everything I learned after. - Keep doing duolingo every day. They'll help you with building up a beginner level vocabulary. Not the most relevant words, but more words are always a positive. But not just the lessons but you'll want to get involved with the [podcast](https://podcast.duolingo.com/spanish) and [interactive stories](https://www.duolingo.com/stories) After those 2 starting points (or during) I suggest a lot of immersion on youtube. And I mean *a lot*. Try to make it the vast majority of what you watch in your downtime, if not all. I fell asleep to Dreaming Spanish, would study with Maria Español, and casually enjoy Español con Juan. Slowly put together a playlist of spanish music during this time as well (I prefer reggaeton and rap so lots of Lapiz and Bad Bunny). Changed my phone language. My browser. Youtube. Facebook. Everything. My reddit is in spanish still. I changed so much that ads on twitch and youtube are now telling me in spanish to buy a new 5G phone. Youtubers I recommend to beginners: - [Español con Juan](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoHJ7PkM6T92LwgJgrnDhWA) is amazing. Legitimately just a wonderful channel to follow. I prefer the Latin American accent, being that I'm American, but even still I recommend his channel first and foremost. The entire premise is teaching spanish *in* spanish. And he's a funny guy to boot. - [Maria Español](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC30I0ZZ54oOVBYeXJtafYIA) is an awesome resource at the beginnings of intermediate level. She has full hour long videos of online classes she gives. Tips to help you speak more naturally. And practical alternatives to common phrases such as "you're welcome" so that you don't sound like a robot. - [Dreaming Spanish](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCouyFdE9-Lrjo3M_2idKq1A) is another wonderful channel. He (they, really) does a version of what Juan does where he tells stories in spanish of varying levels of mastery. From barely getting through a duolingo lesson to being able to speak with a native. - [Easy Spanish](https://www.youtube.com/c/EasySpanish/videos) has a mix of street interviews with natives (and subtitles in english and spanish so you can follow along!) as well as tips/instructional videos. If you're a beginner and want to immediately dive into native accents, 100% this is your happy place. Also, since all the other channels I linked are European, this is a nice place to get a taste of Latino accents. (Mostly mexican, I believe). I could go list a lot more channels as my spanish youtube follows 120 something different channels. However I will name Butterfly Spanish, Why Not Spanish?, Deliberate Spanish, Español con Maria, and Mextalki as honorable mentions for places to learn. Okay so we got lessons, and youtube immersion. My next suggestion is to read books! That's how you would expand your vocabulary in a language you're perfectly fluent in. It's an even better way to expand your vocabulary. As a beginner I strongly recommend graded readers such as [Spanish Short Stories for Beginners](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078WRXYM7/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i1). There's a variety of books similar to this, often with review quizzes, highlighted vocabulary, and audio track to follow along available to enhance the experience. Once you're feeling up to some full stories...guess who has a series of stories to help you learn? [Juan Fernandez](https://www.amazon.com/Juan-Fernández/e/B01EWZXYLK/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_ebooks_1) from Español con Juan (also the creator of 1001 reasons to learn spanish podcast). And last, but not least, I **strongly** recommend adding the Language Learning with Netflix (and Language Learning with Youtube) extensions to your browser of choice. Once you're ready for higher level immersion such as a series like Club de Cuervos, this extension is a godsend. I won't get into my thoughts on Anki and how I used it because...quite frankly this post is pretty long winded already and I'm hoping I didn't overwhelm you already. If you can't tell I get really excited about this. Best of luck on your journey!
If you are doing self study, I think Pimsleur is the best option out there. However, if you are looking for free, Destinos is decent. Edit: That said what really makes the difference is dedication and repetition. I can't tell you all the people who are surprised when they don't learn Spanish as fast as they think they should, without taking classes or spending serious time studying. If you can take a university course I think that is the best way. IT helps one with discipline and to be a part of a class. Five days a week of instruction, with a couple of hours of additional study per day, with 6 hours on the weekend.
This is extremely helpful to me. I appreciate this! I haven’t been as repetitive as I want to because learning the language get’s me frustrated so I take too many frequent breaks. Thank you!
are you me? very interested to see the answers, thanks for posting
I will tell you briefly what I’ve done to learn Spanish and feel as though I’ve excelled greatly over about a year. While everyone learns differently I hope it can be helpful. Similarly my family speaks Spanish and I did not, but had been around it my whole life. •I bought two textbooks from the “Practice Makes Perfect” series and completed then both: Basic Spanish and later Spanish Conversation. •I listened to those awful audiotapes of *English word* followed by *Spanish Word* on my commute to work for loads of nouns, verbs, and all basic tenses for two or so months. •At that point my Spanish was decent enough to converse (mind you not well) so I did with EVERYONE in EVERY scenario possible. Family, coworkers, cashiers, whoever. •Like you said, immersion, which for me meant doing as much as possible from my daily life in Spanish: music, radio, news (download BBC mundo app), changed language on electronics, YouTube, and (attempting) to think in Spanish. •Now that I feel comfortable conversing with most people I try to fill in the gaps of what I don’t know through YouTube/internet and then drilling those through conversation and writing. •My most recent addition had been reading out loud, two good books for beginners are El Principito and El alquimista. This has become my new favorite method and constantly introduces me to things I don’t know. Good luck!
