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 [...]

One of the best things you can do to improve your Spanish skills in less time is reading a book series. Ideally, it would be a series you’ve already read in a language you know (i.e. in English). If you are a fan of Harry Potter or Games of Thrones, you should probably go over them again in Spanish. As you already know the plot, the characters —and you [...]

As you learn Spanish, you don’t need to give up your favorite English [or, insert your native language] content. You can read Spanish translations. If it’s a popular book, chances are that you can find an edition in that language. For websites and other digital content, there’s Google Translate. Let’s say you have a favorite blog or two that you read every week. You don’t want to miss what [...]

In August 2019 I started learning Italian. That meant that —for the next year or so— I would read less content in English, and more in Italian. As my target language was so close to my native tongue (Spanish), I thought: ‘Why not continue reading the book I’m halfway through (Educated, by Tara Westover) in Italian (L'educazione)?’. I made a quick search on Amazon, and I bought the Italian [...]

“(...) interest may be not enough for optimal language acquisition. It may be the case that input needs to be not just interesting, but compelling. Compelling means that the input is so interesting you forget that it is in another language.” “Compelling input appears to eliminate the need for motivation, a conscious desire to improve. When you get compelling input, you acquire whether you are interested in improving or [...]