Spanish for beginners

Spanish for Beginners

With Spanish the official language of over 20 countries and over 400 million native speakers - second only to Chinese - it’s a useful one to learn.

What’s more, learning basic Spanish is easy. For starters, it’s completely phonetic; you speak it exactly as it’s written. With a few tips and tricks, you can advance in Spanish quickly and soon speak Spanish confidently.

But with so much information about Spanish for beginners, it’s hard to know where to start. Here’s what the language learning experts at Memrise recommend.

Keys To Learning Spanish for Beginners

The best way to learn Spanish is to practice! This used to mean signing up for Spanish lessons for beginners, or buying a grammar book to teach yourself basic Spanish language. But that takes time, money, and isn’t that fun. And learning a language should be fun, because if it isn’t, you won’t practice…!

The key to learning beginner Spanish is to combine basic Spanish grammar with some key vocabulary in the form of some basic Spanish words. Add a couple of simple Spanish sentences and a few clever language hacks and you have a magic recipe for basic Spanish conversation.

To get these ingredients into your memory, online Spanish flashcards are fun and effective. To really advance in Spanish, make sure you’ve got some audio and video so your pronunciation is on-point, and in no time you’ll be booking tickets to Peru, Cuba or Spain, or at least heading to your favourite Mexican restaurant to try them out!

Most important of all, there’s no place for perfectionism when it comes to learning Spanish. In fact, worrying about speaking perfectly can actually hinder your progress.

The best approach to beginner Spanish is “no hablo perfectamente, pero me hago entender!”, which means “I don’t speak perfectly, but I make myself understood!” Remember: everyone makes mistakes. That’s the best way to learn!

How To Learn Basic Spanish Conversation for Beginners

We’re sorry to break it to you, but there’s no way to speak fluent Spanish overnight. The good news, however, is that you can quickly and easily learn basic Spanish and the most useful Spanish phrases which will help you to communicate.

Then once you’ve got these the simple Spanish sentences nailed, it’s time to head out and try them! You’ll need to put yourself out there, but you’ll find most Spanish-speakers love that you’re making an effort (believe it or not, your accent is cute!) and will meet you halfway.

And the great thing is, small-talk in Spanish is no different to any other language: when you first meet someone they will want to know your name, where you’re from, how long you have been in their country, what you think of their country, when you are leaving and what you do for work. Top tip: conversations with taxi drivers generally follow this exact format.

So learn these simple Spanish sentences, how to respond, take 3 taxis and your basic Spanish conversation will be perfect in no time!

But don’t forget, a conversation is about interpersonal connection. It’s about conveying thought, opinion and character, bridging the void with a fellow human being, not about 100% accuracy.

It’s more fun to make someone laugh with some slang or a niche local phrase than to correctly use the imperfect subjunctive. Trust us, they won’t realise.

Learning Spanish for Beginners with Memrise

The Memrise Spanish course is designed to get you speaking basic Spanish language as quickly and confidently as possible, with all words and phrases meticulously selected by our in-house Spanish language experts so that you learn the most useful Spanish phrases first.

Our rich media content replicates a real-world learning experience; we provide a range of learning and practicing modes through which you can quickly build your basic vocabulary, practice pronunciation and lock-in your listening. What with grammabots, chatbots, Spanish flashcards and thousands of videos of native speakers, all underpinned by cognitive science and cutting-edge research into language acquisition, learning Spanish for beginners has never been so engaging or easy. And with the option for all this offline, you can immerse yourself in Spanish at a time and place that suits you.

Starting with the most simple Spanish words and basic grammar all the way through to advanced phrases and vocabulary, with Memrise you can advance in Spanish all the way from beginner to pro.

The Spanish you’ll learn with Memrise is designed to be communicative, with our course comprised of real, current language that you’ll hear as soon as you get on the plane. You won’t learn random sentences like “my grandma is drinking milk in the lounge” or “the kitten jumped over the car to buy some chocolate”. Instead, you’ll learn Spanish language through practical examples that not only get you around, but also make you and others laugh along the way.

What’s more, our Spanish course is situational, so you can select those sections or scenarios most applicable to you. Not interested in learning endless animal vocab like giant lemur or seahorse? Just skip it. Want to go further on a specific topic? Our booster levels can give you an even deeper knowledge of the necessary vocab.

So what are you waiting for? Download the Memrise app or register online for free and have fun learning to speak Spanish!