Helpful
tips to learn spanish
- Reserve a specific
time every day for language learning. We recommend at least 10 minutes per day.
It is more effective to study a little bit every day than to try to cram
everything in once a week..
- Check your progress using your Individual Learning Statistics so you will know which aspects you should concentrate on.
- Do not try to learn everything at once. Set yourself realistic short term goals and achieve them at your own pace.
- Do not be afraid to make mistakes. We all learn from mistakes.
- Repeat what you have learned from time to time. 80% of what we forget is forgotten in the first 24 hours after we have learned it.
- Cultivate your patience and perseverance during the learning process.
- Lengalia will help you with your learning process, but the actual learning is an individual task. The final result depends on you
- Check your progress using your Individual Learning Statistics so you will know which aspects you should concentrate on.
- Do not try to learn everything at once. Set yourself realistic short term goals and achieve them at your own pace.
- Do not be afraid to make mistakes. We all learn from mistakes.
- Repeat what you have learned from time to time. 80% of what we forget is forgotten in the first 24 hours after we have learned it.
- Cultivate your patience and perseverance during the learning process.
- Lengalia will help you with your learning process, but the actual learning is an individual task. The final result depends on you
Listening
comprehension
The more you practise listening, the more you will begin to understand. For this reason “Learning through listening” is essential in order to improve your listening comprehension.
Techniques
- Try to understand the basic idea of what you have heard. You do not need to understand every word to comprehend the content of a sentence.
- Pay attention to the context in which the conversation plays out.
- Take note of the emotions and opinions that are expressed.
Aids
- Listen to our dialogues, exercises and vocabulary. In many of our courses you will get an audio file to download with the most important vocabulary for each lesson. This allows you to learn vocabulary and practice your pronunciation.
- Also listen to our podcasts from Spain and Latin America.
- Listen to the radio and songs from countries in which Spanish is spoken.
- Watch TV and films from those countries in their original version, with or without subtitles.Hörverstehen beschreibt die Fähigkeit einer Person zu hören und und zu verstehen in Spanisch, was er hören verstehen.
ReadiTips for effective learning-
Reading
Comprehension
Techniques
- You do not need to understand every word in a text to understand its basic meaning. One of the most common mistakes is trying to grasp the meaning of every word.
- Consider the title of the text, the introduction, the content and the conclusion.
- Read the text more than once; concentrate on the key words and main ideas.
- Don’t just read with your eyes. Without reading the texts aloud and analysing them in detail, you won’t understand the words.
- Carefully select texts which are suited to your level and gradually increase the difficulty of the texts.
- The best way to learn new words is by reading. Read, and when you do not understand a word try to deduce the meaning purely from the context. Afterwards, use a dictionary to check if your understanding was right. This technique will help you to learn words more quickly instead of learning them by heart. Some more key elements to deduce the meaning are:
- Related words: similar words in other languages.
- The morphology of a word: its prefix and suffix.
Aids
- Read texts and dialogues from the various course levels.
- Read books of different levels of difficulty.
- Read newspapers and magazines.
- Surf on the internet.
- Read children’s books.
Speaking
Tips for effective learniOral Expression
Techniques
- Concentrate on the vocabulary that refers to situations which you will be likely to come across.
- Do not learn lists of words which have simply been translated without context. Especially in the beginning, it is important for the learning process that you establish a strong foundation in the language. It is better to create word lists in which words appear in context. Try to learn words in sentences or themes, etc.
- Write down the names of items in your house which you have not learned already. Mark the items with their Spanish names until you have managed to learn them.
- Try to practise the words, sentences and tenses you have recently learned.
- Learning vocabulary is a slow process. Reading is one of the best techniques to learn the vocabulary bit by bit.
Aids
- Take different classes on our platform to learn more vocabulary and expressions and to construct sentences. Gradually increase the level of difficulty. You will start to describe experiences in an increasingly detailed manner and express opinions about a wider variety of topics, etc.
- Use our vocabulary trainer regularly.
- Use our verb conjugator regularly.
Oral
interaction
With oral interaction, we build on the ability to communicate with other people through conversation.
Techniques
- Do not be afraid to make a fool of yourself. Speak whenever the opportunity to do so arises, even if it’s only to yourself. Your goal is to understand others and to make yourself understood. You’re not trying to speak with the fluency or clarity of a newsreader. Do not try to have a perfect accent or to construct perfect sentences in the beginning.
- When you travel to a country to speak Spanish and the people try to talk to you in your own language, you should explain to them that you would prefer to talk in Spanish. - Try to travel abroad. Generally, people like to see that you are trying to speak in their language and are very understanding, even if you do not speak the language fluently.
- It is very helpful to know phrases such as:
“What does...mean?” “Is it right that...?”
“How do you say ...?” “Sorry, what do you mean?”
“Could you repeat that again please?”
“Could you speak more slowly?”
It is always very useful to ask these questions in Spanish; you get an explanation from which you can deduce the meaning of the words, streamlining your learning process and giving your dictionary a break.
- Try to remember sentences that are frequently used: to get to know someone, to do some shopping, to book or check in at a hotel, to rent a car, etc.
- Try to find out more about the culture of the country you wish to travel to or live in, this will help you to initiate and take part in interesting and diverse conversations. You can also compare aspects of the Spanish culture to your own culture. Remember, the more people you talk to, the more people talk to you. That is one of the best ways to practise.
Aids
- Use the Lengalia Language Exchange Service which is offered on our website to exchange ideas and talk to native speakers.
- Go to places where they dance the Merengue, Tango, Salsa, etc. to get to know some Latinos.
- Talk to yourself.
Writing
Tips for effective learning
Written
expression
The more you read, the better you will be able to write. Use every opportunity to communicate in written form.
Techniques
- Try to use complex sentence structures whenever you can.
- Always read over what you have written to correct mistakes whilst writing.
Aids
- Complete the exercises on our platform.
- Use our Language Exchange Service to find your perfect language partner.
- Use our spanish online forum.
