How To Learn A Foreign Language As An Adult

Learning a foreign language as an adult is definitely harder and much more time-consuming. I learned Spanish as an adult and today I want to share with you, my experience in the hopes it will help you with your learning process.

I first started learning Spanish on a website called Spanishdict.com. They offered mini video lessons, flashcards, and online activities. I loved learning through that website because I could see the new vocabulary over and over again and that helped me retain the new words.
However, after a couple of months, I got bored of learning the same way every day. There was no room for flexibility or creativity, I would watch the videos, do the online interactive activities and that was it. Besides, I had no one to answer my questions, so it was very frustrating.

I know there are apps nowadays, such as Duolingo, that connect their users in a community and people help each other out. This is an awesome tool because you don't feel alone in your learning process and it's a lot more entertaining.

My second step was to find a Spanish course that I could afford in my town. I took 4 months of classes in a group and I had such a great time learning along with my classmates. We would meet on the weekends to practice conversation. I did all the homework my teacher assigned and I studied at least 3 times a week, even if it was just for 10 minutes.

When my trip to Argentina approached, I thought it was important to improve my Spanish level in a short period of time, so I hired a private teacher and started having 2 classes a week of 2 hours each. We usually had conversation classes and at home, I studied grammar and did several exercises related to verb tenses, conjugation, and vocabulary. If I had questions, I made notes about them and asked my teacher during our lessons. Though I was working at the time, I would always find time to be in contact with Spanish. When I was driving to work, I would listen to songs in Spanish or to the CD that came with my Spanish book. In my head, I created dialogues that I thought I might have when I arrived in Argentina. I would dissect song lyrics in order to learn pronunciation and acquire vocabulary. Spanish was my life!

I got to Argentina for a 4-month Spanish course and I was placed in an intermediate group. My teacher was one of the best teachers I've ever had. She was extremely committed, was always on time and ready to teach wonderful lessons. All our learning process was based on Argentina's culture. We studied through their breath-taking Tango songs, their clever films and lots of news from magazines and newspaper.
Of course, it's much better to learn a language where it is spoken and I took advantage of that. I would not miss an opportunity of speaking to native people. A simple visit to a drugstore was worth 1 hour of class :-)
I met my now husband in Argentina and being with him and his family has definitely helped me a bunch, I even picked up his accent, but if you aren't as lucky as I was, don't worry, you can still learn.

In summary, I believe all the steps I took helped me achieve fluency in Spanish and if you want to be fluent in any language you can't do things halfway, you must commit 100% to your learning process. Keep in mind your brain is not the same as it used to be when you were a child, you have to work harder, if a child studies 2 hours a week, you have to study 6.
You will certainly feel frustrated at times, but don't give up, it's totally worth it. You will be jumping up and down like a child when you are finally able to understand what's been said in a song or a film or when you can carry on a conversation.
Now, go get started, there is no time like now!