You’re hoping we’ll tell you so, right? You are right! You can learn Spanish without studying! Although of course, everything depends on what each one understands by studying.
What is “studying” Spanish?
If by “studying” you mean:
- To sit at your desk and memorize things
- To copy from one sheet to another endless lists of verbs, without thinking about how to pronounce them
- To read those boring theoretical explanations that are not understood ( Yes, yes, what you have been doing for the rest of your life and that until now has worked regularly)
Then you can learn Spanish without studying but it’s not much use.
On the other hand, if by “studying” you mean:
- To expose your ear to the greatest possible amount of Spanish in all the accents you can
- To devote hours of your time to repeat structures aloud until you are noticed, taking very into account your pronunciation
- To force yourself or yourself to use the words and expressions you are learning
- To be constant and to commit to doing a little every day, then not.
Then we’re sorry, but you can not learn Spanish without studying.The more you talk and listen, the less you will have to study.
Spanish is not like History or Law. It is not about swallowing books and memorizing information. Learning Spanish is more like training to play tennis. Let’s see why.
Actually, the theory is not always so complicated. Let’s take an example: the “gu” of the word “guitar”. The vast majority of people know that they do not pronounce the”u”. And yet, that vast majority of people, in practice, are still wrong with things as simple as this. Why? We return to the usual: because information is memorized, but not practiced enough.
That’s why we say that learning Spanish is more like training to play tennis. Actually you have to train your ear, your mind and your speech apparatus (the parts of your body that you use to speak), to accustom them to understand, produce and pronounce Spanish, just as Nadal is trained to execute a perfect serve. And that practice does not get you “studying” butlistening and speaking Spanish. Less study and more review.
With languages, review is everything. It is not enough for you to see an expression once. That way you will not get stuck in your head; not because you do not get the languages right, but because your brain does not give you time to assimilate and fix it properly. For Spanish to stay, you have to continually review everything you learn. Do not go past the simple past until you master the present simple, but really, until you do not make a single mistake, until things come out automatically. Do not go to the phrasal verbs if you do not master the auxiliary verbs: “ser”, “estar” and “tener”, which on the other hand are the ones you are going to use in your day to day life. Do not want to learn everything already because you can not. Take small, but steady steps, and constantly review the basics. The basics are the foundation of your Spanish; If they are not well built, your building will collapse before reaching the third floor.
In summary…
Do not study Spanish; train to speak and understand Spanish. Languages are not information like other subjects. Languages are a set of skills that, rather than studying, are acquired by training. In fact, it is not that you can learn Spanish without studying, you can not learn Spanish if you only study. If you want to learn to develop in Spanish from your desk, reading and memorizing, without listening, without practicing aloud, and above all without reviewing, we wish you good luck. And if you do not want to waste your time studying, you can start doing the opposite.