In the beginning stages of anything, you’re probably gonna suck (I’m feeling that right now with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu). Spanish is no different. But knowing where to start with a language is hard. So in this post, I’ll share how to learn Spanish from scratch. Well, at least how I did. And I’m far from a language natural.
Now, before we go on, I read books about how to learn Spanish / other languages, etc. and I’m sure all that stuff works. But I’m a lazy bastard. There’s no chance I’m creating a memory palace to remember the word for dog. Or making flashcards in MS paint, printing them out, and implementing a spaced repetition system. I’d rather watch La Casa de Papel with Spanish subtitles mate, that’s my kind of learning. But if you love all that stuff, this post probably isn’t for you.
How to learn Spanish tip #1 – Get a sound Spanish teacher
Now, before you click away thinking “cheers captain obvious”, hear me out. Getting a teacher is a strategic decision, like deciding where you’re going to sit at your work Christmas dinner. You don’t want to be forced into conversation with someone you don’t click with (or steals the toy from your cracker! I hate those people).
But do you really need one?
Probably not. Howevz, if you didn’t know that verb conjugations change based on the subject, a load of verbs are “irregular” (more to come on those bad boys in a sec), and some shit modifies other shit, it’s probably for the best. Especially if you’re a complete beginner. Besides, a good one will help guide you in the right direction. Because learning a language is daunting if you don’t have a structure. That’s why I feel it’s so important to find the right teacher for you…
Shop around a bit to find the style and personality of teacher that suits you. Eventually, I found an Argentinian teacher. After 6 months I was in Argentina. Then, while in Colombia, I had a teacher from Medellín. 6 months later I’m living back there again. What did they both have in common? We got on, we focused on my interests, and we felt like I was making progress.
In my experience, if you’re motivated to learn your teacher is more of a coach. You can ask them questions, but you’ve got to put the time each day to practice. Besides, it can be hard to find people to practice with if you live in the UK. So having a few classes each week allows you to stretch those Spanish tones with feedback.
Be your own Spanish teacher
Even if you have a teacher, it helps to work from your own textbook. In fact, my Argentinian teacher recommended me to do so. I’ve linked to the absolute brick here.
Can you believe I took that beast as far as Córdoba in Argentina? I thought I’d study from it during an 8 month trip to South America. Then again, I did bring 5 pairs of shoes, including football boots. The guy with my book is probably sporting my not-so-cheap genuine leather All Saints boots as we speak!
TIP: If you need someone to explain grammar, the Spanish Dude on YouTube breaks down things really well. Including how to conjugate verbs. Defo get on that.
Wrapping your head around the verb conjugation mind fuck
One cold afternoon in East London, strolling around Victoria Park, my Spanish ex-girlfriend tried explaining to me the common verb Ir or to go for us lot. The conversation went something like this:
My ex – So the verb to go in Spanish is Ir, I…r…. Ir
Me – ah cool, so yo ir, is I go?
My ex – Erm, no. I go is yo voy, you go is tú vas, and we go…
Me – ‘ang on a second, how have we gone from Ir to v?
My ex – because that’s what it is…
Me – ….
That’s genuinely how it went. She never tried to teach me again after that.
Maybe you’re more clued up grammar than I was so it won’t be as much of a shock. But, if you’re anything like me, wrap ya noggin around the conjugation mind fuck first.
As I said, this is just a guide, but I suppose I kinda need to explain verb conjugations briefly to make a point.
Quick verb “lesson”
You probably define a verb as a “doing” word (It’s a little more complex than that but irrelevant for this purpose) like to go, run, eat, etc.
A verb in its infinitive form is when it’s not been conjugated by a change in tense or subject (I, you, he/she/it, we, they)
To use the same examples:
To go
To run
To eat
All in their infinitive form.
Now, forget about all other tenses for a second, and let’s focus on the present tense. In English, the infinitive form doesn’t change greatly according to the subject apart from adding -s/ -es when talking in the 2nd person.
For example:
I go
You go
He/she/ it goes
We go
They go
It doesn’t matter who we’re talking about, we’re still dealing with go. Easy, no?
*Spanish enters the chat*
This is when things get un poco complicado…
The infinitive form of verbs can change completely according to the subject. Let’s look at an example real quick. Ir or to go looks like this when conjugated in the present tense.
I go = yo voy
You go = tú vas
He/she/it goes = El/ella/usted va
We go = nosotros vamos
They go = ellos van
Now, this is an irregular verb. They are irregular because they don’t follow the “typical” pattern of verb conjugation. You’ll come across many more irregular verbs in Spanish than in English. English has 200 irregular verbs and I couldn’t even find the number of irregular verbs in Spanish. The only way to learn them is to get familiar with them and memorise them.
Naturally, the regular verbs are more predictable, but still not as straightforward as they are in English.
For example to eat or comer in Spanish:
I eat = yo como
You eat = tú comes
He/she/ it eats = el/ella/ usted come
We eat = nosotros comemos
They eat = ellos comen
You see. It just looks like it makes more sense. We’re still dealing with the root of the verb com-er at least. Only the end of the verb has changed.
