1. Keep It Simple
Learn one thing at a time.
A daily routine of reading (out loud), listening, and speaking is great — but when it comes to focused study time, pick one thing and stick with it. For example, learn how to use querer (to want) in different ways and contexts before moving on. Don’t try to learn five verbs at once. Go deep on one.
2. Don’t Try to Be Perfect
Aiming for perfection will slow you down.
Get 50–70% of the way there and move on. You’ll continue to reinforce what you’ve already learned as you keep going. The goal is familiarity, not mastery. Once you feel comfortable with the basic forms of querer, move on to poder (to be able to). You’ll revisit and deepen your understanding naturally over time.
3. Limit Your Resources
More resources is not better — more focus is better.
Pick about five good resources and commit to getting everything you can out of them. Constantly jumping to new resources leads to information overload and poor retention. Stick with what you have for at least a year.
Here’s what I recommend, one of each:
A Bible in English and Spanish (with audio)
Get a bilingual Bible alongside an audio version of the Spanish Bible. Having the text in both languages helps you see and hear Spanish in a familiar context. I count these together as one resource.
A Good Reference Book
Find one solid grammar or reference book and commit to it. I use A New Reference Grammar of Modern Spanish — it’s a dictionary/encyclopedia-style reference that you can return to again and again. Whatever you choose, pick one and stick with it.
These are unaffiliated links - I get nothing from them:
A New Reference Grammar of Modern Spanish (Routledge Reference Grammars)
Madrigal’s Magic Key to Spanish: A Creative and Proven Approach - I don’t have it, but I keep hearing it come up as a great place for beginners to start
A Good Teacher
Find someone you can follow consistently for at least a year — an in-person tutor or a YouTube channel you trust. As a beginner, you’ll learn a lot from almost any decent teacher, so don’t let the search for the “perfect” one keep you from starting. What matters is consistency: take notes, re-watch lessons, and don’t hop around. I signed up for the Qroo Paul Spanish course and highly recommend it.
A Practice and Memorization Tool
This could be flashcards, post-it notes, an app, or any other tool that helps you practice and retain vocabulary. I use Anki.
My quick tutorial on how to import my decks
A Patient Helper
Find someone who speaks Spanish and is willing to walk through this process with you. You’re going to have questions. You’re going to need someone to tell you “nobody actually says it that way.” You’re going to need to practice speaking and bounce ideas off someone. A good helper will also keep you motivated. We can do this for each other — but it helps to have one person who has agreed to be there for you consistently. (And don’t forget to show them your appreciation.)
If you find one of each of these and stick with them for a year, you will be far ahead of anyone who just bounces between books, binges YouTube, and plays Duolingo like a game.