If you have the desire to learn how to speak Spanish fast but are concerned that maybe you don’t have the skills or aptitude to be successful then rest assured. Anyone can learn a new language regardless of age, experience and even aptitude.
You require quite a few skills if you want to competently understand a new language. Initially, you may need to be able to pronounce words and understand what other people are saying, but over time, you will need to learn vocabulary, grammar and reading and writing. That’s quite a lot to get down so one important point to start with is to not put yourself under too much pressure.
If you think about learning your native language, it probably took you about one to three years to start speaking. After that, you learn more about this language as you go through school and you are probably learning new things about it to this day. Certainly, you probably come across a new word or turn of phrase every once in a while.
So don’t get too down on yourself if you can’t speak Spanish in 3 months. Don’t get too mad if you have a limited vocabulary after six months. It does take some time, but if you stick at it you will get there. With this said, here are some resources that can help you learn to speak Spanish fast.
The Internet
The Internet is a great opportunity to get exposed to native speaking Spanish speakers. This can be done in many ways. You can watch youtube videos in Spanish (comprehension, pronunciation). You can read Spanish websites (read). You can take part in Spanish language forums (write). There are many online course that can teach you the basics of the language and grammar. You can even have one to one lessons over the internet, using a free voip service like Skype.
Try watching a bit of Spanish TV or a DVD form time to time. Watching the news in Spanish is easy because you can follow the story through the pictures even if you don’t know exactly what is being said. Watch a movie on DVD allows you to fiddle around with the subtitles. you can switch to English audio/Spanish subtitles or vice versa. This is an easy way to learn and can teach you reading, comprehension and pronunciation. You can also see how the grammar works too.
Music can also be very useful as a learning aid, although you will need to be aware that music lyrics can often be frustratingly difficult to understand because of the different musical styles out there and because there is often quite unusual vocabulary and word order used. Nonetheless, look for more traditional styles of music and the language should be ok.
Courses
Doing a language class gives you the opportunity to speak to someone face to face and get personal tuition. You can gain plenty of confidence using this method because you are used to speaking aloud. This is often half the battle when learning a new language. If you have no fear of talking aloud, you will talk to Spanish speaking people and your skills will improve at a rapid rate.
These ideas should give you some food for thought. Learning a new language does take a bit of time and is best when you are consistent. But if you put the effort in you will be successful.