This happens to be a verb ending en -er. There are 3 types of Spanish verbs. Verbs ending in -er, -ar, and -ir. The verb conjugation pattern depends on the verb ending but I won’t go into that.
If you’re confused, good! That’s the point I’m trying to make. It’s bloody confusing.
And we’re just getting started. That’s the present tense conjugations you need to remember. You’ve got past tenses, future tenses, and the mystical subjunctive tenses that still put the fear of Dios in me. Don’t worry about those for a while. In fact. this always blows my mind and illustrates the difference between English and Spanish perfectly.
If this is pretzeling your brain as much as it did mine, it’ll help you to nip it in the bud from the get-go. So If you’re still with me, here’s how I started to learn Spanish verb conjugations.
Flashcards. Lots of ’em.
You won’t need them forever. But at least until your brain gets used to the conjugation patterns for the different verb endings. Fortunately, there are rules (kind of). Even the irregular verbs have a pattern you can learn.
What about the other tenses? I say focus on learning the verb conjugations of the present tense first. Not only to build your verb vocab but so your brain recognises the patterns. You’ll find the other tenses much easier after. When you’re ready to move on to them you’ll know.
This is how I learned them:
On one side of a card, I’d write the Spanish verb in big letters. On the other, I’d write ALL the different conjugations in the present tense (and the English translation of the verb, obvs).
First, I’d try and recall the English translation of the verb. If I got it right, I’d say out loud all the Spanish conjugations i.e. yo voy, tú vas, ella va, blah blah, get it? I mean it’s a flashcard ffs, you know the drill.
Try and recall the whole deck. If you make a mistake, shuffle the pack, and start over until you get them ALL correct.
I did this for soo many verbs. More than I should have. It would have made more sense to focus on the most common verbs. But, I can still remember random verbs from all those years ago that I’ve not used since. I’ve never used tender the verb for to hang/layout but it’s there if I need it!
While we’re on the subject, flashcards are just sick to learn Spanish words or phrases. Eventually, I started making them on my phone with an app that allowed me to include my own photos. This was great as it made the image associated with the word I wanted to learn more personal. I’ve still got the image of my dirty post curry fork etched into my memory every time I ask for a tenedor.
Get Spanish in and around your life
This is the best advice I can give to learn Spanish. In fact, it took me a while to figure out the most effective way…
A few months before leaving for Argentina, I was up at 6 am and listening to audios from Argentinean natives on a website that looked like it hadn’t been updated since the ’90s. I’d listen to the audio all the way through, then listen a sentence at a time, write out what I thought they said, understand 40%, listen again, slowly trying to transcribe what they actually said. It’s a bloody good way to train your ear, but the content was boring AF.
So think about the things you love to learn about, watch, read, and listen to. Is it watching Netflix shows? Personal development TedTalks? Or listening to podcasts about Brexit?
Now find something similar. But in Spanish. It sounds real obvio, but I was reading the news in Spanish. I don’t even read the news in English! I was watching Spanish shows on YouTube designed for beginners. They were total garbage!
Admittedly, at first, the level of a finance podcast may be too advanced. But, make getting to that level your goal. You don’t have to understand everything word-for-word. That way Spanish becomes part of your life and you don’t have to talk to a teacher, pick up a textbook, and definitely never ever pick up a flashcard again.
MEGA TIP: Buy a Kindle/ e-reader if you don’t already have one. One that has the dictionary feature built-in. That way you can look up words you’re not familiar with as you read. All you have to do is press on the word and it brings up the definition in English. It beats having to put the book down, go on google translate or SpanishDict (top App that), and then carry on reading. With the Kindle, the words you look up are even saved on the device so you can revise them as flashcards. Pretty cool, huh!
Trust ze process
You’ll feel like you’re making zero progress and then BAM you’re understanding significantly improves. Or you’re starting to string sentences together without translating from English in your head. Sometimes I’m listening to a podcast in Spanish and I’m just like “how da fuq do I understand what they are saying??”. They’re the breakthroughs that I tend to experience every 6 months. So be patient parcero.
By the way, get used to forgetting everything you’ve learned when faced with a native speaker. You probably won’t respond how you’d like at the time, but once you’ve un-pretzeled your brain the lightbulb will go off. Normally in the shower, when that awkward moment catches you at your most vulnerable making you squirm all over again. A bit like when you tell the waiter who brings your food to enjoy their meal too…
But guess what, now you’ll probably remember whatever it was you messed up. I could never understand the word for bag. It took me like 15 blank stares at different cashiers to understand what they meant. It’s bolsa, by the way. So, what I’m trying to say is mistakes are inevitable.
En fin.
I’m finishing this post in Mexico, four years into my Spanish obsession, and I still don’t consider myself fluent. But I can handle pretty much all situations (the panic is still there mind). And even though I’m not a “natural” at languages AND I’m a lazy learner. In fact, I’d only commit to 20 minutes a day when I lived in England. So imagine what you could do with more study time!
Now, I appreciate this is only scratching the very surface. But, I did only promise “alright” at Spanish. Once you get there that’s when learning Spanish gets much easier and more fun.
Mucha Suerte!
Nick