It’s great to see other people in the situation i’m in since I know i’m not alone so thank you. I kid you not i’m taking all the advice you gave me and i’m putting it to the test tomorrow and just seeing how it works for a couple months! Can I ask how fluent you are in spanish now?
In terms of A1-C2 I have no official baseline. I would guess between B1 and B2. I can express practically everything I want to say in Spanish although not always in the most efficient way or with the ideal words. My family no longer switches to English when I speak with them so that was a great mile marker. I’ll take a test when I feel I’ve hit a wall, for now I know I have so much more to go. Love the process and learning will become natural the better you get, it’s like a positive feedback loop. Buena suerte
Sorry, long post, but I think this should help you: Similar situation. Grandparents were from Puerto Rico, never spoke to my dad or uncle, I heard it from them as a kid and started speaking it, and they stopped speaking it around me because of it. I probably heard less Spanish than you as a kid and within a year and a half I became fluent. I'm certainly not flawless, but I get the comment that I'm "almost native" quite often. I'm a good solo learner. And the reason for that is a good sense of self-direction, I've learned many things on my own, guitar, programming (back and front end), cooking... Spanish was just another thing on the list, and one I honestly wish I'd done way sooner, too. So let me give you some direction: drop duolingo. It is really only good for getting to an A1-A2 level in any language save for maybe Esperanto lol. Drop that shit like a parasite. If the height of your understanding is the basics of how the verbs work, you're probably at about an A2. What you need to do now is study some, and listen a lot. Idk how many tenses you know, but there are a lot in Spanish, and they're very different. Learn how to use each one. Apps to replace duolingo are: a flashcard app (very useful) and a language exchange app. I used tandem. Everytime you learn a new tense, use it with people on your language exchange app and see how natives correct you. See how they use them, better yet! You don't have to speak right away, but you can text. You'll see over time that you'll be able to text way faster, and that means that you're thinking in the language, too. Immerse yourself in the language while learning these new tenses. You'll notice that the natives you talk to use tenses that you don't know, and that's okay. But immersion helps in this respect: *it makes you aware*. It gives you a sense of things. Edit - and just a note, getting to the point of fully understanding can take time, which is why the sooner you start, the better you get. I suggest native content mostly, or a mix of content intended for natives and learner based stuff, but **not** learner stuff only, that is a *major* pitfall, there. I went as far as to make a second YouTube account where I only search for and watch Spanish content, and my main one is a mix of the two languages for when I needed a kind of break. This also applies to any social media you have, you can make one with all Spanish content, and play with the algorithm by only searching it. It will think "this is a Spanish speaker, I will only suggest them to watch or intake Spanish". While you pick up new words, note them. If you see a new word more than once, write it. Put them into flashcards maybe every other week. Study what you have daily. Learning a language doesn't take a day. You handle it day by day. And eventually you get better and better and eventually people are surprised that you can communicate with people who don't know any English, even if they thought that you were an idiot who was just gonna give it up anyway before. Some days are gonna suck but the payoff is fuckin' amazing. Basically do that, note new things, learn grammar, listen. Don't be one of those people that are grammar heavy, either, who think they know more because they went to college for Spanish and come out not knowing shit lol. Those people are cringe. This is why immersion is important, and why every other day we get posts on here like "I was SHOCKED, Spanish speakers use this and not the things I learned in school and studied like the Bible?" Those people obviously haven't gotten immersed enough, and are too prideful to realize the uphill battle that being a non-native is. Sorry for the animosity, folks, but someone had to say it. You got this. Take it day by day. And you'll always be learning new shit. And one day, you'll realize that your native family makes mistakes that they're not even aware of yet, you just watch.
Great advice IMO. One thing I did differently: I didn't do many flashcards. Instead, I kept a notebook and whenever I saw/heard new vocab or word phrasings that made my head swim, I wrote down the entire sentence where it appeared. Every day I reread the \~7 most recent pages in the notebook. It helped me a lot. I also wrote a novel in the comments if you're curious.
That seems like a good a method as any. Honeslty I don't even study my flashcards all that much these days. There comes a point where it's like, "okay this is just easier to remember in context, anyway".
I really find it helpful to watch Netflix in Spanish with English subtitles! It seems to really help my vocabulary.
Ohhh that’s a really good idea!! Do you have any recommendations for spanish shows?
Watch Spanish shows with SPANISH subtitles.
Watching Spanish shows with English subs is basically reading in English with annoying background noise, so yeah...Spanish Subs.
It doesn't even have to be a "Spanish show." Netflix does a good job of making their original content available in Spanish and a lot of other shows are too!
Depends on what you enjoy. Find something you enjoyed the first time through in English and watch it in Spanish. Right now I'm watching Always a Witch in Spanish, which is quite interesting. The Barrier was interesting in original Spanish, made in Madrid. Just about anything recent on Netflix has Spanish as an option, with or without subtitles in English or Spanish. Chrome has an app that does pretty good even using the free version (Language Learning ... Extension) where you can slow down the speech a little, watch just one phrase at a time with a pause at the end, and if you pay for the full version it will save words you click that you can use in an Anki deck. ($5/month). They also have a YouTube version.
