How I did it: My high school requires 2 years of Spanish, which I just finished. But, if all you do is go to class every day, you won't learn Spanish. You might memorize some vocab and some memorization, but that's it. The key is what you do on your own time.

As soon as I had a *BASIC* (very very basic) grasp of present tense conjugations, I was online looking for native speakers to talk to through e-penpal websites. I made a couple of very good friends. My argentine friends are all college students who take English. They've always been willing to help me and eager to speak English as well, which is good if you feel a bit overwhelmed. I think the website I used to find a friend or two was called "Spanglish chat" or something like that.

Another great feature is most "utilizeable" for people who like flash games. Make an account on kongregate.com, a flash game site. To the right of the game is a chat box. You can choose which chat room to chat in, 3-4 of which are solely Spanish rooms. The players here are from all across Latin America, and are typically very kind if you ask privately for Spanish help. You can likewise make some great penpal friendships here, and have fun gaming.

Spare-time resources like these can really up your Spanish game, but the best things for making language flow naturally are putting yourself in situations where you have to use it. Go to any place in your community where hispanic people are - A hispanic church, stores, even a Mexican restaurant. All of these will help.

Utilize what's available to you and you'll be speaking Spanish in no time! For some basic lessons to get you started, Spanishdict.com has some really great beginner lessons available. Check it out, too. :)

I'm still learning, but my grasp of the basics and of ways to communicate is really strong based on these things that I've done. I recommend learning Spanish to anyone!

Lessons & tips: Talk to yourself in Spanish! Any thought you have to yourself, try and think, "How would I say that in Spanish?" I swear, it helps in making words come more naturally to you, and not having to sit and think for 5 minutes for a certain conjugation of a word.

Resources: http://www.spanishdict.com/

http://www.kongregate.com/

Jun 19, 08:41PM PDT | 1 comment | 6 cheers