Spanish for Beginners

As a Spanish beginner you need to ask yourself the following questions before you start making decisions:

1. Why do I want to learn Spanish?
2. What time do I have to study?
3. How much money can I spend?

Asking yourself these questions is very important and will help you with your learning decisions. If you want to learn Spanish for a particular reason then you need to specialize in courses related to that field. If you are learning to communicate with your friends in a Spanish speaking country then it makes sense to try and learn the Spanish used in that country. I suspect most of you want to learn Spanish because you love the idea of being able to speak in another language. It really is a remarkable thing, and when you are finding things difficult, use that feeling to give you motivation.

The best starting point is to get some Spanish audio lessons or start an interactive course that will give you a great foundation to build your learning on. It's important to practice listening and speaking right from the start and these courses make you do just that. These courses use the most common phrases and vocabulary and build them slowly through repetition and translation. The main structures are learned so that you will have a good understand of when to use the different tenses, knowing how to conjugate verbs usually starting with the ser conjugation. Going through a course like this is like giving you the trunk and main branches of a tree so that you can constantly add grammar, vocabulary and more to this steady base. Here are some of the best audio and interactive courses.

1. Learning Spanish Like Crazy
2. Rocket Spanish
3. Michel Thomas

If your circumstances allow, going to a Spanish speaking country and enrolling on a course while living with a host family is a fantastic option. There are opportunities to go to language schools all over Central and South America and Spain. Most offer intense courses (around 20 hours per week) and can be done either one to one or in a group.

If you end up staying with a host family then you will have more opportunities to practice what you have learned at your institute while at the same time making friends. In fact, you will gain a lot more from the experience that just learning Spanish. It is an opportunity to learn about a whole culture and make friends in the process.

Photo Credit - Allposters

Going abroad to study is a fantastic opportunity, but if you are unable to get away then you can still learn a lot from home. If you are lucky to have a local language institute or Spanish tutors then it is wise to inquire about the courses they offer. Many beginner Spanish students have taken the decision to learn Spanish online. There are many resources out there, ranging from exercises to whole courses and even Spanish tutoring.

If you prefer learning online then this will help you - Learn Spanish Online

Following a course will help you have a general syllabus to follow but remember that it's also how you learn that's important. Finding time and then sticking to the course is key, so finding a time of day when you have no distractions will help. Try and choose a time when you are most relaxed and try to enjoy the learning as much as possible, you'll get more out of it this way.

Learning a language is learning a lot of small things and then piecing them together. As a beginner you'll be learning a lot of new vocabulary, Spanish verb conjugations and sentence structure. Concentrate on learning these little pieces of grammar and then spend time tying them together, using the language as naturally as possible.