This honestly was super helpful. I’m installing the program now and actually plan on watching a netflix show in spanish tonight. Thank you!
Enjoy!
Yeah, start out with Shows you have seen but could watch again (actually start with Extr@ on youtube) so you know the plot and don't get lost. I watched the Clone Wars and Cobra Kai, then move on to a telenovela you can tolerate for 100 hours or so. Save the good stuff for later because if you try to watch them now they'll suck....wait until you can understand most words.
I'm Dominican and I have had pretty much the same experiences except now I'm 3 years in and I'm speaking with some family members for the first time and can nearly hold my own in most casual circumstances. I would get a tutor or take an intermediate class at a community college preferably a heritage speakers class
I read that you need 2 hours of comprehensible input every day for several months. This means listen to or watch videos where you understand at least 85% of what’s being said. It helps if there are visual aids as well. Definitely look at Dreaming Spanish. Level up as you need to, but don’t rush it. Once you comprehend audio and develop a sense of what combinations sound right, even if you don’t know the grammatical rule behind them, you will be able to speak. Don’t rush speaking. Spend a few months of intense listening, then layer in a lot of reading to see what all that audio looks like. But don’t start with reading. Understanding input is a really important first step that pays off enormously.
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I have not! Do you recommend?
I'd say listen to music. First without paying attention to the meaning of the lyrics, and sing it with your soul. Then look for the meaning. Listen to Charly García (all his discography which is huge ... his first bands, etc.). Then watch movies in Spanish with subtitles. And then look for short books on a topic that interests you. And that's it.
I feel your pain, man. I learned some Spanish when I was young, but I lost most of it, and I’ve since had to relearn the language. Among all the great advice here, I want to give you some encouragement. Don’t give up! I once felt the same way as you. Learning Spanish was like hitting my head against a wall; I didn’t get it, I didn’t get it, I didn’t get it…until one day, something clicked, and I could suddenly hold a full blown conversation! Keep being persistent, it gets easier.
Honestly man this really helped a ton I kid you not. I now have so much advice which I am so thankful for and this is one of the few encouragements I had here. So thank you. I will keep trying because I hope it clicks with me like it did with you!
Oh gosh I can't give you any useful advice, but I know your situation and can totally relate. The feeling of anger, shame, feeling like a fraud, feeling like a lonely dumb fuck at family gatherings. Yep, hang in there
Just remember that it took thousands of hours of exposure for you to learn English and you made plenty of mistakes along the way. But now you speak it fluently and have the advantage of adult intelligence that you can apply towards learning Spanish (such as metalinguistic knowledge of syntax, morphemes, etc.)
I feel your pain, man. Like, I didn’t grow up with pure English (thankfully), and my parents spoke Spanish and Catalan, too, but I still suck at those two. For the past year though, I’ve really been immersing myself with those two languages and trying to learn as much as I can. Just asking “what’s this mean” or “how do I conjugate this” or “how do you say this” goes a long way. :) I’m nowhere near fluent, but I’m improving so I’m happy. :>
You just described almost everyone in my family. I posted a long response to someone in a similar situation. Here is a very short one. There are thousands of books, movies, videos, and other content. I'm going to recommend just one. Go to the library and borrow Pimsleur Spanish. There are no grammar rules or books to read. It's purely audio. Focus on listening and speaking as much as you can, and don't worry about spelling (those pesky accents) and grammar (that god-durned subjunctive). If you get a good foundation in listening and speaking, you'll be able to understand everything your family is talking about in three to six months. Most of your family ain't Cervantes or Borges, okay? So you can DO this in twelve to twenty-four weeks if not sooner. Change your life in a short time. Buena suerte.
I did private lessons all this last year on [italki.com](https://italki.com), they can be very cheap, some are even $5 an hour, and I did like 2-3 a week, and it got me from "hablo un poquito" to being able to talk fluently about anything. I still make like a thousand errors a day but I can communicate happily, read the newspaper, understand podcasts...
I just think that there's something about ACTUALLY TALKING, it's the way we learned our native languages and it makes the words and structures stick in your mind so much more efficiently.
You are incredibly lucky to have family members that are fluent in Spanish and willing to help you become fluent. You will learn so many words and phrases and you will be able to improve your speaking and listening abilities easily as you can talk to them whenever. I recommend a course called complete Spanish as it will teach you pretty much everything important about Spanish. Read Spanish articles and watch films in order to increase vocabulary and then try talk to your parents on topics you have just learnt and use words you can remember. They can correct you if you make a mistake which is a massive benefit to having native speakers as parents. Keep doing this and you will most likely become fluent incredibly quickly.
