- Hi guys, welcome back to my channel. So today, we're gonna be
talking about Spanish. Basically, on my channel I really like talking about languages. I don't have that many
videos about languages but I have a few amount, and a lot of people
always ask specifically how I study Spanish. And I feel like I have so
many tips for this language because I've just been
studying it for a long time and this is the language that
I speak the most fluently that I learned from scratch without like, naturally
having to learn it. You're gonna see sections
at the bottom of the video that kinda like, divides
the video up a little bit. I have so many resources,
I'm gonna tell you different podcasts you can listen to, shows to watch, singers to listen to, YouTubers to watch. I'll tell you different tips and specific mindsets
that you need to have in order to succeed in Spanish. Yeah, I'm gonna get into it because honestly, I'm afraid
this could be 20 minutes long. So the first thing you need to do if you have not done yet, is choose a dialect and an accent that you're gonna be learning. With Spanish, I swear to God most people will think, I
don't need to choose one like, Spanish is all the same. It's not, there's so many
different variations of Spanish and you're gonna have to choose one. But let me explain to you real quick why it's so important to
choose an accent and a dialect. Let's take the word bus, for example. Depending on which Spanish
speaking country you're in, this word will change so much. Like, it's not even related. So if you're in Spain,
you're gonna say el autobus. If you're in Mexico,
you're gonna say el camion. If you're in Argentina,
you're gonna say el colectivo. And if you're in Grand
Canaria or Puerto Rico you're gonna say, la guagua. So as we can see, those words
are not connected at all. It just fully depends on
the dialect you learn. I fully only said guagua for
my whole time learning Spanish because I live in the Canaria Islands, and if you said autobus to
them, they'll understand you but they're gonna be like, okay. It's not the end of the world if you speak the wrong
dialect in the wrong country, they'll still understand you but if you wanna be more
of an actual speaker, you gotta accept the dialect.
(Anna chuckles) Also let me touch on the
accents for a second. Let's take Argentinian
Spanish for example. Most Spanish speaking countries
will pronounce double L as yo, so you would say, yo me llamo. But if you're in Argentina, you're gonna say, sho me shamo Anna. I know, I know. And there's a lot of
little things like that, that just differ from each Spanish from different countries, so make sure you know about the accent and the dialect that you're learning. I'm sorry, that was like a long intro but it's so important, like it's just, you need to know this. So, the next little reminder
in language learning is to remember to
prioritise speaking skill over any other skill. At the end of the day, you
learn a language to speak it. You know, a lot of us, we
learn languages in school and we focus on reading,
writing and listening in school, like that's what we focus on and that's why most of us cannot speak any of the language we learnt in school. Speak as much as you possibly can, it's just a little reminder that, you know, if you're like, oh I wanna buy 20 grammar books, yes, grammar is important, grammar is very important, but it'd probably be better if you focus a little
bit more on speaking, because at the end of
the day, you can learn all the grammar and still not be able to use it in real conversation. So at the end of the day,
is it really helpful? Okay, so now we're gonna
get into the actual methods of learning Spanish and before we get into the different things you need to do, I want you to remember that there is four aspects
of learning a language. There is reading, listening,
speaking and writing and when I say writing, I basically mean, like, get a new vocab and practicing grammar. You need to try to incorporate all of these four aspects
into every method you use. Obviously, with some methods, you're just not gonna be able to do all of the four things, but with a lot of the
common methods that you hear all the time on YouTube, you'd never realize, but
you can really practice all four aspects just with
that one little simple tip. So, for example, first tip, watch a TV show while
writing down vocabulary. That's a super simple
tip and most people have probably already heard it, and that one you're
practicing your listening, because you're listening to the speaker and you're also practicing your writing, because you're writing
down new vocabulary, you're seeing new grammar structures and you're just seeing a
person speak naturally. But how can you practice
your speaking and reading? So for speaking you can just fully repeat after everything you hear, it doesn't have to everything, but maybe like every second sentence, just fully repeat it after them and that's already
incorporating another aspect of language learning into that method which will just in general
make your progress go a lot quicker. And then for reading you can
just follow along subtitles and try to read as fast as
possible without pausing. So, yeah, that's like a simple tip that you've heard before, but now we have all four
aspects of language learning in this little tip and
it doesn't even feel like you're studying almost, like it's just like you're
just watching a show, but you know what I mean? I don't know.
