Before living in Switzerland, I thought that because I am a spanish teacher with lots of experience and knowledge of grammar. It will be so easy for me to learn german! I though, living in the country will provide the right environment to improve, practice and in one year... I will be fluent!
True to be told! It was not like that, I did learn eventually to express myself, to have enough vocabulary to work, but socially conversation (I mean political opinions or deep conversations were out of my league). Yeap, sound bit frustrated, and it was. However, as I said eventually, I learnt... and I am very proud of my level because even though it was not perfect or the one I desired, I was able to work and that in Europe is a triumph!
Try to do things alone, by yourself!
I mean, normally we will have friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, family that speak the new language (for example native friends that speak spanish); the key is not allow them to speak for you. Is very tempting to let that happen, is easier but you need to be scare and go to that store and buy groceries by yourself, you need to go buy cigarettes in the small shop and try to have a small chat with the people there, you need to practice your spanish with any human possible, even small chit-chat, but you have to try. I know, it can be hard to sound weird in your basic spanish vocabulary, but you will see, running errands will help you to be more comfortable. Please avoid the classic mistake to feel nervous and change the language to english, it was hard for me. I felt always like people was judging my terrible german but I forced myself to try and it felt good in some point.
Watch local TV or any TV
It might sound funny. You do not want to watch Spanish soap operas, but it might help. I am not saying, you need to love it but you can try it. I am not fan of soup operas, so what I did is to watch on netflix all my favorite shows in german. Translation, voices and jokes where not the same but it helped. My favorite shows ever are Friends and How I met your mother; therefore, I saw them 5 times again in german. I knew the lines in english which made it easy to understand but, in some point,, I was surprised by all the vocabulary that I could understand. I tried with many easy shows (Very important, do not watch complicated movies, dramatic tv or something to deep, because all those dialogs will make you frustrated); honestly just try easy TV, even if TV is not your thing... Just try to hear someone else talking fast without the pressure to understand and reply. I just to have TV on while doing the dishes and guest what? this is how I learnt english... I have never ever attended to an english class, my TV though me everything! I tried again with german and it worked! in some point I could watch some stupid shows in swiss german in the local TV, and I was so pleased when I laughed to jokes! That is a triumph!
Read everything!
I looked a bit crazy at the supermarket, but I just to pick my products reading first all the package... not because I needed to know what is inside but because I wanted to read and see if I understand everything. If someone gave a flyer I took it, and tried to read it, if I saw a sign in the wall, I tried to read it, If I bought something even in IKEA, I tried to read the instructions. I did not understand everything, who understands IKEA instructions, but I tried to read it. There was not paper in my hand, bag, house, that I ignored... I tried to read everything and in some point I could! Of course, I started reading the shampoo at the shower and guess what that was a triumph for me!
!Be kind to yourself, learning is a process experience and is hard for everybody!
Create your own system to learn vocabulary!
I read one or two pages of the dictionary every day! That one is hard or boring, but I found very interesting to read the dictionary, it helped me to learn new vocabulary. (it might help you to learn new spanish vocabulary); I started with the A and I realized that many words were very similar to spanish but with different endings or that for example the verb, noun, adjective were all similar and it helped me to realize that you can play with the words and it might work! I liked so much that I just to put a small dot in the words that I already knew and copy the new words in one excel document with the only important words for me. Yeap, that sound boring but learning a new language requires lots of time and effort. I still have this document, I read it from time to time and I like to see that it worked. I am not asking you to read all the dictionary but you can try with one small (like a spanish pocket dictionary) or just write down all the words that you have learn in your spanish lessons in Ecuador and organize them separate from the grammar, believe me having some order will help your to improve your spanish skills.
Be kind to yourself!
Last but not least... I try to not be hard on myself. Learning a language requires time and patience. The only way to learn a language is to be kind to yourself, love what you do and do not give up. There were times when frustration was bigger than my progress, there were days where I sat in silent with company just because I felt tired. I felt frustrated when a big group of friends talked fast to each other, I felt exhausted when thing went wrong but I did my best and congratulated me every day, I did such a progress that now, I don't live in Switzerland anymore but I still understand the conversations in swiss german, I can speak german, and I even enjoy a small conversation. The key in this point is keep doing what you do, and do not judge yourself if your level is not perfect. Practice, talk, listen, and sometimes of course you are going to feel weird, frustrated or tired, but we all do when learning a new language. We are all humans and is not easy for anybody, so keep doing the good work and you will see results, but the most important lessons are be kind with yourself.
Of course, going to language school helps a lot. If you are interested in more tips or place to learn spanish click here!
#vacation#learningspanish#howtolearnspanish#spanishschool#tipstolearnspanish#ecuadorspanishschool#goodsystemtolearnspanish#howtolearnanewlanguage#spanishlearning#spanischlernen#vocabularyinspanish#learningspanishinecuador#olon#ecuador#montañita
