¡Hola mis lectores! Tengo buenas noticias. ¡Yo estoy aprendiendo español! …¡De nuevo!
(Hello my readers! I have good news. I am learning Spanish! …Again!)
I mentioned a while back that I decided to pick up a Spanish textbook again. Last summer, I started taking weekly classes at SpanishLC here in Chicago in hopes of pushing myself closer to fluency, and also because, yunno, it’s been scientifically proven that being bilingual is good for your brain!
Also… knowing Spanish really, really helped me get around (ie: order tacos y cerveza) during February’s trip to Mexico.
When I uploaded vacation photos to Facebook last month, I captioned my album — and a lot of photos — in Spanish. I had a few people reach out to tell me that they didn’t know I knew Spanish, and to ask how I learned! I started compiling some resources for a friend and figured I would share them here, too, and talk a little bit about my journey (re)learning Spanish as an adult.
So, first, why Spanish? To start, I took classes all the way through middle and high school. It was the only language my school district offered, which is why I took it. Then, when I got to undergrad, I chose a Bachelor of Arts degree — which comes with a foreign language requirement. To obtain a BA degree, a candidate has to demonstrate working proficiency in a foreign language. I ended up taking four semesters of Spanish to meet that criteria, since I already had a robust background in the language.
Once I graduated, I had no practical use for Spanish, given that I stuck around mid-Michigan for grad school/ my first grown-up job and everyone spoke English in my community.
It wasn’t until I moved to Chicago in 2015 that I found myself surrounded by Spanish speakers — many of them native! I started toying around with the idea of re-enrolling in Spanish classes because I’ve always wanted to be bilingual, but never really committed myself to it.
After a lot of back-and-forth, I finally decided to take the plunge about a year and a half ago. First, I tried signing up at Fluent City… but my class was delayed due to low enrollment, then canceled. Then I signed up for a second class, but it was canceled too. After about four months of this, I ended up requesting a refund and looking into different language schools in Chicago.
I ended up picking SpanishLC since the location and class times worked best with my schedule.
SpanishLC pulled me in for a one-on-one placement exam, and I didn’t have to start at the beginning, which was really nice. I was really rusty when I jumped back in, but once I started taking my classes, I was actually surprised at how much Spanish I retained, and I had a pretty good background to build off of.
SpanishLC has four levels: Introduction, beginning, intermediate and advanced. I tested into early beginning, and am now somewhere in the high intermediate range. The school prints its own textbooks, which are a combination of grammar charts/ explainers, examples and worksheets, and I’ve actually found them to be pretty useful.
(Pst! Some affiliate links below.)
RESOURCES FOR LEARNING SPANISH
SpanishDict. This super handy app/ website is like Google Translate, but specifically for Spanish and English. I use this app pretty much every single day, whether I’m trying to double-check my conjugation or look up a new word. Not only does it include a basic translate function, but it also includes conjugation charts, a useful phrasebook, vocabulary lists and grammar guides. The app sends word-of-the-day push alerts to my iPhone which is a good reminder to study, and has a few fun games that I’ll play sometimes when I’m bored. This app has pretty much replaced the Spanish-English dictionary I used all through high school and college — which is still useful! Just not as convenient.
Spanish textbooks. Like I mentioned, I take classes at SpanishLC, which uses a custom download/ print-at-home textbook/ workbook hybrid that I really like. (That’s the purple binder in the photo above.) However, if you’re not planning on taking a class and aren’t really sure where to start with learning, a good ol’ Spanish textbook might be a good place to start. This is the one (expensive!) that my university Spanish class uses now, and I think this is the one (cheap!) we used when I was a student there. Something similar might be a good idea if you want to start, but need something to help you figure out how to go about learning a new language.
News in Slow Spanish podcast. This weekly podcast caters specifically to Spanish learners, so it’s a lot easier than simply turning on Telemundo and trying to keep up. The podcast hosts speak slowly and enunciate well, and because they’re talking about current events, it’s easy to use context to keep up with the conversation. You can also select beginning, intermediate or advanced levels.
DuoLingo. I know a lot of people think of DuoLingo as the go-to app to “learn a new language.” I don’t think it’s that simple, personally, so it’s not my favorite resource out there. I don’t think I would have been able to open the app and start from nothing, but it’s a useful refresher to build on what I already know.
TinyCards. This isn’t necessarily a Spanish-only resource, but it’s from DuoLingo, so it caters toward foreign language learners. It’s a flash card app, so you can save yourself the index cards and use this app to study instead. It’s pre-loaded with a lot of existing decks, too, so you don’t have to go through the trouble of making vocabulary sets either.
Short Stories in Spanish: New Penguin Parallel Text. My amazing friend Marwa mailed me this book for my birthday last year, and it’s become one of my favorite resources. It’s a compilation of short stories in both English and Spanish, with the Spanish translation on one page and the English translation directly facing it. The vocabulary and syntax in this book is definitely high intermediate bordering on advanced, but the simultaneous translation is so useful.
Learn Practical Spanish Online. This site offers side-by-side short stories in both English and Spanish, and is a great way to study. It’s the same concept as the New Penguin parallel text, but is way more beginner-friendly.
Think Spanish. This is not free, but is a subscription to monthly online Spanish magazines for language learners. We use articles from these magazines a TON in my classes, and they’re incredibly helpful IMO. The articles are also about Spanish-speaking cultures, so the subject matter is interesting in and of itself. These are the little one-pagers pictured above — “Cafe méxicano,” “El paisaje de de Baritú” y “La comida peruana está de moda.”
TV and YouTube in Spanish. Trying to find TV shows and YouTube channels for beginning Spanish is admittedly very overwhelming. There’s so much out there it’s hard to figure out where to begin! However, SpanishLC introduced me to a few that are good to learn from: Extr@ en Español and Buena Gente are two great places to start. They’re made for Spanish language learners, so they’re slow, cheesy in a good way and easy to follow along with.
Spotify. Spanish music is gaining prevalence in the U.S. (thanks Despacito!) and there is sooooo much of it on Spotify to listen to and learn from. A few of the artists I’ve been listening to a lot lately include Becky G., Dvicio, Ana Mena, Bad Bunny and Luis Fonsi. Spotify’s algorithms make it easy to find a few songs/ artists you like, and then to build an entirely-Spanish playlist to listen to.
iTalki. The best way to learn a new language is to practice as much as possible, and iTalki lets language learners do that. Users can either take lessons with a real foreign language teacher for money, or can communicate with other language learners for free. If you use the free version, you’re basically participating in an exchange program. You’ll book out a time slot, and half that slot will be spent conversing in the language you want to learn, and the other half will be spent conversing in your native language.
Native Spanish speakers. Basically iTalki in real life! I’m so grateful to my Spanish-speaking friends here in Chicago who humor my language attempts by texting me/ talking to me in Spanish. I also love to host Couchsurfers from Spanish-speaking countries, and they’ve been gracious enough to let me practice with them. Basically, whenever you get the chance to speak Spanish in a real-life situation, take advantage of it!
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So, there you have it. Those are some of the resources I use when I’m studying Spanish. Learning a new language is such a fascinating process. I’m always so surprised when I somehow just understand Spanish without having to think about it or put the effort into translating. How cool our are brains, guys?! Maybe we should stop destroying them with smartphones. ?
¡Hasta luego!
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