How I learned Spanish in Less than Two Years

Why I wanted to learn Spanish

Growing up, I was always the kid who would check out Muzzy videotapes from the local library and try and learn a new language. I was always fascinated when someone spoke a different language than I, and I was dying to learn. Sadly, while I was in grade school, my school district traded Spanish lessons for more Science, making it impossible for me to learn. In Highschool, I was homeschooled, and let’s just say, Rosetta Stone and Duolingo can only teach you so much vocabulary. And then I moved to Spain for what was supposed to be eight months, but I got sick, sprained my ankle and both of my wrists, and quite frankly, I was not quite ready to be living in a foreign country, but there ensued my deep passion for learning Spanish, by any means possible.

Spanish in College didn’t help

When I came back to the United States, I took Spanish classes in college, and let me tell you, I don’t hate academics, but I strongly dislike them. They can be ridged and all about rules and perfection, and although all languages have rules and a right way to go about them, starting out with those rules versus creating an environment of discovery and interest in the language demotivated me and made it, so I didn’t learn all that much, only “esa es mas que esta”

I moved to Mexico

In 2018, I took an opportunity to go to Mexico for a Missionary training course hosted by YWAM Mazatlan. The best part about this course was that it was in both English and Spanish. Whatever was said in English was translated into Spanish, and whatever was said in Spanish was translated into English. This gave me an idea of what words meant because I could make connections in my mind as I listened to the translation.

I surrounded myself with friends who speak Spanish.

It was effortless to only congregate with English Speakers during our social hours; however, I found that it wasn’t beneficial to me in my act of learning Spanish. By this point, my love for the Spanish language had increased immensely, and I had a BURNING desire to speak to the locals at the beach. So, I did my best to make friends who only spoke Spanish to me. Was it hard? HECK YEAH. Did it help? Absolutely!

No fear of man

There is a story my friend Rodrigo told me when we were in Colombia together about an instance of him noticing my efforts of learning Spanish. We were at dinner, and I stood up to ask a question, and instead of asking it in English, I asked it in my broken gringa Spanish. He said, “She could have just said that in English but she said it in Spanish?” and my friend Lia replied something along the lines of “I know, I love it.” I didn’t care if I said anything wrong; in fact, some might say I was oblivious to the fact that my Spanish was HORRIBLE, but I kept chugging on.

Lots of Prayer

Mind you, besides knowing Jesus better, speaking Spanish was my DEEPEST desire. So I prayed for it…. A lot. I still pray for it. I pray for understanding, and I pray I don’t lose my ability to speak it.

I only watched shows and movies in Spanish

I love living in an age where almost everything has a translated audio version. Whenever I was in the states to renew my visa, instead of catching up with my favorite shows in English, I switched my Netflix to Spanish to help grow my vocabulary. This proved invaluable as it opened up the ability to understand new topics and phrases that were not generally heard at the base, allowing me to have different conversations with locals here in Texas, there in Mexico, or in Spain.

Super Holly on Youtube

When I first started learning Spanish, I would look up tutorials on youtube. And that is when I came across Super Holly’s Youtube. It started out with me watching her tutorials in English, but as I learned more, I watched every single one of her tutorials in Spanish. Yes, even the ones of her explaining to Spanish speakers how to speak my own language. Her channel has been one of the best resources I have come across in my time of learning Spanish, and I am so grateful to her.

Practice, practice, practice

I practiced a lot. I pretended to have conversations in the shower when I was walking on the beach, when I was cleaning the dorm room, and when I ran into complete strangers who spoke Spanish. I practiced, I still do, and even though I don’t live in Spanish Speaking countries anymore, I can still speak and translate from Spanish to English and English to Spanish when asked. In fact, a bunch of the weddings I photograph are in Spanish and English! Cool huh?

Until next time,

Annie Shannon

Bilingual Destination Wedding Photographer based in DFW Texas