¡Hola y bienvenidos, dulcitos!
Welcome to Part Four of Before You Begin! I know, I know. You’re like, “Em, why can’t I just start already?” And the answer is: you totally can. I’m trying to get you going on a gorgeous, flower-lined path that’s made just for you, so you’re not wandering aimlessly for months. But, if you want to wing it, then have a blast! Learning is fun, and the process of trial-and-error can be a great experience for you to learn more about yourself along the way.
That being said, if you want to continue down this path with me, today is about learning how to learn! There are some language experts that give us an idea of how to best learn a new language, and we will absolutely listen to them. Now, I’m no scientist, but this guy, Chris Lonsdale, is. His Tedx Talk is called “How to Learn Any Language in Six Months”. (Listen, I know that we just talked about in Part Three how it’s basically impossible to learn a language in that amount of time, and I still stand by that. If you watch this video, you’ll see that the program he suggests is pretty far-fetched for the average person. That’s because most of us aren’t in situations daily where we can actively speak/listen to the language.) This video is very useful to understand key concepts of how you can learn Spanish faster.
Learning Tips I love
Without further ado, here are some learning tips along with some resources I use and love:
• If you can, find an accountabili-buddy
There’s a lot to be said for accountabili-buddies. Especially if they know Spanish or are learning it alongside you. This person will (ideally) be someone who you can converse with, study with, share resources with, etc. Communicate in Spanish as often as possible with this person to get used to speaking and listening in real time. This will propel your learning like nothing else! If your buddy does not speak Spanish, then simply ask them to check in on your progress to keep you on track.
• Get a mentor
A few months ago, I noticed that my reading and writing skills had improved, but my speaking and listening skills were seriously lacking. So, I decided to look for a tutor. I did some research on the best resources for language-learning and I came across italki. There were a lot of options to choose from, but italki was super customizable and the least expensive – yay! As you can see, you can filter your results to match exactly what you’re looking for in a mentor, which I love. Further, since Spanish is the native language of, I believe, 21 countries, you will get a lot of variation in dialects and accents. Italki allows you to choose the home country of your mentor! Amazing. This is a great option for those who don’t have access to a Spanish-speaking accountabili-buddy!
• Learn with the 80/20 rule
The 80/20 rule states that, “roughly 80% of outcomes come from 20% of causes”. What that means for Spanish is that, in theory, 20% of the words used will make up roughly 80% of your daily conversations. So, if you can find the top words/phrases that are used in your target categories such as work, school, family, business, travel, etc., then you won’t waste your time learning arbitrary nouns like “elephant” (which is elefante, in case you were wondering).
• Make it fun & keep input interesting
The more relaxed you are while learning, and the more pieces of sensory input for your brain to hold onto, the more information will be transferred into your long-term memory. And what I mean by that is this:
“The more regions of the brain that store data about a subject, the more interconnection there is. This redundancy means students will have more opportunities to pull up all of those related bits of data from their multiple storage areas in response to a single cue. This cross-referencing of data means we have learned, rather than just memorized”
(Willis, J. Brain-based teaching strategies for improving students’ memory, learning, and test-taking success. Review of Research. Childhood Education, 83(5), 31-316, 2008).
That would explain why music stays in our memories for so long.
Tasks like these – listening to Spanish music, watching movies and shows in Spanish, listening to podcasts, reading aloud to yourself, using apps like Duolingo, Lingvist, Language Transfer, etc., and narrating your daily life around the house – will create so many avenues for your brain to remember this information. Moreover, please don’t undermine the importance of good ol’ highlighting and note-taking. The physical activity of writing further embeds the info into your memory. Anything you can do is helpful, and the more interactive, the better!
• Relax
Please take a breath, because you will not remember anything when you’re stressed or being perfectionistic (*raises hand*). Memory is a finicky thing. When it’s under pressure, it will likely fail you – much like when you’re trying to tell someone the plot of a movie, and, of course, you forget the main character’s name until two days later and it’s no longer relevant. Like every new thing, this will be difficult, there will be a steep learning curve, you will forget, mispronounce things, and occasionally look silly. But, the best thing you can do for yourself is brush it off. Please keep a compassionate attitude toward yourself because frankly, you’re the only one who cares. On the contrary, it will come with great respect when you’re working so hard to communicate in someone else’s language. So, enjoy the process, and I promise that your mental wellbeing and your Spanish will be better for it.
¡Feliz aprendizaje!
Em
