We all know that learning new languages can be one of the most impressive and interesting things one could dedicate their life to. Doing this is not easy, but it also isn’t the hardest thing in the world. If you want to learn a new language, then you must know that there is a long road ahead of you, it also takes a lot of hard work, dedication, and a lot of practice.
If you’re here then that must mean you’re already interested in learning Spanish as a new language, and are also wondering how hard it is to do so. Well, there is no easy answer to that, it all depends on how much work you are willing to put in, as well as how much time and how serious you are about it.
If we were to give you an easy answer, then yes! Spanish is easier to learn than most languages, but it still takes a lot of work and should be taken very seriously!
Table of Contents
The Difficulty of Learning Spanish Really Depends on You
How difficult learning Spanish depends on a lot of factors, a lot of which depend on the person trying to learn the language. For example, if you have already learned a second language, and Spanish is going to be your third, then this means you will probably not find it as hard to learn. This can be even more true if you’ve already learned a language that is closer in nature to Spanish such as Portuguese or French.
But if you’re coming from English and you haven’t learned any other language, then you’ll find things a bit more difficult.
Another important factor is whether or not you have access to a community of Spanish speakers. This could be a real luxury since you’ll have a lot of support and a lot of people to practice your new language with. This will not only help you know how to correctly pronounce words, but you’ll also always be corrected when you make mistakes.
Another important factor to take into consideration is your age. The younger you are the better and easier it will be for you to learn any new language. This is because of what we call the LAD (Language Acquisition Device) that generally works a lot better when we are still at a young age. Children have been able to learn new languages at a much faster rate than their adult counterparts.
Should You Still Go for It?
Absolutely yes!
Of course, it won’t be the easiest thing you do in your life, but it is still worth it to go through all the trouble to learn it. Learning a new language is not only satisfying and make you feel much better about yourself, but it will also be very beneficial for your brain.
One way to do this is to give yourself a goal and reach it. This could be how fluent you want to be in it, or how long you are willing to keep learning it, although learning a new language is a life long task, in a good way because you will forever keep learning new words and expressions!
3 Reasons Why Spanish is Hard to Learn
Spanish is a Gendered Language
If you’re coming from English, then this will be something completely new to you since English is a language that doesn’t care much for gender. But when it comes to Spanish and many other languages, gender is a very important part of it.
The hard part isn’t in differentiating what to say to a girl and what to say to a boy, but it lies in knowing whether a noun is masculine or feminine, and based on that information you will have to change how the sentence is formed. This could be frustrating at first and will take a lot of time to get used to, but as we like to believe; nothing is impossible!
Spanish Has a Lot of Irregular Verbs
This isn’t very different from English, but since English is your mother-tongue you’ve never actually paid attention to this. Irregular verbs are a pain in the neck!
In Spanish, many of its irregular verbs are actually very common ones, which means you will have to use them on a day to day basis, which can be annoying since this means you will have to learn how each one of them is conjugated. But this isn’t the end of the world as there are a lot of patterns that you can look for which will make learning these irregular verbs a lot easier.
Spanish’s Pronunciation is Not the Easiest
You have to know that Spanish is not pronounced the same way you are used to pronouncing English words. In fact, a lot of the pronunciation is going to be new to you and they will take some time for you to get used to it.
This is especially true when it comes to vowels. But this is somewhat easier than English since Spanish vowels have some sort of consistency and are always pronounced the same way. The only difficulty you’ll face with that is how to get the sounds right as a native would, and it will definitely take some practice from your part to perfectly nail it.
3 Reasons Why Spanish is NOT Hard to Learn
Similar Sentence Structure to English
Luckily, how sentences are structured in Spanish is very similar to that of English. This means that the sentence has the same old (subject, verb, object) formula, which is what you are already used to.
Spanish Has Easy Rules & Patterns to Follow
Knowing the rules and following them is the easiest way to truly learn a new language and get used to it, which is why Spanish is easier to learn since a lot of its rules and patterns are straight forward and easy to follow.
When it comes to conjugating verbs for example, the process is very simple and isn’t very complicated like other languages such as French for example; whose conjugation rules are a literal nightmare.
If you want to get used to how phrases and sentences are formed, all you have to do is pay attention to the rules of grammar as well as to the patterns that you’ll start noticing the more you spend reading and listening to the language.
These rules are also going to be the reason you simplify even the most difficult parts of the language, such as identifying which gender a noun is. This is because in a lot of cases, you’ll notice how a lot of masculine words are ending with the letter “o”, and feminine words usually end with the letter “a”.
It Has a Lot of the Same Words as English
A lot of European languages have a lot in common, including their vocabulary. This includes German, Portuguese, Spanish, French, English, and many more. This makes things very easy since you will find a lot of words in Spanish that are very similar to some words in English, and more often than not, those words mean the same thing.
You will have a lot of contact with English-Spanish Cognates, and they will make your life a lot easier. You should consider yourself lucky to be coming from English, and not a totally different language that has nothing similar to Spanish.
How to Easily Learn Spanish
The only way you can learn anything quickly and effectively is if you make up the time, and organize yourself.
You need to make sure you know which learning style works best for you, this can be extremely important as it will determine whether you are making progress or are just wasting your time.
You also need to keep monitoring your progress. You should make note of how much time you spent learning the new language, as well as where you think your level of fluency is.
Another important advice is to make sure you practice Spanish and learn at least 1 new word every day. This will ensure you do not get lazy and don’t forget about what you learned, which is very common when it comes to learning new languages.
Conclusion
We hope you learned from this article and found everything you were looking for. We wish you the best of luck in learning this new language!
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