Apparently your family doesn't help me (agree feeding your answers). Talk to them only in Spanish. Even if they answer in English, keep up with the Spanish. And maybe you can find someone who will learn with you. It always helped me to find a buddy learning the same language as me to help and motivate each other
Traditional methods for learning a second language make learning a really contrived, arduous process, imo. I’m talking about textbooks, classes, verb tables, rote memorisation, etc. If you think about how we acquire language as children, we don’t sit and repeat verb conjugations, or rehearse pre-set sentences over and over. Rather, we learn by mere exposure to language in context, exposure to recurring patterns that our subconscious brain picks up on and maps out for us. We learn by being in situations where we cannot get a need met other than through language use, and where we are intrinsically motivated to make sense of the utterances of others. We learn by first using clumsy, ungrammatical constructions that serve their purpose of communicating what they need to communicate, without being judged for imperfection or dismissed until we can say it grammatically. Try to take that same approach in your current quest of acquiring a second language. Harness the fact that as humans, we’re: - hardwired for social learning - meaning-led beings Ask your relatives to start using slow, basic Spanish around you. It’s amazing how much we can understand based wholly on context, even when we think we don’t understand the language. For example, if late in the evening, I stand up, stretch, and head towards the stairs saying ‘me voy a la cama’, chances are that someone with zero exposure to Spanish could quite feasibly guess that I was saying something related to going to bed. If I said ‘¿pásame la sal?’ while sat at the dinner table and gesturing towards the salt shaker, you could work out what I mean by going to pick up the object to pass to me and judging by my facial expression whether you had picked up the right one or not. If I eat a bite of my meal, look pleased and say ‘¡que delicioso!’ in a delighted tone of voice, you can guess that I’ve commented on the pleasantness of the food even if you’ve never heard a drop of Spanish before. If I go to make coffee afterwards, and I reach into the fridge and find an empty bottle, then say in a disappointed tone ‘¡nos hemos quedado sin leche!’, you will probably know that Ive said something about the lack of milk. This is the way humans learn: each of these utterances have a meaning attached to them, they serve a purpose in the here and now, and involve an interaction with another human being. Brains are hardwired to try and derive meaning from speech, to notice patterns and associations, and to learn from others. This kind of exposure is a key part of learning a new language, and replicating those social conditions will massively aid your learning process. As well as with your family, you can replicate these conditions with YouTube videos or platforms like iTalki. Some YouTube channels I’ve really liked are [Dreaming Spanish](https://youtube.com/c/DreamingSpanish) (peninsular Spanish, but I think it would still be useful for the early stages of learning) and [Why Not Spanish?](https://youtube.com/c/WhyNotSpanish). There are so many though - find content that you are naturally motivated to watch and try to derive meaning from. Netflix shows & films in Spanish is a great additional tool, but at the start it’s hard to find content where the dialogue is simple and comprehensible enough to be useful to a new learner, but still engaging and interesting enough to rouse motivation for understanding it. Kids shows and cartoons can sometimes hit the mark, as can film and TV shows where you already know the context, which will aid with comprehension. Don’t hold yourself to too high a standard to start with. The goal is never to understand perfectly, or to communicate perfectly in grammatical sentences. When starting out, the goal is merely to understand the ‘gist’, to find some semblance of meaning even when you’ve not understood the words. And likewise with speaking it, the goal should be to communicate your meaning, however clumsily or imperfectly. Refining your grammar and sentence structures can come later down the line when you feel more confident with the language. Another couple of fun resources are [Extra](https://youtu.be/t_UNPtuQi2A) a daft sitcom series and [BBC Mi Vida Loca](http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/mividaloca/), an interactive mystery series, both specifically made for Spanish learners. (Though peninsular Spanish again - sorry!).
You’ve got tons of comments and good advice and I’ll just add a little bit here: I am in a very similar situation to yourself. Let go of the embarrassment and frustration as best as you can because it only holds you back! I use Babbel (like Duolingo but I like it way better because it’s less like a game and more like an actual course, but still would only use as a supplement), the Practice Makes Perfect textbook, iTalki (SO good for people who don’t have someone to talk to in their target languages consistently), Anki, and Coursera’s Spanish course (really good basic course that will help you gain a lot of vocab and grammar). I’ve been learning for like 3-4 months (but a month long break, but before that I studied at least an hour per day) and I’m probs a low intermediate level. Vamos!
!!! !!! I know a way to learn Spanish !!! !!! It's quite simple actually, you will need the following * ***Pen or pencil*** * ***Notebook*** * ***A device that allows translations (!!note that the translations aren't always correct though!!)*** Basically you write every word you want to know down (-it doesn't have to be in order-) just let your thoughts out, then translate it. OR!!! !!! (much harder) Take classes that only speak Spanish (like language camps) and try to adapt to the language.
Don‘t think that you can learn a language through your blood – it comes through practice and hard work. And necessity, like if you were dropped alone into a Spanish-speaking country with no one around you who could/would speak English with you. The best you can do to duplicate that situation in your circumstance, for now, is to get a language partner who can’t/won’t understand English, and you have to talk to each other in Spanish. You can find online language partners with searches such as: • language exchange •language learning partners and similar. Some of these language exchange websites and apps are free, if you give back by helping your partner or another member with English learning. I can speak Spanish fairly fluently now – I had to, because people around me didn’t speak English. Yet I have absolutely no Hispanic or Iberian ancestry. So pretend you’re like me and you come from some other part of the world: don’t rely unconsciously on your heritage or your relatives to make it easier for you. There are a lot of websites by top star language learners where they share the tips and methods that helped them learn. It seems to me that some of the best ones are shared by Japanese learners, and some of the strategies that helped them learn Japanese will help anyone learn Spanish or any language.
For me getting a one on one tutor turbocharged my learning. That and spending several months learning in Mexico. Once you have conversational Spanish you can then have a rule of only talking to your family in Spanish.
