HOW TO LEARN SPANISH TO CONVERSATIONAL FLUENCY IN 6 MONTHS OR LESS IN 5 STEPS

In this thread I'll outline the exact process I used to go from speaking 0 Spanish to being able to converse with native speakers in 6 months.

Bookmark and read this...

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First let's define conversational fluency since it's a term I made up (or maybe it exists, I dunno)

Conversational fluency is the ability to have a social life in your target language.

Eg If you can socialise at a party w/out Google translate, you are conversationally fluent

You may have an accent.

You make grammatical errors.

But you're good enough to hold a conversation, express yourself, make plans with locals, go about your day to day life etc

WITHOUT pulling out a phrase book or Google translate.

This is important to note because...

the reason why most people don't learn is because they are afraid of looking like a fool.

But the truth is the more exposure you have, the more "lost in translation" moments you have,

the faster you learn.

With that said

Here are some actionable tips to get you speaking ASAP

1) Delete Duolingo. Get Pimsleur instead.

Using Duolingo to learn Spanish is like playing Mario Kart to learn to drive.

If your objective is to SPEAK the language, get Pimsleur.

It's an audio course which uses REALISTIC contexts to teach you how to speak in REAL LIFE.

2) Consume content in your target language based on your interests

If you listen to music in English, listen to music in Spanish.

If you watch TV in English, watch it in Spanish.

When I first started learning, I only watched movies and read books in Spanish.

The key is to base it around your interests.

Consuming content works because your brain is a natural PATTERN RECOGNITION MACHINE.

By overexposing your senses to Spanish, you will start to see patterns in how sentences are formed etc.

How do you think immigrants learned...

English before language apps existed?

Purely through exposure and relying on the pattern recognition systems in their brain.

As you're consuming content, TAKE LOTS OF NOTES.

Try and reverse engineer what you're seeing and hearing and write out new words and sentences.

3) Visualise

When you are learning a new language, you'll be repeating a lot of the same things

-explaining your background
-making plans to go on a date
-asking for directions

A good way to improve your speaking is to visualise these convos in English and translating them

4) Get a private teacher

Group classes are a complete waste of time. Most of these schools are designed for tourists who want to learn a few phrases and feel like they "learned Spanish" on their trip. It's BS.

Private teachers will give you 100% of their attention and you'll...

learn much faster.

Private lessons with a good teacher will give you a strong foundation to go off on your own.

After just 6 weeks of private classes I was able to make friends and date local women.

After those 6 weeks my Spanish was 100% self taught.

5) Talk to everyone
This is the secret.

Think of every interaction you have as a FREE language lesson.

Talk to the cashier, the waitress, the security guard, the old man in the park, the cute girl in the vegetable aisle.

EVERYONE.

Force yourself to be social.

I've met...

people who live for years that are still shy to speak and I've met people who start conversing in just a few months.

The ones who learn fast fearlessly approach and talk to strangers.

That's really all it comes down to.

Learning a second language is easy.

The only reason why

we think it's hard is because we have a social fear of being lost in translation.

But unless you are in an extremely cold culture, you'll find most people are willing to speak to you and guide you

even if you're a beginner.

TLDR?

1) Build foundational knowledge using steps 1-4 (You do not need to be perfect to start speaking)

2) Speak to as many natives as possible every day to expose yourself to as many different conversations as possible

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