How to Self-Study Spanish Online

19.10.2016 |

Episode #10 of the course Spanish language basics by Nicole Joslin

 

It’s the final day of this course on the basics of Spanish! Today, you’ll learn how to succeed in studying Spanish online.

How to learn Spanish?

Teach yourself!

But how?

Just read this and download our guide!

There are hundreds if not thousands of different programs and techniques for language learning. So many people have problems finding the one that “fits” them.

So why not just invent your own?

You’ll be certain that it works for your learning style and schedule. And if it doesn’t end up working as well as you want, you can tweak it until it’s perfect!

Here’s how to do it:

 

Step 1: Set your learning goals

Without goals, your study can feel unstructured, like you’re not sure where you’re going or how far you’ve already come.

Your goals need to be concrete, bite-size, and personalized.

So let’s say, for example, you’re learning Spanish because you have some new clients at work from Mexico. You work in HR.

In that case, you’ll want to set goals that set you up to be proficient in Spanish for HR purposes.

If you’re starting from square one, you can set a goal to say the alphabet forward and backward in Spanish—you should know it well if you can do that! That way, you will learn the basic phonics and building blocks of the Spanish language. This goal is concrete and bite-sized! It also puts you on your way to achieving your major personalized goal of speaking HR Spanish.

After you set other goals to grasp the basics, you can set more advanced goals, like setting up a mock HR interview with a Spanish tutor.

 

Step 2: Collect your learning resources

There is no shortage of excellent Spanish learning resources; find the ones that work for you!

First you’ll have to decide what kind of skills you want to develop in Spanish—reading, writing, speaking, listening, grammar, vocabulary? Maybe all of those?

No problem!

The next step is to find one or two engaging resources that will help you develop each skill that you’re interested in mastering.

One or two resources is KEY! And they MUST be resources that you find engaging to work with.

There are thousands of programs, apps, and books to learn Spanish, so you should pick only a few that you like and go through their program entirely so that you get the most out of them.

If you don’t limit yourself to a few resources and stick with them, you may feel overwhelmed with all the options and feel like you’re not getting anywhere if you keep switching from resource to resource.

 

Step 3: Create a study plan

Set up a plan beforehand so you have no excuses to get off track.

First, do a “free time audit” and figure out how much free time you have during each day of the week.

Next, decide what skills you want to practice on each day of the week. You’ll use the resources that you’ve already gathered to practice those skills on those days.

Then, set up your own system of rewards (punishments are optional) to keep you accountable for sticking to your plan or not.

PRO TIP: Create two plans—your normal plan that you can use when your days go as planned and a secondary “busy day” plan that is a lighter version of your normal plan. That way, when your days get busy, you still have a plan to follow. No excuses!

 


We’ve got you covered!

Our Self-Study Spanish Guide has even more tips and strategies for teaching yourself Spanish, including a list of recommended resources and strategies for self-directing your learning.

Download our Self-Study Spanish Guide here


 

Recommended book by Highbrow

“Easy Spanish Step-By-Step” by Barbara Bregstein

 

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