What you shouldn’t do when learning Spanish

As every student of any level and specialty knows, just as there are techniques we can use to learn a skill more quickly and effectively, there are also certain things we should avoid doing as they prevent us from advancing in our studies.

It may sound obvious and it probably is, but we should try as much as possible to do those activities that help us advance and avoid those that do not. In this post we want to share with you the five things you should avoid doing at all costs when you are learning Spanish.

Learning another language at the same time

This is a huge NO. Learning two languages at the same time can cause confusion and chaos in your brain as you try to learn the vocabulary of both languages and create associations. That is, if the Spanish vocabulary matches for example with French, Portuguese or Italian, you will have a harder time building sentences in the target language. The ideal is to choose a language and reach a level where you can make the switch more naturally and easily.

Being afraid to make mistakes

Fear is one of the most powerful forces that prevent us from achieving what we want. And while we understand that no one wants to look like an idiot by saying the wrong thing or not understanding what others are saying, it is necessary to step out of our comfort zone and put our skills to test.

When you take that leap of faith in yourself, you may find that many Spanish speakers appreciate the effort you make to speak their language and learn their culture. You may also find that they will be willing to help you improve.

Procrastinate

This is by far one of the main culprits that keep us from making progress in our Spanish learning. It is very easy to get distracted by an email, a message or a Facebook or Instagram notification and waste the next two hours surfing the Internet or watching videos on Youtube.

To avoid falling into this hole from which it is sometimes difficult to get out, the first thing to do is to learn to recognize this tendency in the first five minutes and try to get out of it. You can also leave your phone in another room or turn off the internet during your study session. The important thing is to know what are the things that distract you and avoid them as much as possible.

Trying to be perfect from the start

If you have a tendency to want to be perfect in the things you do, you need to learn to see things with a little perspective. Native speakers of any language make mistakes on a daily basis. Do you make the same mistakes in your native language? Then you don’t need to waste your time trying to be perfect in Spanish because Spanish speakers also make mistakes in speaking and writing.

Although it is good to think about reaching an excellent level of perfection, this along with fluency cannot be mastered unless you are willing to make mistakes in pronunciation, grammar and lost vocabulary. So, if you are waiting to be perfect in Spanish before speaking to people in real situations, you are going to be waiting for a very long time.

Trying to learn too much information in too little time

At this point, we all know that learning a language means learning an enormous amount of new information. This cannot be done in a few days or in sporadic moments. In order to understand and use a good amount of vocabulary and grammatical rules, it is necessary to dedicate many days in a row to their study and memorization.

For this reason, we cannot expect to learn everything a few days before our trip to a Spanish-speaking country or to go many days in a row without seeing a Spanish word and expect it to come quickly to our mind when we want to use it. This is why it is necessary to find a study routine that allows us to practice daily and effectively. In a previous post we talked about how you can create the routine that best fits your schedule and allows you to learn Spanish faster.

Conclusion

If any of these five things resonate with you, we hope you will first recognize them and then be able to prevent them. Although there are several strategies you can apply, the most effective is to be mindful. Fear, procrastination, and perfectionism are best attacked when you recognize them as the problem. Work on improving your weaknesses and you will see how your skills will improve over time.