One of the most commonly asked questions about any foreign language is whether it’s easy or hard to learn, as well as how long it takes to reach conversational fluency.
It’s not an easy question to answer, but in the following guide, we’ll pick apart the reasons why learning Spanish can be both easy and hard.
Is Learning Spanish Easy?
Learning a language is never easy. You’ll be reading a lot, talking a lot, memorizing a lot, and getting frustrated when you forget words and struggle to understand native speakers.
In that sense, Spanish is difficult. But if you compare it to other languages, and approach it as an English speaker, it can seem much easier.
Your approach to language learning will also determine how easy it is, as will your native language, friendship circle, and how much free time you have.
There are things that can make it very difficult to learn Spanish, just as there are things that can make it much easier.
Let’s take a look at both of them to see where you stand.
Why Is Spanish Easy to Learn?
What makes Spanish easy to learn? A few things:
- It is a phonetic language
- There are a lot of resources
- It has a familiar alphabet and cognates
- The grammar rules are easier
Let’s take a closer look at all of those points:
Spanish is a Phonetic Language
A phonetic language is one where the words are pronounced how they are spelled. You can look at a word and know how it’s pronounced, and you can hear a word and know how it’s written.
That might not sound like a big deal. That’s how all languages work, right?
Not quite.
Take English as an example. Many English words and letters can be pronounced in multiple ways.
“Ough” can sound like “ow” as in “bough” and “though” but it can also sound like “uff” as in “rough” and “off” as in “cough”.
And then you have phrases like, “Yesterday, I read the red book. Tomorrow, I will read the other red book”.
If you’ve never heard a word spoken aloud before, you may struggle to pronounce it correctly. This is rare with languages like Spanish and it can make a massive difference when you’re first learning.
Resources to Learn Spanish
Spanish is one of the most spoken first and second languages in the world. This means there are hundreds of millions of native speakers and tens of millions who speak it as a second language.
It’s also the most common language for native English speakers to learn.
All of this means that Spanish is the go-to language for language learning apps and programs. It also means there is no shortage of native speakers to teach you. In fact, online tutoring sites like Preply have more English to Spanish teachers than any other language option.
Spanish-speaking countries have also produced some fantastic films, TV shows, and novels. This can make a massive difference to the language learning process and will help you to get over the plateaus that often occur during those intermediate stages.
Latin Alphabet and Cognates
Spanish is one of the romance languages, which means it is descended from Latin and has a lot in common with Italian, French, and Romanian, among others.
English is a Germanic language, so it’s part of a different language tree. However, English is a bit of a melting pot when it comes to language as it has borrowed a lot of words from the romance and Hellenic trees, as well as the Germanic ones. Spanish has also been influenced by Germanic languages.
As a result, there are a number of Spanish words that are basically the same as English. These include cancer, chocolate, actor, doctor, radio, religion, and taxi.
It gives you a head start on your Spanish vocabulary before you even pick up your first phrase book.
Spanish and English also use the same alphabet. Until you’ve tried to learn languages like Greek, Arabic, and Mandarin, you can’t truly appreciate how helpful this is.
Grammar Rules
Spanish grammar is relatively straightforward when compared to other foreign languages. Nouns only have two genders and they are easy to distinguish.
The word order is the same as in English and you can form questions using intonation alone.
Why is Spanish Difficult to Learn?
Although Spanish can be easy to learn for English speakers, there are also a few things that might make it difficult:
- Learning a language is not easy
- Your motive needs to make sense
- There are many dialects
Learning a Language is Tough
Whether you’re learning Spanish, Mandarin, Old English, or Esperanto, it’s never easy or straightforward.
There are lots of courses and apps out there that claim you can reach fluency in just a few weeks or months. But that’s just not possible. You can attain conversational competency within that time, but true Spanish fluency takes years.
Throughout that time, you need to study hard and truly devote yourself to the language. You’re not going to reach fluency by watching a weekly podcast or spending a few minutes on Duolingo.
You Shouldn’t Learn Spanish Just Because It’s Easy
If you’re learning Spanish because you’ve heard it’s the easiest language, you’re going about it all wrong.
Learning a language takes months, if not years. It’s hard to stay motivated throughout that time if your only motivation is, “I thought it was easy”.
There are Many Dialects
Spanish is an official language in 20 countries. The language is pretty much the same throughout all of these nations, but there can be sizeable differences between a few of them.
For instance, the differences between Mexico and Spain are so great that many language apps have separate courses for both of these options.
Making Spanish Easier for English Speakers
There are a few things you can do to make learning Spanish as easy as possible:
Find What You’re Good At
Some learners prefer audio and visual learning, others find they work best when talking. All of these methods are successful, but the issue is that you don’t always devote equal attention to them.
If you’re not much of a reader, you may find yourself switching off when reading textbooks. If you only listen to audio courses when you’re on your commute, you might not be as vocal and receptive as you need to be.
Try a few different methods and find the one that works best for you.
Immerse Yourself
The more that you can immerse yourself in the language, the better.
Find Spanish speakers to chat with. Listen to podcasts. Watch films. If you can afford it, take a trip to a Spanish-speaking country and chat with the locals.
Speak Spanish Confidently
Many new language learners refrain from talking in their target language because they’re worried they will make a fool of themselves. But that’s what learning is all about.
Native speakers won’t mock you for trying and failing. More often than not, they will be patient with you and happy to help.
Speak Little and Often
If you can only spare a couple of hours a week, do 20 to 25 minutes a day rather than 2 hours every Saturday night. It’s better to practice little and often than to cram everything in a single session.
Don’t Get Deterred
Everyone goes at their own pace and as long as you keep practicing, you will get there eventually.
Don’t get deterred by your apparent lack of progress, and don’t let YouTube polyglots mislead you into thinking you must be doing something wrong.
Many “polyglots” just learn basic phrases, repeat them until they are committed to memory, and then move on to a new language. It means they can claim to speak over 30 languages while only ever learning the most basic things.
As for the genuine polyglots (and they definitely exist), they reach that level of comprehension because they devote all of their time to language learning.
If you’re practicing for 20 minutes a day and have no prior language learning experience, it doesn’t make much sense to compare yourself to someone who studies 5+ hours a day, speaks 10+ languages, and has been learning for over 20 years.