Learning Spanish: What I Would Do Differently
Learning a language, or any new skill, is as much about self reflection as it is any other process. Only through self-reflection can one know what works, what doesn’t work, and what motivates and doesn’t motivate. I thought I’d write, based on my own self-reflection, about how I would learn Spanish, knowing what I know now, if I could do it all again.
When I say ‘learn’ I’m referring to becoming conversational in the language (being able to comfortably express yourself on just about every non-technical topic).I’m going on the assumption that I wouldn’t have the opportunity to visit a Spanish speaking country so this would all be home-based, independent learning. Of course the steps herein may not be to your style but if you’re fairly lazy and detest verb tables and formal learning in general then you may find them useful.
Warning: Note that I don’t include writing exercises. I don’t have too much desire to practise my writing and with Spanish I don’t believe too much practise is necessary. The written language isn’t a million miles away from the spoken language.
It’s no easy task learning a language so it’s wise to know what you’re getting yourself into before hand. Unrealistic expectations are a major cause of loss of motivation. Therefore if we go with the Foreign Service Institute’s estimate of 1000 hours to become conversant in Spanish we can begin to map out some realistic expectations. Before we continue I’d like to say that I don’t think learning any language is simply a 1000+ hour venture. I believe it’s a life long journey that after X amount of hours becomes an enjoyable road that you continue to walk down and reconstruct time and time again. I say X because we are all different when it comes to gleaning pleasure from language learning. Some love the beginning stages of wading through new and shiny grammar and others prefer the pleasure that comes later on like reading or speaking. I’m the latter. And because of this you’ll notice as you read this article that the first 12 months are quite rigid whereas the next 12 months are much more relaxed and I concentrate on doing only what I enjoy. I seem to need this rigid planning to keep myself on track while I’m trooping through what I consider to be the less enjoyable beginning stages of language learning.
So, let’s pretend that I have accepted my fate and I’m ready and willing to commit to 1000 hours. Do I simply expose myself to 1000 hours of Spanish, regardless of the method, and wait for the magic to happen? Some say yes but I’m not so sure. I agree that time is the number one factor in language learning but I also believe the method you use does have an influence on your progress. How can you possibly be as effective with a course that bores you to death compared to one that you find stimulating? And how can you guarantee to stick at the task if the course you use is like watching teeth grow?
Now, we have two distinct camps (I’m sure there are many more than two actually) in language learning. That of speaking early on in the learning process or delaying speech until the latter stages. On the one side Stephen Krashen’s input hypothesis states that all a person really needs to do to learn a language is to expose themselves to constant comprehensible input without speaking. Krashen argues that comprehensible input means stimuli such as audio dialogue or reading that is only marginally above the ability of the learner so that they can understand most of what is being said but are still stretching themselves. Krashen claims that only after massive comprehensible input can one begin to produce comprehensible output. Krashen also states, rather appealingly, that language acquisition is not about learning grammar rules through books but about internalising grammar rules by observing and understanding the language in its natural context (T.V., books, conversation). I tend to agree with him to a degree on this but I see no harm in referring to grammar books if you’re curious about particular aspects of the language.
On the other end of the spectrum we have the likes of Alexander Arguelles who claims that speaking from the outset, through a method known as ‘shadowing’ amongst others, begins the process of automated speech which will help you get to a conversational level quicker. Shadowing is when you simply listen to a dialogue and repeat what the speaker has said as soon as they say it while trying to understand what is being said. Ideally you should be reading the transcript in English or Spanish at the same time to aid understanding. Which camp to go with?
Well since I like tangible results (i.e. things I can see, feel, hear now) I’m more inclined to go with speaking early on. I can’t say that this is more effective as I’ve never delayed speech before but it suits me. I do plan on trying delayed speech when I take up the Portuguese challenge before we go to Brazil but that’s a long way away so for now it’s shadowing. Right so after all that what next? Although I have my 1000 hour timeframe I haven’t said how I’d like those hours to be spread out. Since I’m fairly impatient I would like to complete them within two years. That’s around an hour and a half a day (just less actually).With a few good courses and consistent study I believe this is reasonable.
I mentioned in this Spanish course review that I very much like a course called Assimil. The course has two levels; ‘Spanish With Ease’ and ‘Using Spanish’. With Ease has about 100 dialogues, contains about 2,500 words, and includes a huge array of grammar points as well as various forms of the subjunctive that most ‘advanced’ course don’t even touch upon. The ‘Using’ course, with about 54 dialogues, by my very rough estimation could contain between 2,000 and 3,000 new words, including many more grammar points. So combining these courses you’ll be looking at a vocabulary of about 5,000 words and a Very Good handle on grammar and common idioms. So with Assimil as my first stop I would begin working through the courses as stated in the instructions only I would do two lessons per day rather than one and I would place more emphasis on repeatedly shadowing the dialogues and listening out for pronunciation nuances. I would remember to read the grammar points each day.