(Anna chuckles) Next tip is reading news articles which already practices your
reading and your writing, but you also need to
practice your listening and your speaking. So for your speaking, you're just gonna read
the news article out loud. A lot of people might think
that this isn't fully correct, because you might be
saying something wrong, and there's no one there to correct you, but you're still getting more
comfortable with speaking, because a lot of the
times, say for example, Spanish has some sounds
that just don't occur in the English language. It might not help your pronunciation, 'cause there's no one
there to correct you, but it'll improve your flow of speaking. And then for listening,
you obviously can't listen to a piece of text, but you
can always get like news on YouTube or news on the radio or news on the TV and just listen to them. If you find some news on YouTube, that also have subtitles, that's, you're listening, reading and learning new vocab and
it's just everything at once. The next tip is practice
speaking to a camera. In this one, I tried my best to think of four aspects for this, but honestly, in this, all I
could think about is speaking. Just turn on the camera,
speak about how your day went, speak about the book you're
reading about right now. Speak about what you had for lunch, I don't know, talk about anything. Nobody will see it, you
can just look back at it. You can just see what
words maybe were missing from your vocabulary or you can see which words
you were using too much. And in general, that's
just like a quick way for you to improve. The next tip is to send
voice messages on HelloTalk. HelloTalk is a very like, a lot of people love using it, I just don't click so
quickly with strangers, but you need to remember
that you don't need to have like a full on
friendship with these people. At the end of the day you're
there for a language exchange, so honestly, like what I do
whenever I do go on HelloTalk, is I'll literally just text someone, I'll be like, "Hi, hi," and then I'll just start
sending them voice messages, like maybe they don't even
wanna listen to my voice, but like 80% of the
time, they'll reply back with voice messages being like, Oh my God, like your Spanish is so good,
but you could say this better or blah, blah, blah, blah, and I don't know, a lot of
the time we feel awkward, we're like, I don't
wanna send voice message, like this is too weird, like
this person doesn't know me, I swear to God, 95% of the
time the people are so nice, actually with Spain it's
like 99% of the time, Spanish people are like the
nicest people I've ever met, so the next tip is kind of
to learn grammar with a book, but not really, because my
tip is what to do with that, because I wanted to say
like learning grammar out of a book is really
helpful, like we all need it. But it shouldn't be your only source, so practicing grammar with a book, is only practicing your writing skill. So if you wanna practice
your speaking as well, then any time you learn something
out of that grammar book, straight away, like the day you learnt it, try to use it in speech. Talk to yourself and use that conjugation or use that expression, or I don't know what
you're learning in grammar but try to use it straight away, try to see how people use
that phrase naturally, don't be like, okay, this
phrase means this, cool. But if you don't know how to use it, what's the point of learning it? So, make sure you understand how to use it and speak straight away, like just use it in speech. Go to HelloTalk, make a voice message and try to incorporate that grammar point into your speech straight away. If you do it wrong, the
person will correct you and boom, like that is
so much more valuable than a grammar lesson, because yes, the grammar
book taught you something, but you learnt from naturally speaking how to actually use it well, so, and then if you're
doing the grammar lesson and you wanna practice listening, look up YouTube videos on that topic, there're so many Spanish
teachers on YouTube and if you're doing for
example the imperfect tense, just look imperfect on YouTube and sometimes there's videos where it's just like a two-minute
video of a conversation where they just use the
imperfect tense a lot. So that could be really helpful as well, because you're hearing
it being used naturally instead of just written down in the book and then to practice the reading skill, I would use the Reverso app, because Reverso is basically like an app where you can kind of understand
a word through context, so say for example if
you learn the phrase, (Anna speaks in foreign language) but you don't really know how to use it, you just go to Reverso, look up- (Anna speaks in foreign language) and there's gonna be like
thousands of sentences using that and then you can just read
through the sentences, you'll get more vocab, you'll
get some grammar context, because you'll see how it's used naturally and all of that combined,
yes, it will take a little bit more time than just doing
one page of grammar, but which one do you think
is more beneficial to you? The next point is to read
books or Wattpadd stories. Wattpadd is very underrated
for language learning. There are so many books
on Wattpadd in Spanish. I agree some of them, they can be written by someone who's 13 years old, maybe their grammar's not the best, but at the end of the
day, it's still coming from a natural speaker, so if you don't wanna buy books on Kindle, go to Wattpadd, there's a lot of stories in different languages, so. So, reading books practices
your writing skills because vocab, and reading
