What I’ve Learned as a Beginner Studying Spanish (so far)

I’ve seen a lot of discourse online about learning vs. acquiring a new language, and over the last few weeks, I’ve come to experience and understand the benefits of both and how they can work together to help you develop a new language skill. 

When I think about learning, I think about the process of pursuing, gathering, and memorizing new information. So, pursuing can look like buying books, finding videos, reading articles, etc. Gathering can look like writing down information in a notebook or online in a document, etc. And lastly memorizing is simply…well, memorizing. 

When I think about acquiring, I think about the sometimes unconscious development or absorption of skills or knowledge. For example, you may subconsciously acquire a habit of scanning a key-card before opening a door if that’s something you do a lot for work or school, or you may acquire knowledge of certain phrases in another language if its something you hear a lot in your daily environment. 

In the last few weeks of my pursuit of the Spanish language, I’ve realized that learning and acquiring go hand-in-hand. I personally have been taking notes on what I read in my Spanish textbook from college, and I’ve noticed that a lot of the vocabulary that I’m being introduced to in the textbook are popping up in the TV shows, podcasts, music, etc. that I watch in Spanish. Essentially, the things that I read in my textbook are reinforced by the things I consume in Spanish. It happens the other way around, too! I might hear a word again and again in Spanish, and then read about that word later on in my textbook. 

I think the partnership of exploring a language through active learning and acquiring a language through passive (and active) consumption is more than effective for becoming fluent in a new language. You just have to find what you like and stick to it as often as you can. I’ve realized that learning a new language truly is about exposure. The more you’re exposed to a language, the more you’ll recognize it; that’s the bottom line. You may like reading textbooks or watching videos more than you like TV shows, podcasts, and music, or you may like the latter more than the former. As long as you’re constantly interacting with the language, you will pick up on it slowly but surely. 

For me, taking notes helps me to spend time with the language in a way that relaxes me. I like to make my note-taking process more creative and fun. I make it look pretty so that I’ll enjoy looking at it over and over again. I like watching children’s shows on Netflix to relax and practice my listening comprehension while still being entertained. (I’m currently watching Legend Quest in Spanish). And yes, I use English subtitles because I want to know what’s going on. I think some people get really legalistic about whether or not you “should” use subtitles or not when trying to learn a new language. Here’s my take: do what will help you stay consistent at whatever learning stage you’re in. 

I would say I’m in the upper A1 learning level for Spanish, so I don’t understand a lot of what’s being said in kids Spanish shows, but I am able to pick up on some words and phrases. If I’m watching a show and I’m so overwhelmed by not knowing what’s going on, I’m not going to watch it consistently, but if I have English subtitles, I’m able to enjoy the storyline while listening for words that I may know or understand. 

There truly is no “right” way to go about your language learning journey. To be honest, a lot of your journey in the beginning is going to be exploring what you do and don’t like, finding a rhythm, and so forth. Once you learn what you like, it gets easier to put your energy into learning the language. 

That’s where I am currently in my journey, and I look forward to coming back and giving some more tips and insight on what’s helping me learn Spanish.