Learning Spanish: Classroom vs. independently
I've been reading in my "Pratice Makes Perfect" Spanish workbook, and in the past few days, I've covered about 4 topics. I thought to myself, "Wow. In school, it would have taken us 2 months to get through all of that! And I did it a few days." That got me thinking...is it better to learn Spanish independently or in a classroom?
Independently: When you are learning by yourself, you can go at your own pace. You don't have to spend extra time on a topic that you understand, and you can take more time to learn the more difficult topics. However, in a classroom, you can interact with other students. Sometimes, I find that other students have questions that I later benefit from.
Classroom: You are able to talk to other students and ask them questions. Your teacher will be there to explain the topics for you. However, you have to stay on schedule. Sometimes, you might feel like the class is going to slow, and other times, you might be like you're falling behind.
I think I like learning in the classroom better. Ultimately, I think the choice just depends on your own personality.
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Tell me what you think. 
33 Answers
It may be different in other places, but in the U S A, there are very few native Spanish speakers that are teaching, in other words, most of our Spanish teachers are native English speakers. If you are trying to reach a level of fluency in the classroom, a teacher that is not a native speaker will not be able to help you with idioms, colloquialisms and the other 'oddities' that bring a person to fluency. I have two friends that are Spanish teachers, one at college level, the other at high-school level. Neither one of them can carry on a conversation in Spanish, one of them will even argue with a dictionary, she knows all the rules according to the dictionary, but she just can't understand the language.
I have endeavored to go on this journey independent of classroom teaching. I have been told "You can't do it", "you'll never understand the grammar", etc, etc. The people that told me that were teachers.
I have taught myself, and of course, I continue to this day. I can understand just about any conversation in common Spanish, and I can converse rather fluently, not nearly at the level I want to be. But, for three years of intensive self-study, there is no classroom that could have brought me this far this quickly.
In a group conversation a while back something was said (in Spanish). No one in the group knew what was said. The Spanish teacher turned to me and said, "what did he say, Jack?" I told her, and you could see the look of "how can he know, he hasn't taken any Spanish classes" (ok, ok, I'm probably just reading too much into the situation, hehe).
Of course, horses for courses, your mileage may vary.
Both! I don't see why you'd have to make a choice. Why you'd think because you're learning with one book in class you can't have 5 more at home.
If I had to pick one or the other I'd chose to work by myself. The difference between the best students and the "worst" students is always the work they do by themselves at home
In my own limited experience, the problem I see with most classroom environments is that classes tend to be structured largely around a textbook. When it comes to language learning, this means that the primary (and often secondary and tertiary) focus tends to be on grammar rather than conversational skills. Given the right resources, I think that an average student with an earnest desire to learn such subject matter can often do so more efficiently on their own.
When it comes to building conversational skills (and again this is based mostly on my own experiences and observations), I think that for the most part, Spanish classes (at least in my area of Texas) tend to perform rather poorly in this regard. I think some of the shortcomings are due to the fact that the development of basic listening and speaking skills often takes a backseat to rote memorization of various grammatical concepts, but I also think such deficiencies are also exacerbated by the fact that most of the "conversational practice (both speaking and listening)" is conducted by the students themselves who have no real basis for judging the accuracy (in terms of pronunciation and sentence structure) of what the other students are saying. For this selfsame reason, many students who take Spanish in high school for 2 or even 4 years often complete their studies with little or no ability to actually participate or understand what is being said in a Spanish conversation.
What's possibly worse is the typical "gringo accent" that is often ingrained in these students by such methods. Because the majority of the "conversational Spanish" that they hear is often generated by their peers, they tend to pick up and maintain many of these poor pronunciation habits. Of course, such results could also be due in part to the attitudes of the students themselves towards learning another language, but I still can't help but suspect that certain common methodologies, in regards to language learning, probably play a not to insignificant role in the end results.
Of course, it is probably worth mentioning that I also do not happen to feel that studying grammar (especially early on) is a particularly effective or efficient method of teaching a foreign language and that intensive grammar training is probably better suited to students who have already enjoyed sufficient exposure to the language to be able to understand such concepts as they are presented in the language itself (rather than artificially importing such concepts back and forth between languages). My own opinion is that such a level of proficiency can often be attained within one to two years with the appropriate resources.
