Is learning Spanish hard?

It's one of the most common questions (and doubts) we get at Rype. In addition to answering this privately, we decided to create an article for others who may also be asking this question.The answer is certainly not a black or white response. There are many factors to take into account that will vary from person to person. Here are 3 main factors to consider.
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Is Learning Spanish Hard? 3 Factors to Consider First

What foreign languages you already speak

Just like our own family tree heritage, languages have evolved over thousands of years. Starting with a few languages, new branches have sprouted over time to create their own individual language families.

Spanish belongs to the 'Romance' language family, along with Italian, Portuguese, French, and more. If you go back further, you'll notice that it also belongs in the European branch along with Germanic, Slavic, and Celtic languages.

This is why learning Portuguese or Italian becomes a lot easier when you already speak Spanish, and vice versa. These languages share similar grammar rules, sentence structures, and thousands of words that save you hundreds of learning hours.

Think about learning how to play rugby after playing football for many years, versus learning baseball. Rugby and football share similar rules, body size requirements, and intensity, that make it easier to transition than baseball. Therefore, if you can already speak a 'Romance' language, learning Spanish will be much easier for you.

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How fluent do you want to be in Spanish

Do you want to become as fluent as a native Spanish speaker? Or do you just want to be conversation proficient. Like many skills we acquire in life, becoming the top 10% Spanish speaker is significantly easier than becoming the top 1%.

For example, learning how to swim for overall fitness purposes is significantly easier than trying to become a professional swimmer.If your goal is just to hold a conversation with a native speaker, then you'll face a diminished return of your efforts once you reach a basic level. This is why it's important to ask: 'Why are you learning Spanish?'

Why are you learning Spanish?

Is it to travel the world and speak with locals there? Perhaps it's to explore new career opportunities that may require you to speak Spanish. Or it's to pass an exam that your job requires to receive a promotion.

While most people are interested in improving their speaking (oral) skills, some simply want to improve their grammar and writing skills. The exact timeline to master Spanish speaking, writing, reading, and listening skills may vary from person to person. And each skillset presents its own difficulties.

With that said, Spanish is recognized as one of the easiest languages to learn for English speakers. Despite the fact that these languages come from different language families (English: Germanic; Spanish: Romance), they share many similarities.
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5 Essential Tips to Make Learning Spanish Easier

To help you get started, we'll share some simple Spanish learning tips and tactics with you.
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1. Schedule your learning time

As it applies to learning any skill, the specific tactics you know doesn't matter if you don't carve out the time to implement them. Time is the most important commodity for all of us.

This is why scheduling your Spanish learning time is crucial to your success and for gaining momentum. When you first get started, we recommend a daily practice to build a habit. It could be as little as 15 or 30 minutes. If learning everyday feels overwhelming for you, we recommend maintaining a consistent schedule instead of binge learning. This could be Monday, Wednesday, Friday at a specific time of the day that you're free.

You can use a free calendar online such as Google Calendar, Outlook, or iCal, and even set up notifications to remind you of your learning schedule.Here are the links to these calendars:

‍a. Google Calendar (most recommended)-CalenMob (iPhone)-CalenMob (Android)b. Outlook Calendar
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2. Immerse yourself in a Spanish setting

As technology and communication tools take over more and more of our attention span, immersing ourselves in Spanish becomes easier.With a tap of a button, we can start absorbing content in Spanish through social media, articles online, and the entertainment we consume. Here are a few practical examples you can use:

‍a. Change your social media (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) language to Spanish
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b. Start posting content on social media using just Spanish or as a translation to your native language
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c. Watch movies or TV shows in Spanish (i.e. Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, HBO)
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3. Learn 1,000 most common words in Spanish

Studies have shown that learning 1,00 of the most common words in Spanish will familiarize you with 85%+ of the language. In hindsight, this makes sense because we often use only a fraction of the vocabulary we're aware of in our everyday conversations.

Think about the last time you used the word aardvark or another complicated word when you're having a conversation with a buddy (unless you're at a zoo). As a rule of thumb, you should prioritize learning anything that you will use repeatedly, rather than rare one-off information.

Check out our free language challenge, where we email you 10 of the most common words in 100 days.
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4. Become familiar with Spanish cognates

Think of Spanish cognates like your best friend. In short, cognates are 'borrowed words' that are similar or same as another language. Since both Spanish and English are latin languages, they have borrowed words from its latin roots.This means that as long as you know the basic rules of English-Spanish cognates, you've just acquired over a thousand new words in Spanish. Here are some basic rules you should know translating from English to Spanish cognates.

‍Rule #1. Words that end in -al = same in Spanish

‍Example: Hospital (English) = Hospital (Spanish)

‍Rule #2. Words that end in -ous = -oso in Spanish

‍Example: Curious (English) = Curioso (Spanish)

‍Rule #3. Words that end in -ct = -cto in Spanish

‍Example: Exact (English) = Exacto (Spanish)

‍Rule #4.  Words that end in -ence = -encia in Spanish

‍Example: Cadence (English) = Cadencia (Spanish)

‍Rule #5.  Words that end in -ar = same in Spanish

‍Example: Familiar (English) = Familiar (Spanish)Are you starting to see the power of mastering cognates? All you have to do is take the time to learn the basic rules, and you're set!To learn more about Spanish cognates, check out this article.
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5. Find a teacher or accountability partner

Achieving any goal becomes easier when you have someone to guide you through the journey. This could be a mentor if you're in business, a coach if you're an athlete, and a teacher when you're learning a language.

In fact, it's a necessity to work with a real person when you're learning a language because you need someone to practice speaking with. In most cases, you'll want to work with a professional who can give you the right feedback, guidance, and resources to accelerate your skills.

You can find an accountability partner within your social circle, or find a professional language teacher on Rype to work with.

Hope you enjoyed this post. If you're still asking: "Is learning Spanish hard?", check out these follow-up resources as the next step.