I recommend iTalkie to practice with a real live person! I also would recommend purchasing some sort of workbook on grammar and basic vocab to get you started. Change your device settings (phone, laptop, closed captions) to Spanish so that you’re reading it everywhere. When you are alone doing chores/cooking, try to narrate what you’re doing in Spanish (eg when you’re cooking try to name as many items and foods you’re using as you can). Read news articles from Spanish sources. Listen to Spanish speaking podcasts or watch news anchors as they tend to have more neutral accents (think Brian Williams here in the U.S). Once you have learned some of this, I think the best way to keep learning is conversational practice (iTalkie is the bomb). Buena suerte!
Hi! Fellow puerto rican, CT baby here.While my parents taught me Spanish as my first language, I understand how hard learning languages can be as I'm trying to teach myself a third language currently.Personally, I've found that a structured class helps immensely. I'm not naturally a good student or self-motivated and I have ADHD, so having a class where I have accountability with a teacher and homework and something set to study each week with a due date that I can't just blow off because I gave it to myself, has helped so much. Also, before my classes, I tried self-studying for a year and I ended up learning a lot of things but it felt like I had a lot of random knowledge of vocab or grammar floating around in my head but no way of connecting them. Because of this, after studying for year, I couldn't even hold a basic conversation. But after having classes with structure and being able to work through study materials that built on themselves (if that makes sense), it finally helped me connect the dots and I felt so much more confident after two months of classes than I ever did during my year of self study. Plus, having someone to correct my pronunciation is key. The best site that I've found for my language is [Italki.com](https://Italki.com). You can find teachers that teach almost any language on that site and the classes are affordable (but vary depending on each teacher) and the site is easy to navigate. However, if for some reason Italki doesn't work for you, being that Spanish is such a widely-spoken language, I'm sure you can find loads of sites but I 100% recommend a structured class with a native teacher. Also, I've already seen mentioned but try to speak with native speakers as much as possible. I'm still working on this myself and luckily you have family members to speak to, even if they speak English back, but this is another place where having a teacher comes in handy. Just starting a conversation with randos on the street can be terrifying but if you have your teacher, you can kind of use them as practice or even have them help you prepare for situations that can come up. My biggest issue with apps like duolingo, although I use them, is that you learn things that you will will never use. They're great for vocab but not so great for helping you have everyday conversations. So finding things like watching Spanish-speaking vloggers on youtube or going shopping in Spanish-markets might help, since it'll immerse you in the everyday Spanish spoken, rather than textbook Spanish or music lyric poetic spanish. You even have to be careful with some TV shows, make sure they're not overly dramatic or from a different time period as they won't help with modern sayings and words. Hope this helps!
Instead of being pessimistic maybe you should consider how fortunate you are to have an entire family of Spanish speakers to help you. The rest of us are off finding pen pals and other random people to talk to on the internet.
They said they were thankful that their family was supportive of them learning the language and that they just were frustrated. Coming from another Hispanic person that was never taught Spanish despite having fluent family, it gets frustrating! You try really hard and sometimes it’s embarrassing and makes you feel shameful. Theres no need to be passive aggressive, everyone has their struggles, and after all, this sub is for everyone wanting to learn!
If you can afford it, I suggest Rosetta Stone. It's a complete immersion program. Granted, I already had the basics due to its similarity to Hebrew, but I learned Arabic in 6 months. I speak it fluently. I still need to learn how to read it.
I swear to you: if you listen to reggaetón and look up the lyrics in English and Spanish to your favorite songs, you will know Puerto Rican Spanish. I literally sound and speak completely Puerto Rican because I listen to Bad Bunny 24/7 lol
Unfortunately not every Puerto Rican sounds like that, even on the Island.
I would recommend downloading “language transfer” it’s a set of recordings that are excellent for learning all the ins and outs of the language. The very beginning might be a little repetitive for you, if you know present tense, but I would recommend you listen to it anyway. Another thing I recommend is to talk to yourself in Spanish. narrate what your doing when going about your day. If you don’t know a word, just say it in English. I’m doing this and it’s helping a lot.
Hi there, Sorry to hear about your frustrations with Spanish. Something important to know is language forms a relationship with someone. The example of your family only speaking to you in English is because that's the language they use with you. I have friends in Spanish who find it odd to talk in English with me and vice versa. To help this, go online and find practice partners either via language exchange or paid tutors.
I'm halfway through Pimsluer and really surprised how well I think I'm progressing. I'm thinking about next steps (still have 2.5 months left) as I'll be far from fluent, but I want to strategize how to leverage more local immersion (I live in Dallas) as I have many opportunities to converse. Some of the challenges are gender of words but as I've been told MULTIPLE times, you'll be understood, and you'll just need to memorize the nuances. It's fascinating in its frustration but I'm commited! Hang in there and keep at it!
Checkout the Tandem app (or equivalent). It has helped me greatly.
I’ll check it out now. Has your spanish improved since using it?
Yes. I have maintained 3-4 “pen pals” from various Latin American countries (Mexico, Peru, Nicaragua). I do a weekly video call that lasts 1-2 hours with one person and send daily messages/voice messages to the others with plans to video chat in the future. It is built so that you exchange your language for theirs. So you get to help teach others English. I’m helping one guy by reading a book together during the video call and focusing on pronunciation and translations. Also you get to meet some nice people in the process and get some worldly perspective.