That’s about an a hour day. I’d have a review session of about 15 minutes every day where I would re-listen to the dialogues I’ve already studied. I would do the first lesson in the morning, the second after work and the review before bed. That’s an hour and a fifteen minutes a day. We need an hour and a half everyday to be done in two years but I’ll talk about the extra fifteen minutes a little later on.
At this rate I would have finished both Assimil, passive and active phase, after about 5 months (I’ve added a little more time for unforeseen interruptions). Now that we’ve ‘completed’ Assimil we would be mad to put it a side. Although we’ll know a good portion of the stuff in there we won’t have it down pat so I’d put a thirty minute window aside every day to re-shadow all the audios until I had them ingrained. This would take another seven months or so. Right now we would have clocked up around 290 (give or take) hours just on Assimil alone but believe me it’ll be worth it.
As I mentioned during the first five months I’d have an extra 15 minutes to spare. My suggestion would be to listen to some beginner podcasts . Some good free beginner podcasts are Notes in Spanish and Lingq Spanish. I would just lie back and listen away. Listening comprehension is arguably the most difficult aspect of language learning so I would make sure to put at least 15 minutes a day aside specifically for that. Once I’ve gone through the beginner podcasts I’d start going through their intermediate podcasts. After 12 months you will have clocked up a whopping 90 hours from podcasts alone. That’s 390 hours including the mileage clocked up with Assimil. But that still leaves us with 45 minutes a day to play with after the initial five month stint with Assimil.
This is where, for me, language learning becomes much more enjoyable. This method is an adapted version of the Listen-Reading system described here (L-R). Firstly I would find an unabridged audiobook in the target language (Spanish); lets say the first Harry Potter book (that’s right I love the Pott’s!). Then I would get the book in both Spanish and English. I would then, for 45 minutes each day, listen to the audiobook while reading the English text simultaneously. So whatever the Spaniard is saying you’re reading the equivalent in English. I would essentially be matching the English words with the Spanish sounds. This will be reasonably tough at first but since I would have already spent 6 months learning Spanish I would get used to it fairly quickly. Since the audiobook is 8 hours long it would take me 11 days. Once I’ve done this I’d do it again. Another 11 days.
The truth is I wouldn’t be limited to Harry Potter. As long as you can get an unabridged audiobook in Spanish and the text in both languages and you enjoy the book you’ll be fine. It just so happens I really like Harry Potter. Once I’ve done this two or three times with the English text it would be time to do the same with the Spanish text. Just once through with the Spanish text should suffice. I quite enjoy this part of it. It offers huge gains to your reading ability and a great confidence booster when you find yourself understanding the majority of the story without any English assistance.
Now do this with another book. I’ve done it with Harry Potter, Angels and Demons, and Dejado Atras with great success. Once I would have completed three books or so I would have done around 160 hours and it would have taken seven months (making allowances for any unforeseeable interruptions). In all that makes about 540 hours in 12 months.
The beauty of the 13 month mark is that my reading skills will be seriously up to scratch, my listen skills should be more than useful, and my speaking ability should be decent but possibly a little weaker than the other two skills. All in all I’d be about the mid-intermediate range (whatever that is). It is at this point where I think I’ll be beyond formal courses and I’ll need to discover exactly what it is that I enjoy doing in my mother tongue that I could just as easily do in my target language.
Whilst I don’t think the studying should be as structured I should exercise each of the main areas as much as possible.
For my listening skills I would do the following:
1) Listen to advanced podcasts.
2) Listen attentively to Spanish music.
3) Watch Spanish DVDs (with the Spanish subtitles on if comprehension is hard going).
4) I would then extract the audios from the DVDs and listen to them wherever I go.
5) If the DVD audio is still particularly difficult I would simply slow it down using the speed option on my mp3 player.
Reading improvement:
1) Choose a list of books I’ve always wanted to read and go through them.
2) Change my facebook page, mobile phone software, and whatever else I can to Spanish.
3) All the internet searches I would ordinarily do in English I would do in Spanish.
Speaking improvement:
1) Find a Spanish conversation partner.
2) Shadow audiobooks I enjoy.
3) Speaking to myself all the time. In fact this should be done from day one.
And hey presto! One and a half hours a day of enjoying myself for another 12 months and I’m well on my way to being conversational.
Below you’ll find a simple table of how I would arrange my first 12 months.
About the Author
I am an EFL/ESL teacher, traveller, avid language learner and author of the below blog.
http://our-world-adventure.blogspot.com/
David Hayter Anime Expo 2008 Part 1 Abridged Version
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