Connor Kane

A timeline showing 'hidden moments' for practicing Spanish throughout the day

SS #80: A snapshot of my own language learning

When I was around 15, I read a classic of the language learning genre: How to Learn Any Language by Barry Farber. Farber’s tales of learning Indonesian on a cargo ship and interpreting for Soviet refugees lit a fire under my nascent interest in languages. More than 15 years after reading it, there’s one main … Read More

Hey there, I'm Connor. I help motivated learners speak Spanish without slogging through grammar books or tapping through every new app. I started Breakthrough Spanish to give more people the confidence and focus to learn effectively Spanish from home. Learn more about me here.

Misspelled words in Spanish

SS #76: Spanish isn’t phonetic?

In classes, we often learn that Spanish is a phonetic language.  And it’s mostly true!  Especially compared to English, written Spanish is very close to spoken Spanish.  You can look at a word you’ve never seen and know with confidence how it’s pronounced.  But technically, it’s not 100% phonetic. Several common sounds can be represented by more than … Read More

Hey there, I'm Connor. I help motivated learners speak Spanish without slogging through grammar books or tapping through every new app. I started Breakthrough Spanish to give more people the confidence and focus to learn effectively Spanish from home. Learn more about me here.

Spanish comprehension challenges: wearing headphones with images of Spanish netflix in background

SS #75: Are you listening well?

I mentioned in a recent YouTube video that listening is the most important part of your learning process. But most of us — myself included — don’t do it very well most of the time. Listening well makes the difference between… ✓ Feeling noticeable progress ✗ Feeling like you’re blasting your ears with Spanish to no avail Today, I’ll … Read More

Hey there, I'm Connor. I help motivated learners speak Spanish without slogging through grammar books or tapping through every new app. I started Breakthrough Spanish to give more people the confidence and focus to learn effectively Spanish from home. Learn more about me here.

Prepare, speak, repeat

SS #52: An exercise that makes speaking Spanish easier

Have you ever been to a wedding where a toast goes on… and on… and on? Usually there’s one reason this happens: it wasn’t planned. They figured they could wing it. But it’s hard to speak off the cuff about something we’ve never talked about. I’m sure you’ve experienced this. The more you’ve spoken about … Read More

Hey there, I'm Connor. I help motivated learners speak Spanish without slogging through grammar books or tapping through every new app. I started Breakthrough Spanish to give more people the confidence and focus to learn effectively Spanish from home. Learn more about me here.

Confused man not understanding Spanish

SS #51: 17 journal prompts to build fluency

There’s a mistake most learners make that keeps them frustrated. It might be making you feel like your Spanish is worse than it is, and it’s something nearly everyone does. Let me explain: Picture Tom. Tom is from Canada and his wife is from Puerto Rico. He’s been learning Spanish for a while and has … Read More

Hey there, I'm Connor. I help motivated learners speak Spanish without slogging through grammar books or tapping through every new app. I started Breakthrough Spanish to give more people the confidence and focus to learn effectively Spanish from home. Learn more about me here.

Spanish podcasts for upper beginners

SS #20 – 5 Ideal Podcasts for Upper Beginners

You already know how important listening is to your Spanish progress. The hard part is finding things that are both (a) near your level and (b) not so dull you want to throw your phone out of the car window. This week, I spent some time combing through Spotify to find my favorite podcasts for … Read More

Hey there, I'm Connor. I help motivated learners speak Spanish without slogging through grammar books or tapping through every new app. I started Breakthrough Spanish to give more people the confidence and focus to learn effectively Spanish from home. Learn more about me here.

SS #19: Can you learn Spanish from TV?

Tell me if this sounds familiar: You learn Spanish for several months (or even years), then decide it’s time to try your hand at a TV show. You turn on the show and it’s like you never even started learning Spanish. Everything runs together. If this has been the case for you, know that it’s … Read More

Hey there, I'm Connor. I help motivated learners speak Spanish without slogging through grammar books or tapping through every new app. I started Breakthrough Spanish to give more people the confidence and focus to learn effectively Spanish from home. Learn more about me here.

4 Spanish learning lessons

SS #18: 4 Language Learning Lessons From My 2022

Now that we’re in a new year, but not far enough in to have given up on our resolutions yet, I thought this would be a good time to discuss something I find helpful in language learning: reflection. Looking back at my own efforts over the past year (I’ve been learning German for a couple … Read More

Hey there, I'm Connor. I help motivated learners speak Spanish without slogging through grammar books or tapping through every new app. I started Breakthrough Spanish to give more people the confidence and focus to learn effectively Spanish from home. Learn more about me here.

Saturday Spanish #17: Make the progress you want in 2023

Learning Spanish — especially after the first few months — can feel amorphous. The more you learn, the more you realize you don’t know. And this gives many people the vague, unpleasant feeling of un-measurable progress. Today, I’m going to share a simple idea to help you feel more direction in your learning. This can … Read More

Hey there, I'm Connor. I help motivated learners speak Spanish without slogging through grammar books or tapping through every new app. I started Breakthrough Spanish to give more people the confidence and focus to learn effectively Spanish from home. Learn more about me here.

Saturday Spanish #16: Avoid these 7 False Cognates

English speakers learning Spanish are lucky in that the two languages share thousands of similar words (cognates). The problem is, not every word that looks like English means what we think it means (the most famous example being embarazada for pregnant rather than embarrassed). These are called false cognates or falsos amigos. When it comes … Read More

Hey there, I'm Connor. I help motivated learners speak Spanish without slogging through grammar books or tapping through every new app. I started Breakthrough Spanish to give more people the confidence and focus to learn effectively Spanish from home. Learn more about me here.

About Breakthough Spanish

Breakthrough Spanish is a Spanish Language Coaching service & blog. I help other English speakers learn Spanish faster and have more fun along the way. Learn more here.

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