How can I become fluent in Spanish?

I love love love Spain and the language, and I've wanted to learn spanish for a really long time. I never had the chance to do it at school (options were french or german).

So now I'm on a gap year and I've started going to beginners spanish lessons at a college but it's only 2 hours a week and I feel like I'm not getting very far. Does anyone have some suggestions of ways to learn, either abroad or in the UK?

Reply 1

VivaErasmus

The best way to learn is to live in the country. You should go to Spain or south america and sign up with a language school whilst living with local students or a host family. You will learn about the same amount in 6 months in the country as you would in about 6 years in the UK. If you can't afford to get abroad then I would recommend finding a language exchange (find a Spanish speaker in the Uk who wants to learn english, and you can talk to each other in the languages for free). This at least gets you some decent contact with a native speaker...

Reply 2

citrusfruits

Original post by VivaErasmus

That's what I thought, I'd love to go and live in the country. Do you know of any language schools in Spain/people who can set you up with a host family? Finding a spanish speaker in the UK is a pretty good idea, i hadn't thought of that before

Reply 3

soy_david

Original post by citrusfruits

So you're on a gap year before University? If so, what are you going to study at University? You can do Spanish from scratch at a lot of Unis.

As for feeling like you're not getting far ... seeing as you've only just begun to learn then you'll need to be patient: you don't get fluent overnight, no matter how hard you work; there's only so much your brain can process.

Patience, hard work, go live in Spain etc. the usual advice.

Reply 4

citrusfruits

Original post by soy_david

Yeah I'm taking a gap year before I start medicine in september. I'm not looking to do spanish as a career or a course at uni, I just really want to be fluent in it as I go to Spain quite a lot and and I really like the idea of speaking another language :smile:

It's hard starting from scratch (though doing french at school has definitely helped). I'm prepared for the hard work, I just don't really know the best way of going about it :s-smilie:

Reply 5

dotty_but_good

Original post by citrusfruits

It's hard starting from scratch (though doing french at school has definitely helped). I'm prepared for the hard work, I just don't really know the best way of going about it :s-smilie:

My suggestion would be to get a job in Spain and live with a family there if at all possible, that way you can experience different Spanish used in different environments.

This summer I am teaching sailing in Minorca so am hoping to improve my Spanish, sadly I will be with English speakers most of the time so won't learn that much during the day.

Reply 6

livlov

Have you considered doing an intensive Spanish course?? I did one with this Spanish school,
http://www.cehispanic.com/ , they are really good for forcing you to talk Spanish constantly and you are immersed in the culture of Spain too which is always helpful1

Reply 7

language_man

Original post by citrusfruits

2 hours a week is way too little time to spend learning a language. Study at home using some home study courses, such as Michel Thomas. Also, learn a lot of vocabulary with flashcards. Also, try to find Spanish natives in your city using things like Gumtree etc to do a language swap with and get some practice speaking Spanish. You'll improve much faster this way. Good luck.

Reply 8

citrusfruits

Original post by livlov

Oooh I hadn't seen that one before, I looked into one called Don Quijote but it was looking pretty expensive for the length of time I wanted to do it. How long did you go on that one for? And did you improve a lot?

Reply 9

citrusfruits

Original post by language_man

This is really good advice, thank you! I'll look into those :smile:

Reply 10

Moleymann

Check out various GCSE and A Level websites for Spanish. It might be basic, but you'll be laying down a solid foundation of the language.

Reply 11

language_man

Original post by citrusfruits

This is really good advice, thank you! I'll look into those :smile:

For the flashcards, here's all the Spanish vocab you'll ever need.....http://www.online-spanish-course.com/show-topics.php

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 12

Wanischa

Watch Spanish TV, listen to Spanish radio, try to read Spanish books/newspaper (even with dictionary).
It works for me when I tried to learn English :3

Alternatively, go and live in Spain...that's how I learnt my Spanish.