Tips and tricks for learning Spanish
Does anybody have any tips or tricks for learning Spanish. Some things that i do are: i put my mobile in Spanish, i set Spanish subtitles in films, when i see numbers during the day i translate them into Spanish. Does anybody have any other things? Please share
16 Answers
I listen to BBC Mundo and Democracy Now! news podcasts in the car when I'm driving. I also go to RTVE and watch TV shows from Spain online. They're full-speed Peninsular Spanish, the ones that aren't in Catalan, so be prepared.
I also read Spanish language newspapers online, in particular El Pais and El Mundo from Spain, El Clarín from Argentina, El Universal from Mexico, and El Universal from Venezuela. There are many more I read, but those will give you some variety.
Do everything you can that involves learning spanish. Listen to music, read books, watch t.v., talk to native speakers, take classes, etc. After you do that repeat it again ten times.
Having watched the BBC News in English, I sometimes go online to www.cnn plus and watch the news articles in Spanish. The combination of Newsreel footage and professional Spanish presenters makes "listening and undersanding" Spanish much easier.
www.bbcmundo.co.uk
www.cnnplus.com
Find people who can speak Spanish fluently and hold a conversation with them IN PERSON, NOT ONLINE. This way you can hear the accent and pronunciation of specific words and trust me, when non-Spanish speakers are constantly surrounded by the language- even if it's just little fragments- they pick it up much more quickly than looking online or relying on vocab found in books and dictionaries. Also, write in Spanish, translate things in your head, and actually attempt to think in Spanish when mulling something over. When you start dreaming in Spanish, you know you've got the language down! 
If you see objects anywhere, ouside, inside, at work. Try to think of the Spanish word for it. It will help.
I have the GPS in my car in Spanish, and sometimes when I go to a store with the automatic checkouts, sometimes I choose Spanish...
¿Buenos dias? 
Do everything in Spanish. If someone asks you a question, answer them in Spanish. When they look confused, apologize and then repeat the answer in heavily accented English.
Now, like the previous answers to this question, I read several newspapers per day, listen to radio stations on the internet (so, that I’m not permanently connected to my computer, I do have internet radios around the house), make lists in Spanish (to-do, grocery, etc.), change everything you can from English to Spanish and Fº to Cº, talk to you pet in Spanish, etc. A good one is to change your outbound message on your answering machine (if you still have one) to Spanish. It cuts down on the nuisance calls. Inform people that you want to leave a message that your outbound message is in Spanish. Write recipes in cucharadas and cuchariditas, gramos, and mililitros. Answer all telephone calls with “Aló”. If your car is so equipped, change the miles/per hour to kilometers per hour, but make sure that you understand your speed. Laminate a small piece of construction paper on which you have hand-written “I am a citizen” and “accidentally” produce it when asked for your identification. Apologize profusely. Write dates as “26.07.17” instead of “07/26/17”. Tell people in a heavy accent that one of your relatives was “a hero of the revolution”. Loiter around the “Hispanic Foods” aisle of your local grocery. Wear a guayabera during warm weather. Play Latino music loud in your car and roll down the windows when you’re at a stop light. Change your internet browser to Spanish. Eat lots of beans and rice. Hum the "Guantanamera" when people are about. Act frightened whenever the 13th of the month falls on a Tuesday. Tell people that Francisco Franco is still dead. Ask the telephone company,utility provider, etc. if they can send a statement of account in Spanish.
I’m just starting with tips, bat ai jaf tu go nao.
Do things you like doing, the things you normally do, in Spanish. Watching the news? Yeah, do you like watching the news? I usually watch the Big Bang Theory or Star Trek or whatever TV show I normally watch in Spanish. If you get advanced you can read the types of books you would normally read in English in Spanish. (Although I do listen to the news because they speak really fast and it's a great way to learn to catch fast speaking words)
If you have facebook you can put it in Spanish. Cuidad Juarez's newspaper "El Diario" is pretty good too.
iYo hizo no terminar mi la frase!
One thing that I didn't mention is that if you find a Spanish word that you don't understand, look it up in a Spanish dictionary that has Spanish definitions. The definitions are normally in more basic Spanish. You learn more vocabulary that way. If, still, you don't understand, then use SD.
I write down everything that i don't understand, forming a list. Later, I look up the words all at once and write a sentence or two using them. As time goes on, I see that the list gets shorter given the same length of time.
SD is the best!
I'd also suggest https://preply.com/ as one of the ways to learn spanish. Thats easy and you can choose among many tutors from all around the world
I have just started to watch Latin TV in the U.S. The soap operas and commercials are the most fun for me.
I have noticed that while I don't understand everything, I do understand a lot. I also hear words and phrases that I understand but that I have never heard used. I write them down.
I also find the flash cards on this site super-helpful to build vocabulary.
The more words you know, the more you understand.
I subscribe to free Spanish podcasts from iTunes (if you have an iPod). I particuarly like Coffee Break Spanish-excellent explanations of grammar and I also enjoy Showtime Spanish, same group as Coffee Break Spanish, but with Showtime they have 10 minute conversation with native speakers from all the Spanish speaking countries.
