Should I quit learning spanish?
It almost a year I been learning spanish and it has been a tough ride learning it. Right now in my situation I'm not motivated to learn Spanish like in the past. To have motivation you got to love the language, and to be honest I'm not in love with it but I want to be able to speak and understand it buzz I love hearing spanish people speak it like music to my ears . But most importantly I don't want to fail myself bcuz something got so hard for me. I try so hard learning spanish but I have other things in my life I'm busy with school sports and etc.and I'm not motivated. ....I don't know what to do can some body give me some advice?
7 Answers
If you are in a class with a bad teacher, change teachers if you can. A bad teacher can take all the fun out of a class and you really can lose interest in a subject. I love History now but when I was in college I almost failed European History because the teacher was boring beyond belief and put me to sleep.
If you can get some comic strips or comic books or any of the comic book style novels that abound in Latin America, they might pique your interest a little. But a teacher is sooo important. I'm Spanish, and I hated one of my Spanish classes because of the teacher. I was able to challenge the class by examination and got out quick.
I will give you this advice from my life:
I started learning Spanish (names of languages are always capitalized in English) in 1962. I was in high school and it was the first time I really enjoyed a class. Later in college my preferred language became French in which I became fairly capable and still am. However I never really forgot the Spanish I learned over my years in high school and college. I never used it much and was not very proficient in it. In both 2004 and 2006 my wife and I visited a friend in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico, and my interest in Spanish revived and then in 2011 I was able to spend a month in Colombia surrounded most of the time by Spanish speakers. My ability both in Mexico and Colombia was pathetic, but I tried to use the language as best I could. Since returning from Colombia I have continued to work on Spanish and feel that I have almost the ability with it that I have with French. It's really the second language of the USA and the Americas in general so I think it's very important to learn.
Stay with it as much as you can. Even if you don't learn to speak or understand spoken Spanish well, you can perhaps become a fluent reader of the language. None of your efforts learning it or any other language are wasted. You mind stays agile and once you learn the first language the others become easier. Who knows? Maybe when you are 70 years old you will be multilingual, too!
It is ultimately up to you. No one can tell you whether or not to do something. You have to have the drive inside. I would suggest taking a break and figure out how you can balance the learning process. Learning a language can be frustrating at times; however, the joy of learning should out weigh the negative.
While I have enjoyed some measure of success in other areas of my life, Spanish does not come easily for me, and it is frustrating to flounder despite my efforts, but life is not a destination, it is a journey, so travel in some direction. Spanish is not my goal, nor is it something I did, but rather something I do on my journey through life. I enjoy the people with whom it has brought me into contact.
The observations and advice offered by all of the previous posters is remarkably good.
Buena suerte en su viaje!
Hi Lyanasha,
Welcome to the SpanishDict forum 
You are not alone, we are here to help you! 
I really feel for you as you sound desperate to know what to do for the best ..you have a really difficult dilemma here: should you continue in learning something that are you are obviously beginning to hate and resent or give up and admit defeat?!
It can be very disheartening and demotivating to persevere in learning any subject, especially a foreign language ..if either you have a bad teacher, you just don't get on well with them or worse still: you also hate the subject and the way they teach it! (Their teaching style!)
The situation may not be as bleak (hopeless) as it sounds or as black and white as either continuing to learn Spanish and hating every moment of it or giving up!
I would suggest/recommend that you follow a middle course of action between these two extreme positions: If you are still hating the experience of the classes then take a break for say, perhaps, six months to a year and drop the particular course and the current Spanish teacher that you have!
You are not giving up Spanish completely by taking this course of action, you are simply giving yourself breathing space to relax and enjoy life again! This is not defeat, but common sense! There is absolutely no point of continuing to try to learn something you hate because your motivation will continue to suffer and you will probably 'switch-off' and not retain or learn anything useful! So please don't beat yourself up about it ..I repeat, you are not alone, most of us experience similar dilemmas at some point in our lives! I hated Geography and Maths at school and finally gave up Geography as soon as I had the opportunity! lol I loved Biology and still do but I had a wonderful teacher!
Finally, you may find that after having given yourself a well-needed break/rest from the subject after 6 months or longer, you will be /feel ready to start again with a different teacher! Things can improve ...please don't don't give up hope or give up with your Spanish! ,)
I'm sorry that my post is so long, but I hope that it is helpful and that it encourages you!
I for one really do respect your honesty!
If you feel that you are no longer enjoying it then I would say it is pointless continuing because you will not learn something if you do not want to! a task is 100 times easier if you're enjoying the task. I have been studying for 8 months and feel i'm doing well because I enjoy it!
but in that short time I've stopped for two weeks and found a reason to get back into it, My motivation is...'well i've started so I may as well finish'
A break will do you some good, take a few weeks off !
Hi I don't know where you live nor whether you are learning Spanish at school or on your own. I learned French at school and Latin and decided to start Spanish at 16 - I liked it more than French which I learned to a higher level. I then used French on occasional holidays including surprisingly in Laos but ignored Spanish. Then I had a holiday in Peru and decided to start Spanish again. When I was at school there was no internet now there are fantastic resources to help learning a language. Despite ignoring French I have been surprised that I still understand a lot eg if there is a news report with some French I can pick up a lot. I am sure it is because I learned it as a teenager. I am sure a second foreign language is easier than the first as you have some idea what works best for you. It maybe reading something bores you but discussing something makes it stick.
If you have chosen Spanish at school chat to your teacher see if you can start again next year. If you are teaching yourself and are not motivated stop trying. As a school student you have a lot more to concentrate on.
If it is the only language you are learning do not give up completely - watch a film or a telenovela in Spanish, listen to some music in Spanish (loads of suggestions on this site) If you are based in the USA there are lots of opportunities to listen to or speak Spanish. If it is possible take a holiday in a Spanish speaking country. We all reach a point where we think we are rubbish at Spanish/English but then something happens and we are surprised how much we know.
This is why I suggest you take a break but still have some Spanish around you. Another language opens the door to other cultures and you can get this benefit even if you know very little of the new language.
With the music do try singing because you want your mouth and brain used to the new sounds.
Buena suerte