Although Heiditi is absolutely correct in everything she writes, I would add a couple other considerations:
(1) Language learning in the internet age is completely and utterly different than pre-internet!!! Depending on where you lived in Estados Unidos, there was usually very little opportunity, other than immersion courses in the country itself, to speak with native speakers.
But now with the internet, there are dozens of free online "language exchange clubs," which coupled with free online chat services, Instant Messege software, Skype, Google Talk, et al., gives more than ample opportunity for English speakers to speak to their heart's content with native speakers. There are always more people wanting to practice their English, than those wanting to practice any other language. Again, a result of the internet age.
(2) The best language courses I have ever taken were local "continuing education" courses at night. They cost only a token amount, were always taught by native speakers (because they didn't need a college degree in "education" to teach them!), and the students were entirely different. Most of the students were mature adults with a very strong motivation to learn, and who behaved exceedingly well in class and helped to guide the teacher in a manner which profited the other students.
Whereas, most university courses (especially Spanish) are not taught by native speakers, and most of the students are usually attending "just to get a grade and/or meet their mandatory language requirements."
Conclusion: In the past it was absolutely necessary to have some classroom study. But today, for those who do not need the "structure" provided by a classroom environment to learn, it's better to study on your own.
For those (and there are many) who do not have the internal discipline to keep at it every day, a classroom, coupled with online resources is probably a better choice.
The difference between the best students and the "worst" students is always the work they do by themselves at home
Well, I think there is nothing like a good teacher, of course, what can I say...jeje
We have many people on this site who come to our chats, actually, who can write beautifully but not speak, a teacher can teach you that, so far I have not met anybody who could actually speak listening to videos or recordings.
Heidi said:
so far I have not met anybody who could actually speak listening to videos or recordings.
Nicole-Baile said:
I agree 110% with Heidi. No matter how many hours you spend listening to Spanish TV, >videos, radio, etc., nothing can compare to speaking with a native. When you are >passively listening, you are not put "on the spot" so to speak. When you are talking to >another person, you have to process what they are saying fairly quickly and then be >able to answer in a way that they can understand. This will never be done with a video >or audio recording.
Although I agree with what you are saying, why does one assume that a person that is "listening to videos or recordings" doesn't interact with a native speaker? And why would one assume that a student in a classroom is going to get that 'extra touch' from a teacher? It is extremely important to talk to native Spanish speakers because your brain is internalizing vocabulary, moving information out of the temporal lobe and a bunch of other magic stuff. However, it has taken me years to find a decent tutor/teacher, which is out of the classroom because the classroom teachers were a joke. One new teacher who just passed her certification test to teach Spanish at the high school level, told me, "hey, if you'd like me to tutor you I am available". I was stunned. Even though she's passed all the tests, lived in Mexico for a year, and has all the correct certifications to teach, she can't order a burrito in Spanish.
For what it's worth, I've never met anyone who was taught in a classroom that could speak Spanish worth a flip. I'm sure my opinion is skewed from my own personal experience, but that's all I have.
At the end of the day, you are responsible for your own learning whether you are in a class or not.
Personally, I found my spanish class experience to be a total waste -- after one year I could count to 100 and name a dozen animals but could not say useful things like "I know him" or "I want to do it" because the focus was on vocabulary and not on communication. Listening to one audiolibro en español while reading the same text in english has done way more to teach me spanish than that year of class did.
If you are in a class, I would strongly advise you to self-study on your own. Even if that just means popping in a Disney movie with the spanish audio track or chatting with spanish-speaking friends on the internet, you should always be using the amazing resources available to grow as a language learner. Assuming you want to actually learn spanish, you should never put all your eggs in your spanish class basket because, unfortunately, many people get through years of classes without learning much of anything.
Although I agree with what you are saying, why does one assume that a person that is "listening to videos or recordings" doesn't interact with a native speaker? And why would one assume that a student in a classroom is going to get that 'extra touch' from a teacher?
I am not assuming anything
I know! I am a teacher and I do skype lessons for free and I know exactly what the extra touch of a teacher does to a student.
I said "I do not know anybody who has learnt Spanish by listening to recordings", why are YOU assuming that I meant, even if he interacts with native speakers.
NO offense, but that is really a silly thing to say, a person who interacts with natives, is not a student simply listening to recordings.
I know plenty of people, Pacofinkler is one of them, who learnt Spanish actually only interacting with natives, no recordings, no videos or anything. He is improving his Spanish here on the forum, but of course, he already spoke it...you got to be very thick not to learn the language if you interact with natives Paco is so good now, that he actually teaches or helps others, like Stadt or Bandit, with their pronunciation.
