Learning Spanish Without a Tutor
Hey Guys, I'm trying to teach myself Spanish. I'm a junior who home-schools and can't afford a tutor. My mom knows very little Spanish, and so this is all very independent. I am working out of a well-reviewed workbook, I watch Spanish movies, and I really do think that it's helpful. Buuut, I don't think its enough. I study the words and the grammar, but if I challenge myself to write a paragraph, or even a few sentences, it takes a ridiculous amount of time. I don't think I could ever carry on a conversation at the rate I'm going. Does anyone have any helpful suggestions?
9 Answers
kimirose: There is no 'magic bullet' for learning Spanish, everything you do is going to seem like it takes "a ridiculous amount of time".
How long have you been studying Spanish? A few months? A few years? I'm going to assume the first. You haven't been at it long enough to see the value in what you are doing. I have been teaching myself Spanish for the last five years, and I am sufficiently fluent in Spanish to talk with anybody comfortably. It has taken an unimaginable amount of time (a ridiculous amount of time) to reach this point. If I were to tell you how many movies, and television shows I've watched in Spanish, you probably wouldn't believe me. To this day, I still watch TV in Spanish, just about everything I do, I do it in Spanish. I read, I write, I listen, I talk, everything in Spanish. Obviously, when I am in English only environments, I speak English, but hopefully you get the idea.
Just because you watch a movie in Spanish, that's not going to improve your writing skills, you have to practice writing to improve that. The same with speaking. You have to practice it. By listening to Spanish, you are developing your listening skill, the ability to understand the spoken word, which has little to do with the ability to write it. Speaking Spanish is an entirely different skill than listening, so you've got to just "throw it out there", talk, talk and talk, in Spanish, and you'll amaze yourself before long. The same with writing, that is a third skill, so don't be dismayed at the "ridiculous amount of time" it takes to write something. Next year you'll be able to write it without too much thought if you keep practicing.
If you're really trying to acquire the Spanish language, you have to create as many immersion experiences as you can so that you can absorb as much as possible. Truly acquiring a language takes so much more than studying a grammar book, it requires embracing the culture, which includes the people, the food, the music, etc. It becomes a life experience that you'll never forget.
Whatever you do, continue doing it. However, make it a bit easier on you. As you can attest, many will tell you that it takes years to learn a language, anywhere from 5 to 10 years and still many of those same people will tell you they still have problems specially in the area of talking and composing...
My personal opinion is that these people have taken so much time is because they focused on learning the grammar and from there they want to build up. Very laudable, but mostly; time consuming.
To me, anybody who knows how to read, write and express him/herself has done already all the leg work needed to pick up another language. From then on, it is a matter of "translating" what you know, in this case English, to Spanish.
Did you know English grammar to the level that is required when taking Spanish? Most likely not... So why are you trying to understand grammar concepts in a language that is not yours, when you don't know your own? But you speak more or less good English, right? I mean you are a native... hold on to this part of the conversation, as we will need it later.
Now, to translate English to Spanish in the beginning, it could make you understandable to a point, but in general it doesn't work that well, and most people, if not everybody, will tell you that it is a bad idea.
I think it is a good idea only to the extent that you use it to communicate initially, but in general it is a bad idea, anyway.
Why? Simply because you don't know if the resulting phrase from your direct translation is correct, since you don't know Spanish.... catch22.
But the reverse does not result in that catch22 situation.
If you translate from Spanish to English, you will know if your resulting translation is or not understandable because you know English.
So, if you do this and along with asking here and everywhere, paired with what you know and use in your own language, you will be able to come up with a pretty good Spanish, all this without studying grammar. And here come the part that I told you to hold on to...
Just like you did when you were a kid. Because, as I understand it, you, I and everyone else didn't know anything about grammar to start talking in our native language. Right?
Now, once you are fluent in Spanish you might delve into grammar, but if you are going to do that, I advise you to start with your own, and then move to the Spanish one. 
You already know how read, write and express yourself in English. Use that to "acquire" Spanish. You already have most, if not all, of the tools.
When I first started writing sentences daily on this site (Word of the Day and Palabra del Día), I had to look up nearly every word I wrote and then I usually put it together totally wrong.
However, after doing this daily and reading other entries, plus everyday verbal practice, I hardly have to look up vocabulary anymore. It come with practicing and it comes gradually.
Finding someone to help with your pronunciation will be helpful and now you've got several ideas from other SD users. Keep going and little by little you will put it all together. Think about it like a building, foundations first, then scaffolding, then the nuts and bolts and later it becomes a functional building.
A recent study said that the Duolingo can be better than Rosetta Stone or a college class. I'm all over the place with my grammar and am finding Duolingo helpful. I also like the podcasts Coffee Break Spanish and Notes in Spanish. If you want to try speaking to native Spanish Speakers Verbling is a nice site. I very much enjoyed watching Destinos when I first started learning Spanish. I also liked reading the Harry Potter books in Spanish. Hope this helps!
There is a ton of free stuff to help you for free on the internet. Look at this page:
http://myspanishnotes.blogspot.com/p/learn-spanish-links.html
A really great tool to help with verb conjugations (not free but worth the money):
Aside from the (fantastic, wonderful, awesome!) suggestions from everyone above, kimirose, you're sitting right on top of a (¡fantástico, maravilloso impresionante!) website.
Have you tried starting up with the lessons here on Spanishdict.com? Not only that, you've got a whole forum filled with people who are learning Spanish and English, as well as ways to apply what you've learned through games, practice, flashcards, translation and conjugations of verbs.
I can't imagine just trying to learn a language all by yourself. Why don't you join in? Since you're already self-motivated, I bet you'll do great!
Best of all, it's free!!!
Hi Kimirose,
I myself am learning by studying grammarbooks and I have found someone to give me advise on all Spanish subject but not everyone is this lucky. What I do know is that there are websites where you are able to combine learning with teaching. Maybe you can assign to one of those websites, I think it's called language exchange dot something. You are able to learn Spanish from a Spanish man/woman and you are able to pass your language as well. Most of the time it's free to assign and you'll get the possibility to talk. There are also people at this forum who you could ask for talking/pronounciation. You could post something to ask for help.
I hope to be of any assistance.
mucha suerte, Aran
Do you have access to a computer and to Skype?
(In case you didn't know, Skype is a free downloadable programme that enables people to communicate through a live audio and video link with people across the world!)
Can you help a native Spanish person to learn English or to improve their English?
If the answer to both these questions is Yes, then I would strongly recommend you to find a language exchange student!
This is simple you just ask a question in this forum, like you have just done here, asking if any native speakers around your age (and preferably of the same sex/gender) would be interested in helping you to improve your Spanish and making it very clear that you would also be willing to help them with their English ! You would probably need someone who could speak English to at least an intermediate level until you yourself were able to reach a smilar internediate level. However, you may find someone who understands English fairly well and is able to explain things clearly in a basic way so that you feel confortable with her. If you can't find someone your own age, or gender, don't worry ..if you can understand each other and feel comfortable talking to each with little or no confusion or misunderstanding, and can comfortably ask each other questions then stay with them! Don't be afraid to make mistakes..they can be the springboards to our success if we learn from them!
This is good old -fashioned bartering at its best: you offer them something in exchange for receiving help This is not a business deal, you are simply helping each other for free and hopefully learning and developing useful knowledge and skills, and a greater appreciation of each other's cultures!
Kimirose posted this on April 22nd 2013 and was seen last on April 24th 2013.
How peachy can that be?