skills because you're reading. But if you wanna practice
your speaking skills, read your book out loud and if you wanna practice
your listening skills, try to find an audio book of that book. If you're reading on Wattpadd, you will probably not find an audio book, but if your reading a Kindle book, you most likely would find
like an audio book on Audible or something, by the
way, you can use my link to get like one book free or something, it's not sponsored at all, it's just like an affiliate link, so. So, the next method is
learning the lyrics to a song. This practices your writing,
speaking and listening because writing, you're
learning a lot of new vocab through that song. Grammar I would not relate
on grammar in a song, because they kinda change
it around a little bit to fit the rhyming scheme sometimes, so I wouldn't depend on
the grammar in a song, but vocab for sure. Speaking, it practices
your speaking when you sing along to the song, so you're
practicing your accent and you're practicing
how quickly you can sing, because in Spanish they
speak extremely quickly and you're also practicing your listening, because you can hear the
way the pronounce it. Also, with some songs, I
would still maybe double check with the word, because they still sometimes pronounce it wrong to kinda fit the rhyme, but still most of the time everything is pronounced
like normally, so. And then, if you wanna practice reading, go look up the song on Google and actually like just
read through the whole song as if it's a story. So then the next point is to
listen to podcasts in Spanish. This is a little bit
more like an intermediate advanced level like if you're a beginner. Maybe this isn't really helpful because you're not really hearing much, but I still think it would be helpful because immersion is extremely important when you're learning a language, but with podcasts you're mainly
only practicing listening but you can also practice speaking by imitating the words that they say, so trying to pronounce it the same way and then you can also practice writing by just like writing down
any word that they said and you didn't understand. Reading, I honestly don't
think there's any way to practice reading in podcasts. If you think of one, let me know, I don't know, maybe there's like podcasts that's also a blog at the same time. That would be reading, I don't know, I've never seen that, but. So, the next tip is journal about your day and substitute words
in that you don't know. Do not worry, just write
as much as you can, and I don't mean like make
your sentences shorter. I mean literally, just
write a sentence in Spanish and if you don't know one word, just write that word in
English and circle it, and at the end of the day when you finish your journal entry, you could just look back at
all the words that you circled that you didn't know. This could be 50 words,
this could be five words, it does not matter, and just write the vocab in at the bottom and then the next day
when you have to talk about the same thing, you'll already know how to speak about it, because you learnt the word yesterday. So journaling that practices your writing, but you can also practice your speaking by reading out everything you've written and honestly, I think
journaling is my favorite method out of all these, because
it's the most natural one and then for reading skills, read over it and look
up synonyms for words that you use a lot. So, for example, if I say bien a lot. And I'm just like my day was bien, my food was bien. I'm gonna go and try to
look for another word, because, you know, bien is a
very, very, very basic word, like most people that don't
even speak Spanish know what bien means. So, if you really wanna grow
from like an intermediate to advanced, you need to start
growing your synonym lists. And then the last tip is to literally imitate
Spanish people speaking and I don't mean in real life, that would probably be a
little rude in real life, but I would really recommend watching those live street interviews that you know like when
people go out on the streets, and they just like come up to people and they ask them about something? Watch them, and like analyze them. Because in those videos,
there's so much slang, which is extremely important. Also just like natural pronunciation, because sometimes if
you're watching a YouTuber who teaches Spanish, they'll give you the extreme clear perfect pronunciation which is important to learn, but it might not be as natural. If you wanna like try fool people that you're really a
Spanish native speaker, you gotta analyze their accent to death. Like, you just need to know it inside out. Okay, now we're gonna quickly talk about how you can incorporate more Spanish into your everyday life, because immersion is extremely, extremely, extremely important. So these are gonna be
really quick little things that you probably know, but yeah. First of all, is follow Spanish
influencers and YouTubers. If they post on an Instagram story, you're seeing natural spoken Spanish, you're hearing natural Spanish. The next thing is set
your phone to Spanish. Next thing is listen
to more Spanish music. Music is really important
to Spanish people, and I fully understand it. Like, I love their music and you can learn a lot just by listening to their music, so. Next thing is speak to yourself as you do daily tasks. Like literally if you're like, I'm gonna go eat food now. Like, just say that to
yourself in your head. Like, just speak to yourself daily, you'll see a lot of the
words that you're missing and you'll also practice speaking quicker. Next thing is search things
up on Google in Spanish. Instead of looking up