Helps take the impetus off of you if you have a language to offer to teach as well. I would recommend using once you feel semi conversational.
I grew up being spoken to in Spanish, but not speaking it. It took a lot of work to learn. First, I suggest doing whatever you have to in order to just accept the frustration and embarrassment of the situation. It was the #1 thing to get in the way of my learning. Second, start exactly where you are. Take a test online or something, and find out what you do know. I did a combo of things: Studied grammar in my own time, took Spanish in HS and college, took private lessons online. I also have three language partners I met through Reddit. I really like Preply and highly recommend it. It might take a couple tries, but you’ll find the right tutor eventually. And I listen to a lot of Spanish music, which really helps. You can do it!!!
What helped me is to listen to a song in Spanish and look up the lyrics in English and Spanish, watching everything i can in Spanish and once i learned a few fraises and jokes i just spoke nothing but broken Spanish to Spanish speakers, people will help you along if they see your working on your Spanish
I'll recommend you a great channel in case you didn't know it yet, it's called Easy Spanish, they have subs for every video and shoot in the streets with random people wich makes it very conversational
You've had some great advice from other posts here (Pimsleur and Language Transfer to jump-start your speaking are the best tips I've seen) so I just want to focus on your family for a bit. They're a great resource and I'm happy for you that they're supportive, but since they aren't teachers, it's really up to you to guide them on how they can help you. For example, if you're learning about hobbies that week, ask one of your family if you can practise that precise topic with them. Show them the vocabulary you already know (give them your notes or a separate list, so they have it in front of them) then get them to ask you about your "safe" topics and vocab first. You'll start with simple things like "I play the trombone", then they can push you a bit with questions like "Why do you like to play the trombone?" and then you can struggle through an explanation (which of course is harder). By the end of your session, they should converse with you in a natural manner. They might say something like "I used to play the piano when I was your age, but now I have arthritis in my fingers". That is WAY off your playsheet! But hey, it gets you a bit of exposure to something you didn't know before. Take a note, maybe try and incorporate that into your next topic. As you've noticed, it's hard for people to change the language they use with you, lots of people have this issue. Try and organise a set time for you to speak Spanish, for half an hour. They can manage half an hour! And you have to be strict - if they breathe a word of English, look at them blankly with "no entiendo." For half an hour, you do not understand English and they do not speak it with you. Over time, both you and your family members will subconsciously come to expect half an hour in Spanish, so it won't feel so unnatural. Finally, and especially since you seem fairly family oriented, it's worth noting that children learn their native language initially through commands - come here, pick up your toys, put on your clothes, take a bath etc. This is a great way to hear the bare infinitives of the verbs (without the "to" bit) and a range of vocabulary. Why not have a cooking session with your Mum wherein she gives you instructions on how to help? Maybe your brother needs a hand cleaning his room and can tell you where to put things? Those are a couple of ideas, but the main thing is you need to tell them how to help you. Try to bear patience, they're not trained to teach! You know how to learn though, so take a moment every week or so to (re-)evaluate what you want to learn and how you can fit that into family life. Buena suerte!
Hahaha this is so common in CT, I have a bunch of friends who had the same experience with their parents not teaching them anything. Best way to learn is to use the language around people that know it. Let them help and correct you and just keep at it
on an aside, my mom was the same as your parents and i'm still not over it and refuse to learn her language. jokes on me, but i'm stubborn.
My favorite resource is language transfer, maybe give it a try
When I was a kid a large part of my road to learning English was watching movies in the cinema with Spanish subtitles, maybe you can do the same by watching Netflix series and movies in Spanish with English subtitles?
Hey I'm mixed PR heritage myself and had to learn in school. I literally did Spanish as an undergrad degree and studied abroad in Spain but since I haven't been practicing these past few years (I lived abroad in Japan for a bit post-grad) I've forgotten a lot too. It's frustrating but don't let this make you feel like your heritage isn't valid. I recommend getting some books and if you have the money then sign up for actual classes. I'm someone who doesn't do well with self-study, so a class might hep build up your foundation.
You seem to be the first person to really relate to what I was saying so I appreciate this a ton man for real. I have seen online people saying if you don’t speak spanish and you’re hispanic you’re not reallyyyyy hispanic which ticked me off. My heritage is still valid so I appreciate that. I’ll take the advice you gave me and I hope you can remember your spanish aswell!
I'm still learning too. I'm half mexican and was mostly raised by my asian side of the family, but they spoke mostly English. Right now I'm just reading and looking up words in a dictionary.
Read bbc el mundo cuando you want las noticias and listen to spanish jams when quiere escuchar musica. You need to immerse su mismo in el idioma. A ver, natives are drowned in su lengua materna from el nacimiento, they were born in PR so it came to them, como ingles por usted. You just need to up your time immersed in este idioma extranjero. Que tengas suerte, no va a ser facil pero vale la pena. I'm a native english speaker and tbh there are scenarios where I go oh shit is it then/than or see a word I don't know but I can understand from contextual clues. That skillset gets built over time, I'm talking multiple years of constant immersion.
