| Step 1: Determine Your Goal The first thing | | | | dictionary and a wonderful little book called |
| you should do is ask yourself: what exactly | | | | '501 Spanish Verbs' that has the most |
| do I want to accomplish? Am I going for total | | | | commonly used verbs and shows their |
| native fluency (requiring years of work) or | | | | conjugations, very helpful. Step 5: Learn at |
| do I just want to have a decent grasp of the | | | | Least ONE New Spanish Word Each Day--You MUST |
| language so I don't come off as completely | | | | Commit! Commit to learning at least one new |
| ignorant when speaking to a native speaker? | | | | Spanish word per day--this will be HUGE for |
| Also, what is your time frame for learning | | | | adding to your vocabulary although it might |
| this material? Do you have years to work on | | | | not seem like it at the time. I like to use a |
| it or only a few days or weeks before you go | | | | site called Spanish-Word-A-Day who will |
| on vacation or meet your significant other's | | | | gladly send you a new word to your RSS feed |
| relatives? Step 2: Get A Home Study Course | | | | or to your iGoogle homepage--I know there's |
| There's no getting around it: you're going to | | | | other sites that can also email you a new |
| have to spend some money on some basic | | | | one(s) each day as well. The important thing |
| educational materials and this one is | | | | is to commit to actually doing this, that way |
| probably going to be the most expensive AND | | | | if you don't get any other Spanish work done |
| the most important. I've used Pimsleur, | | | | that day then at least you still did |
| Rocket Spanish, Berlitz, and Rosetta Stone | | | | SOMETHING if you've done this, and it really |
| amongst others, and personally I liked | | | | doesn't take but a few seconds. Bonus Step: |
| Synergy Spanish (see my review at the end) | | | | Watch Telenovelas! (Spanish language soap |
| better than any of the others, especially for | | | | operas) One of the best things you can do to |
| someone who just needs to get to a basic | | | | improve your Spanish is to sit down for 30-60 |
| level of proficiency where they can handle | | | | minutes each day and watch a Spanish language |
| simple day-to-day conversations and | | | | soap opera, called a telenovela, which will |
| transactions, and they only have a few days | | | | almost always be available if you have cable |
| or weeks to get there: Synergy uses 68 | | | | or satellite. Personally, I find the best |
| lessons of 10 minutes each so you can | | | | thing to do if you have Tivo or something |
| complete the whole course in a few days or | | | | similar is to turn on subtitles (Spanish not |
| weeks depending on how much time you can | | | | English) and then after a character says |
| invest, it's only $49, and if you're in a | | | | something pause it EACH time and figure out |
| rush nothing will up your Spanish language | | | | what they said, then repeat it a few times to |
| skills faster. Step 4: Find a Native Spanish | | | | yourself until you've got it and could |
| Speaker Who to Talk to It could be a friend, | | | | understand it if you heard it again at full |
| it could be someone you met through a site | | | | speed, then unpause it and continue to do |
| such as Friends Abroad, it doesn't matter | | | | this. You might only get through 5 minutes |
| just so long as you have a native speaker to | | | | worth of the show in 30 minutes, but you will |
| converse with occasionally. You don't need to | | | | learn a LOT of Spanish. |
| do any type of formal lesson, in fact the | | | | |
| more casual and colloquial it is, the better. | | | | What do you call someone who speaks 3 |
| Step 3: Dictionaries, Thesauruses, and | | | | languages? Trilingual. What do you call |
| Translators Personally I like to use for my | | | | someone who speaks 2 languages? Bilingual. |
| online Spanish-English dictionary, I used | | | | What do you call someone who speaks 1 |
| Urban Dictionary to look up spanish slang and | | | | language? ... American. That's a funny but |
| curse words (they're better than anybody for | | | | sadly accurate joke I heard recently. Do you |
| this), and I use Babelfish for my translator. | | | | want to be the ignorant gringo when you |
| You might also want to grab a paper | | | | travel? |