something in English, just look it up in Spanish and your immersing yourself more. And yeah, those are the little tips, they're just like quick little things that you can do daily. Okay, now we're gonna
quickly talk about resources. So, we're gonna talk about apps, podcasts, YouTube channels, Spanish
singers and TV shows. I'm just listing my favorite ones, so please recommend your favorite ones in the comments down below, because you're gonna be
helping everybody out. So, number one is apps. First app we have is SpanishDict. I think this is the best Spanish
dictionary you will find. That's down for a debate,
but from personal use, it is just the best one. Reverso is the app that
I mentioned earlier, every time you look up a word, it will give you context for that word and you can kinda see it being used. Then, Duolingo, Memrise and Babbel, they're very common, everybody knows them, everybody laughs at them. But to be honest, if
you use it consistently, it can help you. Like, it should never be
your only resource ever, but I cannot explain to you
how much Memrise has helped me with my Spanish. Like Memrise is the app that
started my Spanish journey and that's the app that
like single handedly on its own like got me
halfway to where I am now, like now where I'm at
Memrise didn't get me here, but Memrise definitely helped
me across half the way. Next up is HelloTalk, that's just like the language exchange app that I mentioned earlier. Next up is FLuentU. I think they basically have like videos and quizzes and just like a lot of different little activities. The only thing is it's not always free. But I've heard amazing
reviews about it, so I mean. And then we have Anki and Quizlet which are both flashcard apps. I mainly only use Anki,
but Quizlet is amazing, it is 100% amazing. Anki's amazing, both of them are amazing. Yeah, that is all the apps. So, for podcasts I only
know three podcasts, so they're the only ones
I'm gonna recommend. So, please if you know some
good Spanish speaking podcasts, let me know, because I'd
like to listen to more, but the first on is "Con Amor, Carajo." That next one is "Entiende To Mente," "Hay Que Hacernos Millonarios." They motivate me a lot and they make me feel productive, so I really like 'em. For the YouTube channels. Three or four of these, I actually watch on a regular basis, but three or four of these
I only discovered recently when I was actually just doing research for this video, because
I wanted to recommend more channels, but I really like 'em and I subscribed to all of 'em. So, the first channel is Beyond Words and her channel is kinda
based on personal development and health and productivity. You're gonna see a lot of
these channels are based on productivity, it's just
like the topic I like. The next channel is Iris Roig. I'm so, I don't know
how to pronounce names, I'm so sorry. But she basically has videos
about self care, habits, productivity, finance, like everything. I love her. I think on this list she
has to be my favorite. The next one is Viole Franco, I think her name is Violetta, but she basically has like
a comedy channel kind of. She just makes random videos, but I really love her. And she also has an Argentinian accent which I just love the Argentinian accent, like I'm not learning
the Argentinian accent, but I love it and she has it. And I just, I love listening to her. The next guy, I don't
know how to say his name. I'm so sorry, like Euge. In English you'd say Euge, but it's just not Euge. Love this channel. It's about entrepreneurship, business, finance, productivity,
do we see a pattern? Yes, we do. Next person is Isadora Vera. And she has a lot of
productivity vlogs which I love. Next is 8th Avenue. She also has a lot of productivity vlogs and planning videos and it's just like right down my alley or right down my avenue.
(Anna chuckles) I'm sorry. And then, the last person is Cristina Asai and she has a lot of videos on lifestyle, fitness, and organization. I would highly recommend
all those YouTubers. Also, once again, if you
have any recommendations, let us know, because I
would like to follow more. Honestly, I would love to get to the point where I follow more Spanish
people than I do English people, 'cause my Spanish would
just grow like crazy. This is the thing with YouTube. The more Spanish people you watch, the more Spanish people YouTube
algorithm will recommend to you, so even if you find
a bunch of Spanish people that you don't really like, go on their videos, like their video, comment something, like
just comment a heart, and the YouTube algorithm will bring you the Spanish YouTubers,
they will come to you. Then, the next thing is Spanish singers. I don't really think I need
to recommend Spanish singers, but I'm just gonna let you know. I have a very basic taste with
Spanish music, but you know. First, number one, Bad Bunny. I love Bad Bunny so much. Any song by Bad Bunny, I'm like. Danna Paola, Ozuna, Becky G,
Rosalia, Maikel Delacalle. Those are some of my favorite
Spanish singers, very random. And then for TV shows,
I'm gonna say "Elite," "La Casa De Papel," "Vis A Vis," "Las Chicas Del Cable," "Valeria," "Control Z," "Oscuro Deseo." So, yeah, that was it for my video. My camera's about to die, so I really wanna make this really quick. But hope you guys enjoyed. Let us know more tips,
more recommendations, more resources, because this
could just be like a video where we all help each other with Spanish. Thank you for watching. I hope you got some
value out of this video. I love you all guys so much. That didn't make sense. Anyway, I love you, peace out, much love. (mellow music)
