How to Teach Yourself Spanish-Discover What You
Gain by Studying Spanish by Yourself and What You Loose by Studying it in
Class
If you decide to subscribe to a Spanish class, you
could encounter at least one of the following:
• The teacher might use outdated methods or a
Spanish learning program that you don’t like at all,
• Your classmates are with different abilities –
it’s either your level of Spanish that does not match theirs or visa
versa,
• You cannot learn talking in Spanish fast and
easy – because it’s only your teacher who is expert in conversational Spanish,
while most probably your classmates are not Spanish natives,
• A half an hour daily occupations are much more
worth – they both save your time and money – compared to going to Spanish classes
twice a week for two study hours.
• These 4 hours in a class a week are considered
the reasonable minimum for a language class study. However these 4 hours bring you
just a tiny progress, if any.
Now, let’s go into some details. You want
to study conversational Spanish.
This means you want to be able to understand, to
talk about whatever subject you need to.
You also want to achieve a decent pronunciation,
similar to the one of Spanish natives.
Let’s go on comparing the situation when you study
in class and on your own.
In a Spanish class
you not only lack the opportunity to listen Spanish language from many sources, but
you also have a little time to speak.
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Let me ask you some questions, and you could keep the
answers for yourself.
• Do you think that your voice will be heard
many times (more than 20) during a class with 15 other people, who are also beginners like
you?
• Can you repeat every new word a couple of times till your
pronunciation matches what you hear?
• Do you think there would be enough time for the teacher to
correct every single syllable you pronounce incorrectly?
• After every single sentence can you tell the teacher to stop
because you want to repeat it slowly, word by word, a couple of times?
I’d better stop asking, I suppose the answer is NO to
all the questions.
There is one sheer conclusion – just listening to a Spanish speaking
person brings you nothing.
If you want to get fluent in Spanish, you’ve got to
talk.
You’ve got to repeat everything you hear. You’ve got
to do it many times, till you start to resemble the Spanish voice you hear. You’ve got to imitate –
otherwise you’re lost.
In a Spanish class, all you hear is your teacher,
along with some phrases badly composed by your classmates.
You’ve got almost no opportunity to talk a lot, to speak a lot, to
repeat everything and to pronounce not only the new phrases but also the old ones.
At home, with your finger on the ‘play’ button and
your ears close to the speakers, you have all the freedom to repeat and speak as many times as you
want.
What is more, you are able to immediately correct yourself and brush
up your speaking skills.
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