The basic guide to start learning Spanish from a Vietnamese

yes, I include my nationality to tell you that you’re not the only one that has no environment to practice or get no encouragement whatsoever. In this post, I’ll include how I started out learning Spanish and some material sources.

Don’t jump into hardcore stuff, you have all the time in the world for it. Start from the bottom, learn to say Hello, ask for name, occupation, numbers, “you’re beautiful”. Thank me later. Here’s someplace you can get that for free:

Youtube Channel of Señor Jordan: To be specific, try with this playlist, after a week, I’m sure you’ll get the core of what’s going on in the Spanish language world. You can pursue by following and watching more of his content. He teaches Vocabularies and Grammar also so I think if you’re too busy to have a more intense learning schedule, watching his channel only will be alright.

Here are some apps that you can try to learn Vocabulary. They have various apps on appstore and playstore but I used 2 main apps when it comes to Spanish:

Memrise: they have 9 courses of vocabularies in flashcard platform. I finished these 9 courses in 3 months (around 1000–1500 worlds which are good enough for communicating). They also have this one set about conjugation which I strongly recommended cause, believe me, you’ll need it. I do Memrise everyday right after I wake up and before bed. It’s really good for beginner cause they’ll show you what words to learn in one topic and also provide example sentences. I’m obsessed with Memrise.

You can also create a course if you want to. Here’s the PC version. My account is LizbethTran, btw.

Quizlet: I used this to make fast flash cards with words I picked up along the way or when I come across a new one. I make it into months. You can memorize them by more means of exercises like typing, connecting, or multiple choices. I only used this when I started to enter the intermediate level and pick up more complicated words in reading materials or when practicing.

Of course, there’re more apps like Duolingo or Ankidroid. Just try them all to see what work for you. I’m happy with Memrise and Quizlet though.

Spanish grammar is quite easy if you’re doing well with English grammar already. The only thing that might mess you up a bit once in a while is their conjurations. But worry not, mis amigos! You’ll get used to it.

Spanish Dict: This is actually an app for Dictionary. But on their web page, you can also learn grammar. They provide the list already so you only need to follow lesson by lesson.

StudySpanish: Here is another source for you to follow if you don’t like Spanish Dict. It’s pretty much the same thing. Just choose one, don’t jump between two sources, pick one and stick with it. It works in the relationship too, my friends.

Remember, practice makes perfect. It’s very easy to learn Grammar but to actually put it into use, it takes more than just reading. Do some boring exercises if you have time, follow the old-fashioned way is good sometimes.

Try to Immerse yourself in Spanish as much as possible. Change your phone’s language system into Spanish, your facebook, Instagram also.

Go to Spanish Club, languages exchange anyways. It doesn’t matter if you can only say !Hola! and “una cerveza !por favor!”. Just go and make friends. Those friends will be the one to support you along the way and keep you motivated. It’s always more fun learning together. If your country is anything like mine, it’s hard to find an active Spanish group. In that case, gather a bunch of like-minded folks and meet up regularly.

In all, find a way to surround yourself with images, audios and people that speak Spanish. Immerse yourself in it.

Listening to podcasts when you’re commuting to works. You can use Podcast Addict app where you can download anything that might fits you. I like one podcast called Español Automático de Carol Martinez. Her Spanish is really easy to follow if you’re in the intermediate level.

I only started to listen to podcasts when I entered intermediate. Before that, I watched these series on Youtube:

Extra Español: It’s funny, simple and slow. But it ends after 12 episodes though.

Es Español: it has subtitle in Spanish. Do you know how precious that is???? Treasure it! This series also comes in 3 levels with around 12 episodes each.

Español en Episodios de SOL School of Language: This series is about a guy who just moved to Spain and was taking a course in Spanish. I love this cause besides normal life conversation (with an OK pace of speaking), we can also virtually participate in the class of his teacher (who is from Argentina). This series is for intermediate learners.

So that’s all I have. I hope it will work for you the same way it did for me! Send me a message if you want to exchange Spanish, Vietnamese or English. My Spanish is nowhere near being good but I’m happy to help whatever way I can. Good luck!