After many months of careful observation on Twitter (!) we picked out twelve experts on Spain and Spanish, asking them for their top tips on learning the language. Here's what they told us...
Lindsay Does Languages
Twitter: @LDLanguages
Web: www.lindsaydoeslanguages.com
Lindsay says: Good question! Carry a small pad around one day and note down as many words in your daily life as possible - give some focus to them
Jo Rhys-Jones
Twitter: @jowinchester
Web: sites.google.com/site/talkaboutlanguages/
Jo says: Hmm I'd recommend watching TV in Spanish :-)
Family in Spain
Twitter: @FamilyInSpain
Lisa Sadleir of FamilyInSpain says: Have confidence in your own ability. Don't be scared to open your mouth and make mistakes. Constructing a Spanish sentence in the totally wrong tense is much more likely to make you friends than you can imagine
Speaking Latino
Twitter: @SpeakingLatino
SpeakingLatino says: Study every day, even if it is just 5 minutes with flashcards, Anki or Memrise. Get in the habit
Isabelle Jones
Twitter: @icpjones
Web: isabellejones.blogspot.com.es
Isabelle says: Immerse yourself in the language and the culture-music, Art, TV programmes, literature but also jokes and cooking recipes
José Picardo
Twitter: @josepicardoSHS
Web: www.josepicardo.com
José says: Change the little things - like setting your mobile phone language to Spanish and get into useful habits, like reading an internet article in Spanish every day
Lisa Stevens
Twitter:@lisibo
Web: lisibo.com
Lisa says: Immerse yourself in Spanish: whether that's going to Spain or listening to lots of Spanish music or watching TV/films
Janet Lloyd
Twitter: @JanetLloydnet
Web: www.janetlloyd.net
Janet says: Develop understanding of sounds and phonics of the language and looking for links with own sound patterns etc
Samantha Broom
Twitter: @spanishsam
Web: languagesresources.co.uk/home/
Sam says: Immerse yourself in the language-music, DVDs, TV, magazines, newspapers etc
Debs Jenkins
Twitter: @debsjenkins
Web: nativespain.com
Debs says: Don't "learn Spanish" - learn something interesting with Spanish people - like horse riding, scuba diving, zumba - you learn by doing ;-)
Erzsi Culshaw
Twitter: @Erzsiculshaw
Web: www.zapatitoingles.blogspot.co.uk
Erzsi says: My tip: learn it every day, and not just a few times a week, space it out!
Nieves Sadullah
Twitter: @Nieves_Sadullah
Nieves says: Get to grips with phonics, especially the vowel sounds, to help your pronunciation when reading words
Our thanks to the twelve experts who participated. We conclude that immersion is the key. Read the tips again and you'll see that they are all pointing towards ways in which you can immerse yourself in Spanish.
See you next time,
Jim
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