Studying Spanish

Question

Is it just me, or are there times that you just CANNOT seem to understand Spanish, even though you know the vocabulary and grammar and everything... For instance, when you are trying to study, has it ever happened that the words or grammer concepts you are trying to learn just don't "stick"? This drives me crazy sometimes...

• You are not the only one, JC. - ian-hill Oct 2, 2009

Answer 1

Yes, it is frustrating sometimes! Usually when that happens to me I try to move on to something different and come back to it later. Often I'll end up learning something in the meantime that really helps me understand.

Keep at it!

Answer 2

I think that there are times when we "just don't get it" referring to almost any subject. It definitely happens in Spanish. But then there are those great days when everything clicks and we're on the right track. I guess you have to take the good with the bad.

I teach music. I always tell my students that if they have been working on something and are continuing to have problems, they should just walk away for a short time, maybe even a day.

I don't know exactly how our brains learn new concepts and this is not coming from any scientific research I have done. I just know that when we work on something for awhile and then reach a point of frustration, something happens when we walk away and focus on something else. For instance, if someone is playing a song and making one mistake after another, they should go to a completely different song or task and work on that for awhile. When they come back to the song that was causing them problems, something seems to magically happen. It is as if they were developing new brain cells during the break and when they return, they are actually able to play the song fairly well.

I don't know if anyone else has ever experienced this. When we are having a bad day, we should just refocus, remember our goals and return to the work. We will get it eventually, as long as we never give up.

• Great minds think alike. - Seitheach Oct 2, 2009
• This is so interesting Nicole! I used to take piano lessons, so I can really identify with it. - Alicia-53 Oct 2, 2009

Answer 3

Lol can't say that's happened to me before cuz I'm fluent in spanish. I'm a sophomore in high school and taking a college level spanish (and government) class because I'm fluent in spanish (and in IB). So that's why I have an account here to help people.

• :( Im in IB Spanish V, and I keep bombing the oral presentations... its really frustrating... - JCameron Sep 30, 2009

Answer 4

Well - if you learning for exam it really may be frustrating. In any other case - just move on. If you need/want/enjoy learning Spanish you just going to develop more and more "intuition" about it, so more and more things are going to "click".

Answer 5

As I am Finnish, the pace that Spanish is spoken by natives, really is too much for me. But now after two years of studying and living ½ year in Spain and now moving back there, hopefully I am finally starting to get it.

Answer 6

Sometimes you just have to walk away for a bit. Come back with a fresh mind. At times you may need a few minutes, other times maybe a day. I don't give my mind a break from Spanish though, even when not studying I will listen to Spanish music, read in Spanish or watch Spanish movies.