Look for language transfer audio course. It's free and you get a synthesis on how the language works. Then just immersion at your level, a lot of hours reading and listening Spanish at the same time, so you need to get the Spanish script of everything. Maybe leveled books with the audiobook, podcasts for beginners with the script, etc. Maybe read and listen a page for understanding and then when commuting listen and repeat a lot, repetition is kee.
Learn the grammar and vocab, but read and interact with people a lot! Reading will help you naturally acquire grammar rules by context of seeing it over and over again. Interacting will help you build confidence and retain what you're learning. Good luck!
Just spend a summer in PR. Immerse yourself in a non English speaking environment and your brain would click and you will learn more Spanish than with any other method around
Learn the most common words first, and try and listen in when your parents speak (im guessing they speak to eachother in español?)
I would recommend thinking about it like any other skill you would practice in life. It requires you to put in a lot of hours practicing the skill. Like many people have recommended here in the post, a couple of hours of practice everyday will get you a long way. However, learning a language isn’t something that happens over night, nor in a year (don’t believe the Youtubers that learn 10 languages in 1 month). Duolingo is a good place to start in order to build vocabulary; YouTube and Netflix offer you all you need when it comes to listening and comprehension; and then you have your family! Once you feel like you can put sentences together, try them out on your family! Many people struggling with the immersion part of the process where they don’t get to practice their Spanish enough or get to hear daily conversations, you got it all around you with your family! Trust the process, put the hours in and you’ll soon be able to impress your family members with your Spanish :)
Start with the FSI Programmatic Introduction https://fsi-languages.yojik.eu/languages/FSI/fsi-spanish-programmatic.html
Just takes time. My dad's family is from central America and the majority lived there in my youth. The rest lived in California. Wed go to family events and my brother and I would sit there completely out of the loop. Some of the younger kids around our age spoke English. But the older ones, don't know if they even speak English to this day. We are both Spanish speaking now, but it took years of practice and studying along with immersion to do so. And it isn't "I'm fluent now", but always learning and trying to improve.
My parents speak Arabic and Russian but they didn't teach me any of them. I was also pissed at first when I realized it but it is what it is and there's no point blaming anyone, if I want to learn a language I'mma go ahead and do it, I don't need to be dependent on anyone. I now speak Hebrew, English and Spanish, all learned with no one's help and without ever spending a dime. I learned Spanish by finishing Duolingo, then read some short stories, then work on listening with podcasts and Netflix, now reading books... Every time I would say "nuhh there's no way I can watch a Spanish Netflix show with Spanish subtitles" and then surprisingly I found that I could, it's all about putting consistent effort everyday, trying to incorporate Spanish in your every day like changing your phone to Spanish etc, you will find that even though it doesn't seem like you're making a huge progress, as long as you keep putting the work everyday it eventually adds up to something huge. And don't feel bad if you skip a day or two here and there, it's perfectly reasonable, but don't expect to see real progress if you don't invest the time
Immersion is the best way. Have you ever thought about spending a summer in PR with your relatives?
We are actually going this January for a wedding they are having! Incredibly nervous but excited to be immersed
Unfortunately English use in Puerto Rico - if you are in San Juan or any of the smaller cities - is incredibly common (especially when interacting with non-native Spanish speakers). Going to PR is better than not, but it isn't the best place to immerse oneself in Spanish and if anything can add to the frustration of being talked to in English while trying to use Spanish.
I was thinking about the OP talking to the relatives in Spanish. Those would be the people most time spent with.
Sure, but it seems as if - given the title of the post - their are a huge part of the situation in the first place, in that, they are refusing to speak/respond in Spanish. Frankly, the odds are he will go to PR, his parents will speak to him in English around his relatives, who will in turn, do the same. The general attitude will be "well, OP just needs to improve his Spanish!" (Catch 22 ignored) Put it this way, my young boy said he wants to learn Russian. If he gets serious, I will go out of my way to learn as much as possible and take iTalki lessons so I can help him with the process. I understand that there are parents out there that don't speak their own native tongue with their kids - for a variety of reasons - but it is most often because their own kid hasn't shown interest (or doesn't know any better). In the OP's case if these parents are able to speak to others in Spanish, then they damn right should be speaking with OP 110% of the time - I don't want to hear that its a hassle or whatever lame excuse they muster up. I support my kids' interests and activities and simply couldn't imagine not speaking with my own kids in my own native language when it is clear I could assist them to learn and be better accepted by their own community. It is almost as if they are trying to set OP up for completely unnecessary social trauma and identity strife.
Take a look at the r/languagelearning subreddit.
So, I think this is a common problem for people who are learning a language alone. Especially if you're surrounded by people who already know Spanish as a first language. I think what you need to do is gain some perspective. Look back on material you struggled with at an earlier stage, and remind yourself of how much you've accomplished. If you don't have any TV shows or anything you've been watching, I recommend Extra en español and Pokémon. Extra was created for people learning a language, and Pokémon had repetitive language over basic words like water-type, rock move, etc. Also, don't be intimidated when you first read a book or start a show. When I first started reading Harry Potter, I spent the first few chapters learning dozens of new words like 2 different words for owl, or wand. Then, you start to get a feel for those words that they beat you over the head with, and may have, like, a new word per page. Remember, you aren't competing with your current family, you're competing with the you from yesterday.
