How Hard Will I Have To Work?

In order to keep up with such an accelerated schedule, you’ll have to put in an absolute minimum of one hour per day, every day, no exceptions.  Yes, this includes weekends and holidays.  If you don’t consider yourself to be “good” with languages, you might even have to put in closer to two hours per day.  It sounds like a lot, and it is, but you’ll get out of it what you put in.  Just think of the sense of accomplishment you’ll have when you’re able to discuss current events with the natives in South America barely three months from now!

How Much Will I Have To Spend?

I’m not going to lie, you’re going to have to spend some money if you want to learn this quickly.  The gold standard would be to travel to a Spanish-speaking country and hire a private tutor for three months.  While this would undoubtedly be the most effective way to learn, I’m going to assume most of you have neither the money nor the time off work to do something like that (I sure don’t!).  If you can swing it, I can unhesitatingly say you should go for it.

The less-well-connected among us will need an effective substitute for in-country learning.  Once again, I find myself coming back to my two favorite learning programs:  Pimsleur and Rosetta Stone.  All three levels of Pimsleur can be purchased for around $300-350 total from Amazon and you can pick up Rosetta Stone used for around $450.  If you can’t afford to spend more than $100, you should check out FSI Spanish.  It’s not quite as effective as Pimsleur or Rosetta Stone, in my opinion, but in terms of bang-for-the-buck it’s quite a bargain.

Additionally, you’ll need two excellent (but very inexpensive) grammar books that come highly recommended and a set of vocabulary cards.  Altogether, you can expect to spend anywhere from $100-$550 depending on which route you want to take.  If it were me, I’d go with the most expensive package that includes Rosetta Stone because I’m a visible learner.  Aural learners will probably want to go with the all-audio Pimsleur program.  FSI will suffice if you’re on a budget, but the more you spend upfront, the quicker you’ll learn.  FSI is very effective, but it’s boring and can be quite a headache to deal with.

Are There Any Other Tools I’ll Need?

Yes, there are two excellent grammar books I think you absolutely can’t go without:  Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Verb Tenses and Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Pronouns And Prepositions, both by Dorothy Richmond.  These are by far the best two Spanish grammar books on the market and cost a measly $8 each.

You’ll also need a set of good Spanish vocabulary cards.  There are plenty to choose from, but pretty much any set out there will do because they mostly contain the same common words.  I’ve used Modern Spanish: Bilingual Vocabulary Cards and I don’t have anything bad to say about this particular set.

How Do I Do It?

Once you’ve got your tools, the methodology is simple.

• Start Your Flagship Program – Whether you chose Pimsleur, Rosetta Stone, or FSI, start working through your chosen program for between 30 minutes to an hour-and-a-half per day.  Some days will probably be longer than others.  If you’re working with Rosetta Stone or Pimsleur, each level will take you approximately 30 days to complete, give or take a few days.  With FSI, each of the two levels will take more like 45 days to complete.  It is important to make sure you completely master each section before moving on.  If you rush through a unit without really understanding it, you’ll only impede your progress later on.
• Practice Makes Perfect – Methodically work your way through both of the Practice Makes Perfect grammar workbooks for approximately 15-30 minutes every day after completing work on your flagship program for the day.  While the above programs will teach you to listen and speak, they won’t teach you much in the way of grammar.  That’s where these workbooks come in.  Working 15-30 minutes per day on these workbooks will put you on course to finish right around the 100 day mark.  Personally, I’d start with the Verb Tenses book but that’s totally up to you.
• Learn 10 New Vocabulary Words Per Day – Since the 1000 most common Spanish words make up approximately 80% of everyday speech, its imperative that you ramp up your vocabulary as quickly as possible.  Following my tips for learning Spanish vocabulary, you should find this task relatively eash to accomplish.  As little as 15-20 minutes scattered throughout the day should be more than adequate to learn 10 new words most days.

Rinse And Repeat

If you follow my advice and work consistently for 1-2 hours each and every day, you’ll find it’s much easier than you think to reach your goals.  Once you’ve succeeded, the most important thing is to keep working towards fluency.  If you take a break to reward yourself for a job well done, you risk losing motivation and never starting again.  Keep at it and good luck!