SPOILER ALERT: it’s not possible to skip steps in your learning process. However, here you will find some tips that will help you keep the speed of your process at its highest rate.
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1) Make it meaningful. Find a reason to sit down every day to make an effort to improve: visiting fantastic destinations, moving abroad, enjoying art on a deeper level, getting a job promotion, expanding your social circle. The list of possible goals is infinite.
2) Immerse yourself. If you can, don’t hesitate in travelling abroad. Being surrounded by the language you’re learning will make a huge difference. It will also make it more meaningful, as you will be able to put all your knowledge into practice. If you can’t go abroad, meeting up with people who speak the language (be it online or in the real world) can also work wonders, even if they aren’t native.
3) Semi-immerse yourself. If you can’t travel right now, or practicing with other people is not a possibility, you can still semi-immerse yourself. That is: changing the language of all your devices into Spanish, listening to international music and watching as many films, series or TV shows as you can. Also, it is a good idea to watch the audio-visual content you already watch, but with subtitles in your target language. That way, without even realizing it, your brain will start making associations.
4) Study grammar and vocabulary, but don’t limit to that. Remember to pay attention to all the areas: listening, speaking, writing, culture and history. A language is a comprehensive channel of communication. Although it can’t be articulated without words and grammar structures, it is much more than just that.
5) Don’t skip your classes. Each class has a topic, and you won’t be able to communicate good if you have holes in your concepts. If for some reason you had to skip a class, don’t let that piece of information unconquered: ask your teachers or fellow students, go online and find tutorials, or read the books.
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To sum up: find a reason and work hard for it, covering all the flanks. Learning a language should be a positive thing to do, so don’t forget to have fun on the way.
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