Sunday, September 20, 2009

How to Speak Spanish

Learning how to speak Spanish is a useful endeavor that any person can undertake. Knowing a second language is not only useful for communicating with people of different ethnicities but it can help you to become more employable in the job market. So, if you want to learn how to speak this fairly common language but you don’t have time to take formal instructions you can learn how to speak Spanish on your own. Here are some tips that can help you to accomplish this.

Learn like a child. This is not unusual if you think it through. Children learn languages best because they absorb so much information and that is the primary stage they learn their own native languages. Adult learners need to have the same mentality. Instead of jumping in and thinking that you will be able to speak fluent Spanish in a week is very unrealistic and you’re setting yourself up for failure. Read Spanish children books, listen to Spanish children’s songs, and watch shows (if you can) that show elementary Spanish programming.

Get yourself a Spanish speaking grammar book. This is important because if you want to learn how to speak proper Spanish then you must know how their language is structured. Without this knowledge you can speak the language but you will probably speak something that would be a “broken version” of it like “broken English”.

Listen to Spanish tapes. This time around don’t use children’s materials, use the adult versions so that you can learn how to communicate some known Spanish phrases. There are CD’s and DVD’s that will help you to achieve this and listen to them often because you will spend a lifetime learning this language just like you do with your native tongue.

The last tip that you need to know about learning this language is to keep in mind that being able to speak it fluently will take time. Don’t give up and quit and constantly stay at it. Eventually you will have to find some Spanish speaking people preferably of Latino or Hispanic origin who can show you things about the language that you will never pick up on your own. Keep striving and never give up learning and remember there are many ways to learn how to speak Spanish.

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