How to Speak Spanish Quickly For Free
You can easily pay $500 for a software program that will teach you how to speak Spanish. But if you don't have that kind of money, you have to think of some creative ways to learn the language quickly. Here are a few ideas for how to learn the language without software or paid classes. It takes many people years to learn Spanish, but if you need a quick and free fix, even if it's just for learning a few common phrases, you have a few options. It helps to have a basic understanding of the language, such as general terminology.
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Instructions
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Watch 100 percent Spanish channels, preferably on an "On Demand" service with your cable company so that you can pause and rewind the programs. Turn on the closed captions to view the words as they are spoken since the television personalities tend to speak very quickly. Over time you will find yourself associating the words with the actions of the characters. Repeat phrases--start off with the short ones and move on to longer phrases--that you hear the actors say. To make this work, you must commit yourself to watching Spanish channels every day over the course of a couple of months.
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Ask a Spanish friend to "immerse" you. All that means is that he or she should teach you how to speak Spanish by speaking to you only in that language, and then translating. They should demand that you answer them in Spanish after teaching you the proper responses. After a few months of this you will find yourself understanding and speaking the language more fluently. This is especially helpful for someone who has taken Spanish in the past, or who knows how to read Spanish and needs to brush up on how to speak the language. If you do not have a friend who speaks Spanish, post an ad on Craigslist.org asking someone who needs to improve their English skills to do a trade with you.
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Move to a majority Spanish-speaking community, at least temporarily, to immerse yourself in the culture. After a few months of living, eating, shopping and traveling around Spanish-speaking people you will find yourself learning more and more words and phrases. Don't be shy about asking people to repeat themselves, speak more slowly and demonstrate what they mean so that you can catch on to the language. Keep a pad with you to write down terms and phrases that you have a problem with or that you need to practice.
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Go to Spanish message boards like the one sponsored by Meetup Inc. to read and translate messages from users. Try posting a few messages yourself in Spanish as well. You can also join a social networking site like Migente and meet online friends who will write to you in Spanish and ask you to respond in kind. Use Google Translate to convert Spanish words to English (see "Resources" for links to all of these sites).
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Tips & Warnings
If you have a digital video recorder (DVR) you may be able to slow down the Spanish shows you watch on television to better follow the words.
