How to Learn Spanish After Class
We don't need to tell you about the benefits of learning Spanish in the classroom, but what about practicing what you have learned afterwards in the real world? How can we practice without sacrificing our free time? Here are some suggestions:
- Go with friends to a bar and practice: you will order from the waiter in Spanish and be able to listen to what people are saying while watching a soccer match.
- Try to go shopping on a daily basis: going shopping is something basic that you have to do if you want to eat and more so if you live in a shared apartment. Use this time to learn Spanish by making small purchases on a daily basis. Fortunately, in Spain, most people continue to do their shopping in small neighborhood stores. You will can always buy something small from the produce store or even take money from the ATM using the Spanish language menu.
- Go see a movie in any cinema since most movies in Spain are dubbed in Spanish. Although you will sacrifice hearing an actor's true voice, there is an excellent group of Spanish voice actors who have specialized in dubbing. Whether you want to see an art-house hit or the latest blockbuster, you will have no problem seeing it in Spanish.
- Listen carefully to the lyrics of Spanish songs. Do not pay attention to the instrumental part only! Tune your radio to stations that only play Spanish music (there are many Spanish hits which are quite famous too!) and start listening. The rhythm and choruses will also help you understand better.
- Check out comic books in Spanish: It's a lot of fun to see how our favorite comic book superheroes are called in Spain (for instance, Wolverine is called Lobezno, which means wolf pup in Spanish). Even better, with the short sentence structure of comics, you will be able to be able to comprehend the language more easily.
- Read Spanish newspapers and magazines: Spanish newspapers are inexpensive and the internet versions are free. By doing this, you will be informed and you will learn more and better vocabulary!
As you can see, there are many options available to you to learn Spanish when you have left the classroom. Now you don't have any excuse for not improving your Spanish!