Learn Spanish quickly: What is the fastest way to learn Spanish?

Are you planning to spend a year abroad in Guatemala and want to brush up on your Spanish before you go so that you can learn Spanish quickly when you get there? Or does the love of your life come from Barcelona and you would like to learn the language basics for a successful conversation when visiting his or her family? Perhaps your company has opened a new office in Costa Rica or found new business partners from Mexico? Do you have the prospect of an interesting job for which you need to speak Spanish fluently and would like to learn Spanish quickly?

There are hundreds of reasons why people start or at least want to start a Spanish course and just as many reasons why they drop out early or don't even start their project. And that's a shame, because after all, almost 200,000 people in Switzerland have learned Spanish as one of their main languages, and almost 80,000 people use this language regularly at work, as theFederal Statistical Officedetermined. And there are over 500 million people worldwide who speak Spanish as their mother tongue or second language. So a good command of Spanish opens many doors for you, both communicatively and, increasingly, professionally.

But how do you manage to learn Spanish as quickly as possible in order to speak Spanish well? Does it matter which Spanish course you take? And what do you need to bear in mind if you want to "learn Spanish quickly"?

Learn Spanish quickly: minimize the drop-out rate

The majority of people who drop out of a Spanish course early or do not continue after an initial basic course are disillusioned because they have generally not been able to make the linguistic progress they had hoped for and are unmotivated because they still cannot hold a good conversation in Spanish after weeks or months of Spanish lessons. Therefore, before starting a language course, it is essential that you inform yourself sufficiently about what learning goals you can achieve by the end of the course and what language skills you will have afterwards. Don't set your goals too high, but do set yourself some. And choose a suitable language course to help you learn Spanish quickly. Because there are many different ways to learn Spanish, some of which will get you to your goal faster, some less quickly.

Set language goals

If you want to be able to make business calls to a colleague in Valencia in three months' time, a standard language course where you attend language school once a week will not be enough to give you the skills you need. On the other hand, an eight-week intensive course with 10 hours of Spanish per week in preparation for a short summer vacation in Chile may also be too ambitious a goal and will quickly put you off. You should therefore clarify in advance which language skills you would like to acquire in which period of time and for what purpose.

Learn Spanish quickly: the motivation has to be right

If you are highly motivated to learn Spanish, an intensive course will not be a deterrent for you, otherwise it could be difficult for you. Therefore, check your motivation and question whether you can maintain it over a longer period of time. Because only those who work towards a goal and are really motivated to achieve it can achieve quick and lasting success and also enjoy small interim successes when learning Spanish quickly. And that's important, because success makes us happy. Our brain releases happiness hormones that inspire us and motivate us to keep going. To reduce the drop-out rate of a language course, it is therefore important that you are motivated and choose a Spanish course that suits you, your everyday life and your goals.

Vocabulary is more important than grammar

If you want to learn Spanish as quickly as possible, it goes without saying that you need to approach your project professionally and not let it slide. Learning a foreign language is not an easy undertaking and sometimes means hard work. You need to memorize vocabulary and grammar rules, practice pronunciation and be able to use everything you have learned. No matter which Spanish course you attend to learn Spanish quickly, you will not be able to avoid studying even after the lessons have finished. Because that's important. As a rule, it is less important that you have a perfect command of the grammar. It is much more important to learn Spanish vocabulary quickly in order to be able to form a sentence and start a conversation. So learn as much vocabulary as you can, but in a targeted way.

Emotions are better remembered

Our brain is a powerful machine - also for learning Spanish quickly, but it is also extremely pragmatic and lazy. Words that we never use or have no connection to us or our lives are considered unimportant and are therefore erased from our memory as quickly as possible. After all, our working memory is not unlimited. As emotional situations and feelings are more important to our brain than pure facts, they are stored more quickly and for longer. It is therefore important that when learning vocabulary, whether in your Spanish course or afterwards at home, you associate the words with emotions. When learning Spanish quickly, this means that you will achieve less learning success if you memorize 100 vowels on flashcards than if you take a little more time to construct a story from these words. Think of a scenario, write it down and add all the vocabulary you want to learn in Spanish. It may seem more complicated at first, but you will find that the vocabulary "pantalones rojos", the red trousers of the man with the "paraguas blanco", the white umbrella at the bus stop, the "parada de autobús", looking into the dark sky, the "cielo", and waiting for his "hija", his daughter, whom he has not seen since her "nacimiento", her birth, are much more memorable when they are wrapped up in a story.

Learning sentences instead of words

Turning words into stories is therefore a very effective way of memorizing them quickly and anchoring what you've learned in your Spanish course in your memory. It also makes sense to learn not just individual words, but whole sentences, which stimulate the imagination just as much and also make it easier to remember the many small filler words, such as: now, hardly, always, any, nevertheless, before, also, almost, but, exactly, just, like, etc.. Concrete sentences are easier to remember than individual words that seem to have no connection.

Use the time

When learning Spanish quickly, it is not always necessary or possible to actually write down everything you need to learn. Thinking up a story or sentences can also be done in your head. While waiting for the train, while cooking, while vacuuming or during your lunch break. In this way, you can learn 10 to 20 words every day alongside your Spanish course, without having to "sacrifice" too much of your free time. In the evening, pick out the vocabulary you want to learn the next day and repeat it a few times a day to learn Spanish quickly. But don't forget to keep repeating the words you've already learned, because only by using them regularly will they be memorized in the long term. If you're short on time, learn 10 new words a day on the way to work, repeat them briefly during your lunch break and add 20 words you've already learned in the last few weeks on the way home.

Visualize vocabulary

Learning works in very different ways. One of them is visualization. Associating terms with objects is easier for the brain when learning Spanish quickly than simply memorizing words. So make it easy for yourself and stick post-its on every piece of furniture whose translation you want to learn or need to learn for your Spanish course. There are also plenty of items in the fridge, bathroom cabinet or your closet that are waiting for you to name them.

Alternatively, to learn Spanish quickly, you can also print out photos or draw a symbol for the individual vocabulary words for which this is possible, be it for the words "apple", "piano" or "cloud". You will quickly realize that you will find it easier to translate as soon as you remember the corresponding picture or symbol.

Auditory and communicative

The fastest way to learn Spanish in addition to the Spanish course also depends on how you can best absorb and store information. Not everyone benefits equally from visual stimuli when learning Spanish quickly, for some people auditory perception is much more important. Test it out. Simply record the vocabulary you want to learn on audio and listen to it regularly. Perhaps what is said will stick in your memory better than what is seen or spoken. If not, then perhaps you are more of a communicative learner, who absorbs information mainly by talking and memorizes it quickly to learn Spanish. Or perhaps you learn best when you move around. For example, walking up and down, jogging or simply tapping your foot to learn Spanish quickly. This has nothing to do with restlessness or nervousness, but shows you that you are more of a motor learner who absorbs information best when you are moving or "grasping" what you are learning. Try it out and find the best learning method for learning Spanish quickly that allows you to learn Spanish effectively at home alongside a Spanish course at a language school.

Overview of Spanish courses - learn Spanish quickly