«Una lengua extranjera es un castillo. Es una buena idea atacarlo desde todas las direcciones: diarios, radio, películas que no estén dobladas, artículos técnicos o científicos, libros de texto y hasta la persona que está visitando a tu vecino». Kató Lomb Un castillo tiene una estructura enorme y, a primera vista, parece impenetrable. Rodeado de muros y murallas, protegido por donde sea que uno mire. Cualquier desprevenido que intente [...]

«No dejes que el miedo a cometer errores te impida hablar, pero pídele a tu compañero/a de conversación que te corrija». Kató Lomb ¿A quién no le ha sucedido alguna vez? Queremos practicar conversación, pero, a la vez, no queremos equivocarnos. Nos gustaría poder hablar y comunicarnos a la perfección, sin andar buscando la palabra correcta y sin detenernos a pensar qué es lo que deberíamos decir a continuación. [...]

«Ten la absoluta certeza de que eres un genio con los idiomas». Kató Lomb La genialidad no es solamente una condición o una capacidad que viene dada de nacimiento. También puede ser una actitud, un modo de acercarnos a aquello que practicamos. Los que aprendemos lenguas extranjeras, por eso, podemos creernos genios con los idiomas. Podemos asumir una actitud positiva y confiar en que tenemos una capacidad extraordinaria para [...]

Aprender un idioma requiere una cierta actitud. Necesitamos tener paciencia y confiar en nuestra capacidad para aprender. Es así cómo con el tiempo podemos ir logrando cosas. Así nos vamos acercando hacia nuestros objetivos con el idioma. Con una actitud y mentalidad positivas. Para aprender español vas a necesitar paciencia, porque es un trabajo que lleva tiempo. No es de un día para otro. Tampoco es algo que se [...]

I’m always looking for new ways to make language learning enjoyable and compelling. That makes it easier and sustainable in the long term. As I enjoy listening to music in foreign languages, I create my own exercises using song lyrics. You can do the same in Spanish. I believe this is a terrific method to help you improve your Spanish spelling and listening skills. These are the steps: Pick [...]

You can build your Spanish reading skills by going narrow or broad. In the first case, you read content written on a specific subject or by a certain writer (such as a book series). If you choose the latter, you read broadly: books and content on many topics, genres, and by different authors. Here we’ll focus on the advantages of going narrow. When you read a lot about a [...]

A video blog —also known as a vlog— can be a great tool to practice your Spanish speaking skills. It’s about shooting a video of yourself talking to your cell phone selfie camera. In Spanish 🙂 You can record it with any smartphone and upload it to YouTube for free. Maybe you don’t feel like changing careers and becoming a famous vlogger and influencer with millions of subscribers. It’s [...]

We tend to underestimate what we can accomplish when we add a little of something every day. What happens when you add one Spanish word each and every day? At the end of a month, you’ll have thirty new words. Maybe that doesn’t sound like much, but it is. One new word a day is more —much more— than zero words a day. Adding just one word works because [...]

Yes, you can. Of course you can learn Spanish as an adult. Unless... you can’t. Your ability to learn Spanish might be connected to your assumptions, to what you believe to be true about language learning. Even though you probably know people who managed to learn Spanish in their ripe age, you might think your case is different. You say that you lack talent for languages, that your pronunciation [...]

Some language learners are fond of doing grammar exercises and memorizing verb tenses. Others just hate anything grammar altogether. And probably will tell you that you don’t even need to study it: ‘Why would I bother? I’ve never really cared about grammar in my native language, and I got good at it anyways. Why should I waste my time learning Spanish grammar? I prefer to learn it naturally’ When [...]

I have recently been exploring foreign language dictation as a strategy to gain practice writing in a second language. It would be the equivalent of shadowing to the written form. In this case, you also use audio input and immediately convert it to text. How does it look in practice? You can take an audiobook and focus on one or two minutes of content. You listen to a small [...]

What is the best way to learn Spanish? You can learn on your own, work with a teacher, or even get a language course. Whatever the method you choose, learning Spanish (or any other language) involves other people. Even a self-directed student never learns completely ‘on his own.’ She will have to read or listen to content written or spoken by users of her target language. One of the [...]