Children teach us how to learn or improve a language

When children speak their first words, no one teaches them how to speak. Children make mistakes every time they start a conversation in their native language. Children don’t memorize rules or grammatical structures. What they do is repeat what they hear. They are not afraid to make mistakes. An adult should expect to learn a language in the same way children do.

Let’s talk about some basic words you have heard several times in your life: si, gracias and mañana. At this point you don’t need to translate these words into English in order to understand the meaning. For example, as soon as you hear the word gracias, immediately your brain processes the information, and without any translation you know that gracias means thanks. Why? -- It happens because you have heard that word so many times that you realize the meaning without thinking.

So, hearing and repeating is a good exercise to improve your Spanish. But don’t be afraid to make mistakes or mispronounce a word. Making mistakes is part of the learning process and mispronouncing a word is acceptable when communicating with someone in Spanish.

Grammar is an important reference. I always say, you just need to know the grammar, but not to study it. It slows down your learning process. Take the experience of a kid and apply the same method they use. Have your grammar book as a back up!!!

by Juan Carlos Jurado

jcj@talkinspanish.com