“Learning Spanish is more difficult when you are an adult”, they say. The common misconception is that when you start learning a foreign language at that age you won’t reach fluency and you will never sound like a Spanish native speaker. The older you are, the more difficult it is to speak Spanish, right? Well that’s just not true.
Adults can totally learn Spanish and reach that coveted fluency.
But how to study Spanish as an adult in an effective way?
In my experience as a teacher, examiner, and as a student of foreign languages, you don’t need to mug up on Spanish grammar and Spanish verbs at all. Burning the midnight oil trying to memorise the preterite conjugation will end up in total frustration. All these Spanish preterite endings (pretérito, indefinido), the preterite vs imperfect rules, let alone the ser vs estar conundrum and the subjunctive Spanish (OMG)!… they are not something that can be memorised.
They have to be internalised, experienced and lived, so that you use them instinctively.
What can you do to internalise the language and skip the tedious memorisation part?
Spanish Words
- Read in Spanish. All Spanish written word; from short texts online (I like Instagram), to news in online newspapers or bilingual books, to books in Spanish, to poetry, to lyrics… anything goes for learning Spanish phrases and words. Remember that you might know the grammar rules by heart, but if you haven’t enough words to communicate your ideas, you won’t be able to translate your thoughts into reality.
- Note that I am not talking about cramming long lists of Spanish vocabulary but seeing words in their context. Make note of that context, analyse it and understand how the word is used and when. Then you create a context in which you use that word. This exercise will help you remember and use the word in the future. Memorising it, not so much.
Live in Spanish
Creating a sense of immersion in Spanish is essential.
- Avail yourself of free Spanish lessons and free online tutorials by all means, but complement them with conversations in Spanish. You can connect with native and non-native speakers in your town online or in Meetup groups or on social media. You can even watch movies in Spanish, listen to music or create a routine in Spanish…
Get a teacher
- Consider hiring an experienced and qualified teacher who can provide help in Spanish with those tricky topics that make no sense to you yet. Why spend hours and days trying to understand the difference between haber vs tener, or the difference between bien vs bueno (for beginners)? It’s hard to understand the use of the more advanced past tense in Spanish (with those five tenses and rules that overlap) all by yourself, when a teacher can solve that for you in a couple of lessons.
Have fun in Spanish
- Please, do that. If you are learning Spanish voluntarily, the best way is to have fun with it. Find what you love and use that as the entry point in to the Spanish language. Let’s say that you love poetry or creative writing in your mother language then find a course to practise that in Spanish. You like playing an instrument, find a tutor that will teach you to play your instrument of choice through Spanish. You like cooking, find cook books and cooking channels in Spanish!
Go have fun learning what you love in this wonderful target language, Spanish.
Great post. I went and completed a Spanish evening course at a university. Unfortunately, as I am of mature age shall we say, a certain student did not approve of outsiders, let alone a person who was a mature student and told me quite frankly that I should not be there and that I was holding the rest of the class up because of my age! It still upsets me to this day and I did not even look at a Spanish book or anything else connected to anything Spanish for quite a while. It is so nice to have read your positive post on this matter. I love the Spanish language, and I will eventually return to have another go at learning the language. Thank you.
Hi Lorna,please don’t be put off by one rude or ignorant person.Don’t allow him/her to spoil your desire to continue learning.Older people can learn just as well as younger people.For example four years ago at the age of 79 I learned to rollerblade for the first time.You can see me onyoutube “79 year old man rollerblading in Marley Park Dublin”.I only mention this to show that you can learn at any age. I had made many attempts to learn Spanish over the years,but two years ago I put my mind to it seriously.Recently I took the DELE test to ascertain my level & they told me my level was C1.1–C1.2 (advanced)_but I still have a long way to go.So Lorna ,Don’t give up.If you want to learn Spanish– G o for it Good Luck !!!