I am aware of advantages and disadvantages of independent learning when it comes to learning any language, especially Spanish
Advantages of independent learning/disadvantages of :group learning
1 You can learn at your own pace not held back or otherwise forced to advance faster than you can cope with, When you learn in a class you need to work at the class pace
2 It can be less expensive since you can negotiate with the native Spanish teacher to pay for each lesson This is often not an option when paying for a local authority course in a local college since they expect all the course fees to be paid in advance/up front .
3 Taking private lessons with a native teacher can enable you to develop an authentic accent more rapidly Not all colleges use native teachers to teach languages although many more are beginneing to do so
Disadvantages of independent learning/Advantages of group learning :
1 You usually have no-one you can arrange to practice with during the week when you take private lessons whereas you can make new friends in a Spanish class and arrange to meet outside of class hours to practise your spanish and help each other with what you each find difficult
2 It is not easy to compare your standard of Spanish with others to see how you are progressing and practise using your Spanish with a wide range of people of varying levels if you are taking private lessons. This would be possible of course if you were studying Spanish on a course at college
I took two semesters of German in college. Learned plenty of grammar. We were forced to talk to each other a little. I did not even come close to being conversational in German by those classes.
I took a year of French in high school and had a teacher who loved French and who made us speak some, but I never became conversational in French.
Being in a classroom full of people who also don't know how to speak whatever the target language is...I can't imagine that being a tremendous help, really. Although, perhaps with the right teacher it could be helpful.
I've studied Spanish for more than 3 years by myself via this website and watching loads of movies in Spanish (really a few movies over and over again). Armed with a dictionary, I believe I actually could hold a simple conversation in Spanish...I could be an annoying tourist if nothing else.
Frequent conversations with actual natives (having several Spanish friends, family members or living in a Spanish-speaking country)...I imagine that would be the best way.
From my experience I would say that both independent and classroom learning are both important, with independent learning being much more important. Achieving a high level of language proficiency takes an unbelievable amount of discipline and passion. I have yet to see a student really excel that has not supplemented their classroom learning with independent study. However, I do believe that classroom learning is extremely important once you reach a higher level in a language (provided that you have an excellent teacher). Last semester I wrote no less than 20 papers in Spanish. Although I am a highly motivated student that is dedicated to learning, I probably would not have done this on my own. Also, having a great teacher who can actually explain concepts like the subjunctive in depth and make you realize its not about "triggers" and so called rules is priceless.
I learn spanish in the classroom is okay but I have been on this website and has helped me do better in spanish class with new words on the flash cards and lesson so it helped me working independently to bring up my grade because the teacher is really tough.So that is why I pick independently
If you want a job doing properly ..... do it yourself!
I've been learning Spanish for years. My learning is my responsibility. I don't leave it to anybody else. We have (in my opinion of course) some of the best teachers available anywhere right here on this website.
In a way Spanish lessons on Spanisdict is is sort of like a class.. maybe it is not in a school.
Motivation is a big thing and available learning tools are important too. If you are in a Spanish speaking environment and receive no instruction, it would take a long time. Straight classroom time with only conjugations and language structure takes a long time as well.
I am a native English speaker, but did not learn completely on my own.. as a child my parents helped me I was surrounded by the language and English speakers.. I went to school and expanded my language. Even in my adult life, there are language skills being leaned from public speaking trade language and learning to be a better communicator. It is not even just about the words.
As an adult learning, I can not expect a Spanish speaker to spoon feed me and spend countless hours teaching me. With the right kind of money, I could pay for classes and higher private tutors and immerse myself.
I have chosen the solo route, but believe classroom time is important.
As I lean more I will find more opportunities to use my education.
In a way Heidi is right that only listening to media will not make you fluent, but understanding is a big piece of the puzzle and little by little you should be able to join in on conversations.
Most of my learning has been from audio but audio lessons not so much tv. I have seen that with persistence, I can communicate with Spanish speakers.
Following the readings from the audio, I can write some Spanish as well.
The way I see it though, time on Spanish Dict for me is classroom time.
I prefer learning independently, but it is wonderful to have a smart, articulate native speaker of Spanish to exchange with. I'm an English teacher, so I have often done this kind of exchange: an hour of conversation in each language while we eat, drink and answer the other person's questions. And I echo Jorden's response--the spanishdict community is invaluable!
