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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Prepare for *your* trip — not just any trip.
More active, less passive.
3 questions, 3 minutes.