Must-Learn Hacks for Learning Spanish Fast in 2021

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You’ve made up your mind and have decided that in 2020 you will speak Spanish fluently. But you are wondering, how can you learn Spanish fast? Don’t worry we are here to support you in your language learning journey.

These tips are easy-to-follow and implement in your daily life and undoubtedly will help you to learn Spanish quickly!

Identify your “why“

Be honest about your motivation. Sometimes is not a lack of will-power but a lack of clarity. Why is this so important? How is your life going to change once you learn Spanish? Dig deep in your soul and find the hidden reasons and most burning desires.

For example, you know that Spanish is the second-most spoken language on the world and you are looking to get a job transfer to the Iberian Peninsula or move-on to a better position within the company.

But, stop for a minute and reflect on it. Do you hate your current boss? You are done dating with Tinder, and are you hoping to marry a pretty Latin girl?

Or is moving to Spain just an excuse to get into flamenco, which is your child’s dream?

Bringing YOUR WHY to the front row will renew your motivation and make it easier to push through the tough times.

Need some inspiration? Check this collection on clarity, passion and purpose from Life Coach and best-selling author Marie Forleo.

Sharpen your mind with healthy habits

From brain training games to taking up an arts and crafts class there are plenty of proven ways to improve cognitive function, according to Psychology Today Magazine.

These are our own selection of top healthy habits to sharpen your mind:

  • Practice physical exercise regularly to get the right hormones going (such as endorphins, serotonin, and norepinephrine), stimulate the growth of new neurons, and strengthen synapsis. An active lifestyle helps you to irrigate and oxygenate your brain, feel more energized, as well as maintain a healthy body-weight and an ideal Body Mass Index.
  • Meditate once a day to diminish your cortisol-levels. Chronic stress, anxiety, and depression lower your mood and can impair neurological activity. In addition, meditation lengthens attention span and may reduce age-related memory loss.

Mindfulness therapy is defined by Positive Psychologists as “a conscious awareness of our present moment”. It improves sleep, enhances cardiovascular function, and reduces anxiety. Studies show that mindfulness meditation improves your ability to stay focused, increases your memory capacity, and regulate your emotions.

  • Feed your brain right!
  • Elude high-processed foods and limit your refined sugar intake to avoid blood sugar spikes.
  • Feeling hungry can be a real distractor! Follow a balanced eating regime rich in quality proteins (such as eggs, lean meats, and legumes) and dietary fiber (from whole grains, raw vegetables, and fruits) to feel satiated and maintain a steady flow of sugar in the bloodstream.

Research has found that high consumption of dietary fiber promotes a healthy-gut microbiota and reduces brain inflammation.

  • Essential fatty acids are central to mental health and prime brain function. Consume plenty of Omega 3 fatty-acids and nutrient-dense foods. Include wild salmon, trout, sardines, fish oil, walnuts, pecans, chia seeds, flax seeds, avocados, olives, extra virgin olive oil, and organic coconut oil in your meals.

These polyunsaturated fatty-acids have an active role in regulating inflammation, immunity, blood vessels, synaptic plasticity, cellular growth, pain, and sleep.

  • Stay properly hydrated! This will help your body to transport nutrients, eliminate waste, regulate blood-pressure, lubricate joints, produce hormones, and stay alert.
  • Get a good night’s sleep! Sleepless nights can play havoc on your memory and the rest of your cognitive skills.

Getting adequate sleep it’s a tough one, we know it, but you should at least try. In a society that is measured on performance and success given only to overachievers, sleep is truly underrated.

It feels that we live in a world where time travels faster than the speed of light. We are caught in the whirlwind of our daily lives, rushing every minute of every hour, trying to squeeze the most “to achieve something”, and routine is so easily set-in.

Yet, slowing down, taking regular breaks, and indulging in those hobbies that seem to lit our hearts but have no real purpose (hence we don’t make time for them) are crucial to our sanity and brain health.

Sleep is usually undervalued. But, it is during this precious time that our beautiful bodies cleanses, regenerates, and performs other maintenance activities.

The National Sleep Foundation suggests that sleep deprivation has been linked to depression, lower immunity, the early onset of dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, and type 2 diabetes, amongst other health conditions.

If you want to improve the quality of your sleep try shutting down all electronic devices at least one hour before going to bed and synching-in with your natural biological cycles (circadian rhythms).

Or you may wish to visit your nearest sleep clinic.

Stick to your learning style

Each of us needs different activities to reinforce the knowledge we learn on a daily basis. The following are some actions that you may want to try while you learn Spanish.

To help you find your learning style, we’ve put together this quick and handy quiz.

Let us know in the comments which one you find more useful:

  • Make some notes with color pens.
  • Write key words on post-its.
  • Create an infographic.
  • Chart a mind-map.
  • Play background classic music while you study.
  • Associate similar words to memorize Spanish vocabulary.
  • Sing along on karaoke night to practice pronunciation.
  • Watch Spanish films.
  • Dance or take a walk as you listen on your headphones to your audio lesson.
  • Share your knowledge and put it into practice by trying to teaching someone else.

Finding your learning style will allow you to be more effective in your language study practice. Not sure which is your learning style? Take a quiz here.

Set yourself for success!

Create an appropriate learning environment. Consider factors such as lighting, ventilation, and furnishings. Light up a scented candle or use essential oils. Smells can help your concentration as well as make you feel nauseous, so choose the right aromas for you.

Are you a night-owl or an early-bird? Knowing which the most productive time of the day is for you is highly beneficial. Try accommodating your language lessons or studying time around those hours.

Expose yourself to the language as much as you possibly can

Enjoy Spanish music, videos, food, and everything you can get hold too. If you are feeling bold you may want to configure your phone, tablet, and computer to Spanish, you can do this by changing the settings.

It is true that you could try to reproduce an immersive experience at home but to fully reap the cognitive benefits of an immersion language program you may want to learn from certified teachers who are also native Spanish speakers.

 

Try our FREE Spanish Survival Crash Course

To give you a basic understanding of the Spanish language, start with these free ebooks and audio files from our Spanish Survival Crash Course. We will send it to you, totally free. Sign up here.