The Art of Spanish Under Immersion

Posted on 03. Nov, 2011 by Guest Poster in Advice, Guest posts, On the Road

More Spanish learning advice by someone who has been a bit more successful than me:

Ever since I first set eyes on Steph’s lofty language learning challenge a few weeks back I’ve been following with bated British breath. Just why would she undertake such punishment? What kind of flagrant masochist – with a penchant for Spanish suffering – is she?
The truth, ladies and gentlemen, is that I know all too well. The truth is that I too am a flagellator. I too have set myself this impossible task.

But at the risk of denouncing myself a language moron (to which Steph, I’d like to argue your not) I’m here to prove to you, from the red earthy grounds of Extremadura, Spain, that any linguistic lackey can do it. For me it’s been worth every single ounce of non-communicative pain.

Go Out and Grab It

Unlike Steph’s Spanish struggling dad who at least knows a few words, I come from a family of mutes. Don’t get me wrong, they can all speak English, but I’d be surprised if they knew more than a single word in anything else.

All the more so then that this challenge, apart from opening up this fantastic European country and the whole of South America, will also make me the first in a generation of Peaches (or should I say crop?) to have mastered a second language to fluency.

Still none of said family could quite fathom, nor understand, why I had to run away to a lesser-known part of Spain (Cáceres), where I knew nobody (no Spanish speaking boyfriend for me here I’m afraid) knew little of the language and knew nothing of what it would soon have in store for my malnourished vegetarian bones.

And so comes my first bit of advice: Don’t listen to anyone or be swayed by the opinion of others. If fluency is your goal go out and grab it!

Lock Yourself In

It can be tough now that I’m here, stuck in the arse-end of nowhere coping with the pressures of immersion. I’ve certainly got no Gaudi-littered Barcelona playground to jolly around, no metropolitan Madrid either. No, I’m pretty much locked in here, mountains to my north and south, valleys to the east and west.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not all bad. I’ve got the Internet (and access to ace blogs like this) and all the Spanish language learning recommendations I need – including, as one of the commentators handily pointed out, those of the legend that is Benny. It’s thanks to these I’m progressing.

My second piece of advice? Choose a place with fewer distractions to help centralize your learning goals.

Streamline Your Day

Cranking up that fluency level, no doubt, is also largely down to how I order my days. Rising at 6am to help finish my work, as bleary as it sounds, is one sure fire way of helping to find the time to practice.

How do I manage this? I conducted a 30-day experiment of setting my alarm clock at this hour. The trick of knowing that I could give it up after a month helped form it into a habit.

So as for the third piece of advice: Get all your work done first, then focus on the fun stuff.

Make the Most of Your Tools

Remember that three-pronged attack Steph mentioned that she’s got going on? Mine’s a mix of six, each one a necessary component in sewing the overall fluency seed.

My first tool, the free programme called Anki, helps me to learn 20 new words a day. I carry this around on my phone and blast it open on park benches, cafés, on the toilet, wherever.

The next is a daily podcast from the excellent Notes in Spanish series.

The third? My accountability blog where I chart my speaking progress via video.

Then I’ll mix these things up with fifteen minutes of reading the local paper aloud, random conversations with housemates and weekly attempts to watch Spanish TV.

A good fourth piece of advice: choose flexible learning tools and use them in a variety of places.

Simply Connect!

The most important thing to reiterate, and something that I feel people often miss in such a quest, is that there really is no substitute for human practice.

Hitting the streets and stalking for conversation, as perverted as that sounds, is my favourite and most rewarding part of the day. I’ve also discovered that Spanish people are bloody lovely too!

My final piece of advice? Eradicate your fear of approaching people and make it a habit.

As for being masochistic about language learning? I’m sure Steph will agree: fluency is worth all the pain! Have you ever met a monolingual dominatrix yet?

Will Peach is one of the site editors over at Gap Daemon, the gap year community website for backpackers and gap year travellers.

Tags: language learning