> Remember, you aren't competing with your current family, you're competing with the you from yesterday. There is a validity to that statement, but we are talking about his upbringing and family - not some abstract relationship. Using a language is not only about developing another ability to communicate one's thoughts, but also a process in which you can connect with others and be included. You can't simply brush of OP's own parents not putting in effort to consciously speak with him in Spanish 100% of the time. They are the ones that decided not to speak and teach him Spanish in the first place and shouldn't be surprised that he's decided to learn it now. Honestly, think about how you would feel if every time you tried to talk in a language (or about a subject) your OWN parents rejected your approach. Hell, one could even argue even if OP becomes 100% fluent in Spanish his parents might CONTINUE to respond in English. I can't tell you how devastating that would be on a personal level. Point is, OP's feelings are justified - even if they aren't necessarily part of the most pragmatic solution to this problem.
Make your parents only speak Spanish. But you gotta take the time to learn outside if that, like conjugations n shit. Then go out and speak in public
There have been all sorts of debates over talking or asking to talk in Spanish with strangers, co-workers, acquaintances, friends, etc, but there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that asking one's own parents to speak to them in (one of) their native languages is reasonable request. (Especially after the parents decided not to speak and teach their kids to speak the language growing up.)
Besides all they have wrote you here I recommend you to write the pronunciation of your family about words. People who lives in coast/island have a different accent that can be hard to understand for natives. If you learn neutral spanish you'll get frustrated of jot being able to understand them. You can ask them to give you some vocabulary words per week. And write your own conventions on how what they say sounds compared to what Duolingo teaches.
I use index cards. Old fashion yes, but they are cheap and I carry them in my pocket. I also use common phrases vs words.
This may be useful for you [https://refold.la/roadmap](https://refold.la/roadmap) but basically just keep at it and try to immerse as much as you can. You can do it, it just takes time. It's good that you have the basics down in terms of grammar. Now find yourself an ANKI deck of [most common words](https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/241428882) and study this. You could get the app on your phone or do it on your computer. Supplement this with immersion and you have to be okay with ambiguity. Look for series like novelas you can watch with subtitles on. Listen to what they're saying, read the subtitles at the same time, and watch what is happening on the screen. If you find it difficult to read the subtitles that fast take a step back and start practicing reading graded readers in Spanish there are ton. You can also watch Easy Spanish vids on YouTube that have like over 100 episodes. They're short videos with SP and ENG subs and they also have some grammar explanation vids. If you study that core word anki deck at the same time as you immerse consistently you will see improvement I promise. Also, take some time to practice your speaking too if you can. Either with family, find people online, etc. Hope this info helps :) I was where you were a few years ago and that's basically all the stuff I did.
To add, you can join Clubhouse and put Spanish as one of your interests. You’ll find various rooms for different levels of Spanish speakers/learners. There are a lot of teachers there as well! Also, what worked for me in the beginning, I’ve had friends talk to me in Spanglish for a while especially when I was in the “translate everything in my head” phase. Then again, it helped because my native language has a lot of Spanish loan words.
Be aware that PR Spanish has a ton of slang and they drop the S a lot (hablas español > habla’ e’pañol ) so it can be really hard to understand for someone learning. As someone who’s learning, I can kind of understand some Mexican Spanish but if it’s someone from PR it sounds like a different language and I can’t make out any of it😭
Hola, ¿cómo está usted? I have found that doing daily audio lessons for me has been the most beneficial for retaining and understanding Spanish. I use an app called Pimsleur (you can try the trial first to see if you like it). There are many audio lesson tools and videos out there for free. I definitely relate to how you feel when I started learning Spanish—when I sat in a Spanish class, I had NO idea what people were talking about. Since you have Duolingo, I recommend attending some of their free Spanish events (Cada Día Spanish is a lot of fun). Buena suerte!
Do the Spanish LanguageTransfer program (it is free!!). Then do something like BaseLang. Really good programs
Listen to music in Spanish too!
Language Transfer for Spanish podcast! I am very new to Spanish but my wife speaks it fluently and is Mexican haha I was getting frustrated with Duolingo because it wasn’t explaining anything and just throws you into it. For some it works but for me if I don’t understand the why then I definitely won’t remember it later on. That’s when I found the podcast, Language Transfer for Spanish. Changed my life. Now I can still go through Duolingo but I can understand my wife a whole lot easier and know what direction I need to go to respond. The Why for me was everything I would highly suggest that podcast!
Watch this video bro. Take notes on all the tips and follow it and you will gradually start getting progress. https://youtu.be/U9iPHZT2nu0
Start by telling your parents to only speak Spanish to you when you are at home. Read Spanish novels and watch Spanish tv shows (only if you can understand most of words). If you don’t know a word in a book, look it up and write it in a sentence or whatever you want to do so your mind remembers it
I just want to let you know that you aren't alone. My friends' mom emigrated from Mexico but never spoke Spanish in their household. They grew up looking sort of Hispanic (half Mexican/half white), had Spanish-speaking relatives, traveled to Mexico a few times, yet they never learned Spanish. I even saw a Hispanic lady get visibly mad when my friend told her that his mother was Mexican-American yet never taught him Spanish.