The possibilities of becoming proficent in spanish
Is it possible to become proficient in essential Spanish in 30 days?
11 Answers
Hi Sketchbuster,
Welcome to the forum, glad to have you
Is it possible to become proficient in essential Spanish in 30 days?
I honestly do not think so. Sadly, I think you would need to be a "super human" for that to happen. Sorry =(
Lena
No, I don't think so.
You may be able to say the basics of your name, where you're from, and talk about the things closest to you; however, it will be unlikely that you'll understand much spoken Spanish. That's a very difficult part of learning a language -- understanding what is being said to you.
But don't be discouraged! Learning Spanish can be fun and 30 days is the opening of a whole new world to you.
It probably depends on your definition of essential.
Someday, I will create a program where people can learn Spanish most easily, but I do believe in thirty days, you can learn the essential phrases and plug in vocabulary. It also depends if you are going to be studying 30 days straight or if you're studying two hours per day or four hours per day, etc.
You need "¿Como se dice ____?" which is "How do you say ____?" You need "Tengo que ____" which is "I have to (must) ____" You need "Por favor" which is "Please." You need "Gracias" which is "Thank you." You need the colors, in the order of ROYGBV (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet) which is "rojo/a, naranjo/a, amarillo/a, verde, azul, morado/a."
You need direction words like: North, South, East, West: "Norte, Sur, Este, Oeste" Straight: "derecho" To the ____: "a la ____" Left: "izquierda" Right: "derecha" Turn: "Doble" (command form)
You need "¿Es posible a?" which is "Is it possible to ____?" You need "Quiero ____" which is "I want ____" You need "Necesito ____" which is "I need ____"
You need numbers... 1. Uno 2. Dos 3. Tres 4. Cuatro 5. Cinco 6. Seis 7. Siete 8. Ocho 9. Nueve 10. Diez 11. Once 12. Doce 13. Trece 14. Catorce 15. Quince 16. Dieciseis 17. Diecisiete 18. Dieciocho 19. Diecinueve 20. Veinte 21. Veinte y uno 30. Treinta 31. Treinta y uno
- Cien (one hundred)
- Ciento uno (one hundred one)
- Mil (one thousand)
You need "Hola" which is "Hello." You need "¿Cómo está?" to use with strangers and elders, which is the formal "How are you?" until you're comfortable enough with that person to say "¿Cómo estás?"
Buy a Spanish Vocabulary sheet. Plug in some of the verbs for things that you needed. Know that adjectives come after the noun. Then practice saying things in your room. (i.e.Yellow Chair which is "Silla Amarilla")
There are a million things I would want to write on here, but go through the SpanishDict.com lessons. I believe there are 60 of them. You could go through two a day. You could also start speaking to strangers and just asking them what the time is or how the weather is. "¿Qué hora es?" o "¿Cómo hace el tiempo? just to make some conversation.
Surround yourself with as much Spanish as possible. Listen to Spanish radio. You won't understand most of it, but catch the few words that you can. You need to try to read. Get some children's books in Spanish from your local library.
If you want to learn quickly, you can, but you have to put in the commitment and time. You need dedication, and if you don't have a good memory, then you're in for some serious repetitions and drills. If you have a good memory, then linguistic luck is on your side and you need to go out and find people to practice with, which is why SpanishDict is such a wonderful site.
Hope this short essential Spanish comment helps. There is so much more that's essential out there, but I would say the best thing is to just keep trying to speak it and if people don't understand you then just keep asking "Cómo se dice ____" until you have learned what you need to say. More people are bilingual these days than before. Take advantage of your bilingual friends and speak with them in Spanish! }
Don't be afraid of being laughed at, and most importantly, HAVE FUN!
Well Daniel Tammet learnt enough Icelandic in a week to go on a national Icelandic chat show and converse but he is pretty much one of a kind!
His book 'Embracing the Wide Sky' has tips on learning a language if you are interested - I think he is fascinating anyway...
Please make a search before posting, there are several posts open on that topic.
My answer is short: No.
Hi Sketchbuster,
While I agree with what Marianne, PrincessJane, and Izanoni have said so far, He devoted full time to learning Italian- 100 to 120 hours of study in those 14 days, and at the end felt he could watch a movie in Italian and "get the gist of it."
Again, that comes down to Izanoni's reply:
It probably depends on your definition of essential. -- Izanoni
Most people wouldn't call "getting the gist of it" the same as "becoming proficient in essential Spanish." But his point of view is encouraging.
You need "¿Como se dice ____?" which is "How do you say ____?"
I find it somewhat ironic that this would head the list of phrases one needs to learn. The normal completion of this query (filling in the blank) would be a word in English (or one's native language, whatever that might be). In which case, unless the person being spoken to knows English (or whatever) there is little likelihood that the question will produce anything more than a blank look of incomprehension. I would be much more inclined to ask "¿Cómo se llama ese chisme que ...?" ) fill in the dots with a clumsy "definition" (in Spanish) of the word sought. If I were speaking with someone (e.g. Heidita) who's English I knew to be better than my Spanish, I might be tempted to take the "easy way out" and use your formula). However, when talking with a waiter in a restaurant in Chile (for example), what would posses me to think that he would know a word in English that I don't know in Spanish? (If you are a member of the "English Speaking Waiters of Chile" union, please do not bother to object to my example (it's only an example and no disrespect is intended).
I wouldn't go so far as to say that I've never used "¿Como se dice ____?" but I would suggest that it ranks very low on my list of useful phrases.
Is it possible to become proficient in Spanish in 30 days?
30 months would be more realistic! I think it is highly unlikely !!! You probably have more chance of getting married, winning the National lottery or becoming President of USA lol hahahaha
Seriously, even highly talented and dedicated linguists would probably tell you that it would take somewhere in the region of 2 to 3 years to reach an advanced level of competency if you were able to live in the country in which your preferred language is spoken and 5 or more years to become fully fluent
Various factors affect your ability to learn a language quickly I will mention the most important ones:
1 Your inate (inborn/natural ) ability to learn languages
2 The opportunities you have/will have in learning to speak the language among native speakers of whatever language you wish to learn: eg Spanish, French etc...
3 Your (intrinsic) motivation to learn and keep persevering in the face of obstacles - by that I mean learning from your mistakes and we all make them (native speakers rarely do we are told lol 
)
4 How much time and money that you are willing to invest in learning the language.
No creo que se puede, pero entonces otra vez a algunas personas aprenden de manera diferente y sí la buena suerte.
