It has become increasingly evident to me as I work through these 33 days that the more you use the Spanish you have learnt, the more it will become embedded in your subconscious.  So activation is the key.

A great way to activate what you have learnt is by writing it down.

A very simple tip for you today is to go to the forums and discussion boards and write out things in Spanish.

This will really help embed what you have learnt and when people respond in Spanish, you will have started communicating in another language - even if you are just saying who you are and where you live.

Simple, but extremely powerful.

Today I want to talk to you about how you increase your Spanish vocabulary over and above that which you learn from the free podcasts I have been telling you about or even from any paid for Learn Spanish programs you have invested in.

It is important to be able to use the basics which is where every decent Spanish program will start.  So very quickly you should be able to talk about these things in Spanish: More on How To Learn Spanish For Free - Day 27

1 week to go before I demonstrate publically just how much Spanish I have been able to learn.  It seems like I have been learning Spanish forever.  Now I don’t mean that in a "ooh this is taking too long" sort of way.  I mean it in a "this is really great and I am glad I am doing it" sort of way (honestly….no I mean it….I do!). 

Now yesterday I took a day off to give me a break from all this Spanish I have been learning.  Breaks are an important part of learning and it is essential that you give yourself moments of respite from the onslaught of verbs, vocabulary and dialogues that seem in possible to understand.

I have found that after a short break, in this case just one day, I More on How To Learn Spanish For Free - Day 26

Today I am taking a break.  Breaks are good for learning - that is my excuse and I am sticking to it!!!  So as much as I am enjoying my exercise to learn Spanish only using free internet resources, I shall rest my brain and give it a day to recharge its language learning batteries.

I shall be back tomorrow with more ideas to help you learn Spanish more effectively.

Hasta pronto

Today I want to talk to you about reading in Spanish.  Now you may not have plans for studying the works of Shakespeare in Spanish but being able to read is still an essential skill for a couple of reasons.

First of all when you are in a Spanish speaking country you will need to be able to read things likes signs, menus and instructions that you are bound to encounter as part of your travels.  Secondly your language development will be significantly enhanced if you practice reading in Spanish as often as you can.

So where do you start? More on How To Learn Spanish For Free - Day 24

Today I used the Inspired Beginners Spanish Podcast from Ben and Marina at Notes in Spanish.  I have already recommended this site because of their videos but today I tried out their podcasts.

Already experienced in creating intermediate and advanced podcasts to help people learn Spanish Ben and Marina have now turned their attention to beginners and I am really glad they did.

Like other podcasts in the Learn Spanish Genre, the format is generally give vocabulary, discuss it a bit, have a dialogue using the vocabulary and then discuss some more.  The thing that I like the most about Notes in Spanish is that it focuses on "real Spanish".  The vocabulary is embedded within a conversation between two fluent Spanish speakers.

Ben and Marina also like to give colloquialisms and "Spanish from the streets" giving you a realistic edge to your Spanish.  I think that this is a great stand alone podcast but also brilliantly compliments Coffee Break Spanish and the edufon.com lessons.

When choosing podcasts you might think that you have to just stick with one.  Well I have found that by subscribing to more than one, I am getting a broader Spanish education but I am also finding that where one podcast repeats something I have already covered elsewhere, it is great revision.  It also means that I have more clues to start making sense of some of the things that might have been difficult to grasp in the other podcasts.

You might elect to study one in depth and use the others to supplement your lessons or you could study them all.  It doesn’t really matter which you choose, although that will be dependend on how much time you have, just as long as you are getting the multiple streams of input.

If you have been following my quest from the beginning, you will know that just a few days into my challenge I had to go to Amsterdam on business which created a bit of a challenge for me. Well today was another one of those days when I had to get on a very early flight from London to Amsterdam (which meant an even earlier start so I could get to the airport on time).

As I mentioned then, life will get in the way of you trying to learn Spanish and today was no exception for me. However, I was probably able to get more Spanish done today than I usually do. What with the drive to the airport (3 hours round trip - podcast time), an hour waiting for the flight (flash card time), the flight itself (had to use this to prepare for my meeting), the train from Schipol airport to the Hague (1 hour round trip - more flash card time), another wait at the airport for the return flight (out come the flash cards) and then the return flight (too tired to do anything too mentally taxing!).

Now I am not sure whether it is because I am super keen (I am sure that will have an impact) or because I was away from the normal distractions of the office and home, or because I had quite a bit of deadtime that I got so much done. I suspect it was a blend of all three but it was interesting to notice that when I get away from my usual surroundings, I do tend to be far more productive.

So where do you learn your Spanish? If it is at home or in your office, try getting out of those familiar surroundings and take yourself off somewhere different. I can remember on day 1 of this challenge to learn as much Spanish as I can in 33 days (only using free stuff from the internet) spending a few hours in the local Starbucks and getting quite focussed on my learning.

Anyway back to my day today. When I was at the airport waiting to catch the return flight, I got chatting to a German lady. The conversation was initiated because whilst we were waiting to be screened before departure, Iris turned up and her first action on reaching the end of the queue where I was standing was to chomp her way through an enormous bar of chocolate! Well we got chatting and coincidentally she worked for my client’s company (small world) and I discovered she spoke Spanish (these people just keep appearing to help me get better!).

She let me practice some Spanish with her and my confidence in my abilities grew because she was very complimentary about my pronunciation and grammar (thanks Coffee Break Spanish and Finally Learn Spanish). We parted as we were getting on the plane and then I found myself chatting to another passenger who was a trainer/salesman for Rosetta Stone - the language training people - who that day had been demonstrating his product (the Spanish version!) to one of his clients!

To quote my girlfriend - "that’s uncanny". Maybe the universe is on my side today because I also found a 5 Euro note on a busy platform at Haag Central Station! Now I did want to share with you a distinction I made about some grammar today but it seems a little out of place after my cosmic assistance revelations!

Maybe I will tell you tomorrow.

If you have not read yesterday’s post (day 20) it was all about my experience of finding a real native Spanish speaker to practice with.  One that was willing to be patient, correct my mistakes and teach me some really useful stuff.  His name is Gonzalo from Chile and I found him via the More on How To Learn Spanish For Free - Day 21

Today has been a milestone day in my efforts to learn Spanish.  One of those watersheds in progress that I’ll remember forever.

Yesterday I told you all about using the forums and discussion boards to help you learn Spanish well today I want to give you something that will help you propel your progress forward.

I am sure you are aware that the more practice you can get with another Spanish speaker the better.  It makes logical sense that you spend as much time as possible conversing in the language.  But have you done that yet?  If not why not?

I am sure you can come up with lots of reasons (ahem excuses) and I bet top of the list would be not having a Spanish speaker to speak Spanish to.  Well I am about to change all that for you. More on How To Learn Spanish For Free - Day 20

How many times have you had a question about something to do with your attempts to learn Spanish and have had no one to ask it?

It happens to me all the time and sometimes it is frustrating when I let this one question be the barrier to moving forward as I learn the language. Occasionally the issue blows up out of all proportion and it almost seems insurmountable.  The stumbling blocks have so far included: More on How To Learn Spanish For Free - Day 19