When you start to learn Spanish, one of the most common tips people give you is to immerse yourself in the language and culture. But it’s difficult to immerse yourself in a foreign language when you can’t go anywhere! Not everyone can take off on vacations to immerse themselves in the culture and language of a place. You have parents who won’t allow it and schoolwork that won’t stop either.
So how do you lose yourself in a language when you have limited places you can go to? Why you turn to the internet, of course! The internet is a fantastic resource you can turn to when you are house-bound. With the pandemic keeping everyone locked up in their own houses, instead of the physical world, you can explore the virtual world to better your grades.
Watch Your Favourite TV Shows in Spanish
Spanish is a pretty widely spoken language. This is an excellent thing for you because it opens up a world of resources hidden in plain sight. There are two ways you can watch your favorite TV shows or movies in Spanish. The first way is that you can download movies made in English but have been dubbed in Spanish. With these, you have the advantage of knowing what’s going on since you have seen the movie before.
The other way is to watch Spanish movies with English subtitles. It is a little harder to follow since you don’t know the plot of the film from before. However, if you focus a little, you should be able to follow what’s happening and make those necessary connections between the spoken Spanish and the written English.
Use Social Media in Spanish
When looking for Spanish homework help, we know you switch over to your social media apps. It’s a habit that everyone has picked up and one that is very difficult to get rid of. What if we told you there was a way you could practice your Spanish while on Facebook or Twitter? These large multinational companies have to cater to people who speak all different kinds of languages.
Thus, these social media websites have a language setting you can change to whatever language you want to practice. With Spanish being one of the world’s most popular languages, you will find a Spanish language option on nearly every single social media website you are on. On Instagram, you could search and subscribe to Spanish hashtags so that you can increase your familiarity with the language on a daily basis.
Audio Resources
While a lot of people are visual learners, other students are audio learners. This means they process information much faster and much more quickly if they hear it as opposed to seeing it. Audio learners used to be much more limited in the range of learning tools available to them. Thanks to the power of the internet, this has undergone a massive change. While videos have an audio component, it is designed to be heard along with visual cues. Instead, for a completely auditory experience, turn to podcasts and radio instead.
Podcasts are audio series where each episode is dedicated to a specific subject or a new chapter. The good thing about podcasts is that you can listen to them while doing other things. You can finish your chores and get in some learning at the same time. Another auditory option is radio stations. There are websites online that allow you to listen to radio stations in different countries. You can hop on radio stations and learn about cultural and linguistic differences between regional dialects as well.
Friends
As The Beatles so eloquently said, we get by with a little help from our friends! Reach out to your Spanish-speaking friends and ask them to speak to you in Spanish. Speaking the language with a native speaker can help you improve your Spanish by leaps and bounds. You can ask them to include you when they go to community spaces, or you can schedule zoom calls where you practice what you have learned throughout the week.
Participate in community events where you will see a lot of Spanish-speaking people and practice your skills there. This is. Great way to make connections outside your community and help build up another community as well. There is a lot more than the language you can learn at these events, so make sure to keep open ears, eyes, and an open mind!
