Your Daily Spanish Coach

25. Some Spanish words need more work than others

Do you have a long list of Spanish vocabulary to learn, but no plan of attack for how to study it? Some Spanish words need a lot more practice than others. Here's a tip f

24. You knew every word. Why didn't you catch the meaning?

You hear a Spanish sentence, you (theoretically) "know" every word... and you still have no idea what you just heard. That isn't a sign your brain is slow. Every human br

23. How to make a confusing Spanish rule finally make sense

You understand a Spanish rule perfectly on paper, but it still falls apart in a conversation? Fluent Spanish speakers don't use lists of rules! And you shouldn't either.

22. Is translating in your head a bad habit?

You may have been told if you translate from English in your head, you're practicing Spanish wrong. That's just not true. Every adult learner makes use of their first lan

21: How to prepare for a Spanish conversation that you're about to have

Conversations don't follow scripts! You might prepare a few things to say in Spanish, but then the conversation will go somewhere you didn't plan for. Here's how to pract

20: Don't learn faster. Learn deeper.

Are you frustrated that you aren't learning Spanish words fast enough? Maybe you're using the wrong measure. Here's an argument for focusing on learning more deeply inste

19: Fix your Spanish comprehension with a pre-listening routine

Have you listened to Spanish every day for months, only to find your comprehension hasn't gotten any better? Maybe you need to give your brain something to grab onto. Her

18: How to think of verb conjugations faster

You can recite a verb's conjugations from your notebook, but you can't think of the right one in the moment of a conversation? Maybe you should stop using lists. Instead,

17: 3 steps to plan a whole month of Spanish

Have you ever sat down to study Spanish, but then spent the first ten minutes deciding what to work on? Planning and studying are two different jobs, so let's separate th

16: How to make real progress without moving abroad

If only you could just "immerse" yourself in Spanish, that would fix everything! …Right? Maybe not. Hundreds of our students have tried this. But it turns out that being

15: Practice using your new Spanish words

You've learned new Spanish words, you've reviewed them, but they don't want to flow in conversation? Here's a fun way to turn a simple creative writing project into Spani

14: How to sound like the Spanish speakers you know

Copying a Spanish speaker you know is a good way to build an accent, but you might sometimes feel like a parrot. Here are some techniques for developing your own Spanish

13: Are memory tricks a waste of time?

If you're using memory tricks to remember Spanish words, you might wonder whether they're getting in the way of a real conversation. Mnemonics are meant to work as scaffo

12: Go do something easy in Spanish

Serious Spanish learners have a way of spending most of their time working on their weakest areas. That's generally a good approach… but don't burn yourself out! Here's a

11: Go blank when speaking Spanish? Let's fix that

You know the Spanish word perfectly… until the moment you need to say it out loud? It's one thing to "know" a word because you can recognize it on a test. It's another th

10: What are the next 10 Spanish words you should learn?

Which Spanish words should you learn next? Probably not what you think! Here's why your gut feeling will probably tell you to learn the wrong words, and the data-driven m

9: How to make sense of crazy-sounding Spanish phrases

Some Spanish sentences just sound like a bunch of garbled sounds. Here's how you can turn the tables by making sense of Spanish phrases, giving them meaning, and reprogra

8: How to learn long, complicated Spanish words

Some Spanish words refuse to stick in your memory, and you have to keep looking them up. That doesn't mean there's something wrong with your memory! Here's a trick you ca

7: Why the "boring" parts of Spanish are actually the most exciting

Some Spanish words and phrases feel boring; "lo que" and "por eso" don't really jump off the page. But here's why you should focus on these tiny, "boring" words that fall

6: Turn one new Spanish phrase into six new phrases

A memorized Spanish phrase can feel like a dead end, since you're unlikely to ever need that exact sentence again. But it doesn't have to be a script; instead, you can th