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How to learn Spanish

fast and effectively

without wasting time

Many “old” teaching styles still heavily rely on cramming vocabularies.

However, this has been proven to be an ineffective learning style.

Alternatives are the usage of pictures and associations as memory

triggers and the unique Birkenbihl approach.

Click here to learn more about how to learn Spanish fast and effectively

by using the Birkenbihl method.

Brought to you by Bizzons eMarketing GmbH Visit us at www.birkenbihl-sprachen.com

You aim to achieve competency in another language quickly, but are still searching for the

perfect learning technique? If your goal is to learn Spanish fast, you should not waste time

on contemplating about different techniques which would not help you to attain your goal.

If you are pushed for time, you should use every moment to actually learn.

As time is critical, do not spend a minute on cramming Spanish vocabularies the “old” way.

The “old” way means simply studying from a vocabulary list. This approach is boring, it takes

a lot of time, and it will not help you achieving your objective – to speak Spanish. The

problem with studying vocabularies by hard from a list is that the learner cannot use or

recognize the word in another context. In the end the learner tries to translate every single

word from Spanish to the mother tongue and the other way round. This takes time. While it

might work when writing in Spanish, this will definitely not work when trying to understand

or speak Spanish.

If you do not want to waste time, start learning Spanish now – with these simple

techniques. Depending on you, you might use a combined learning method or only one of

them.

Pictures and associations as memory triggers

Research suggests that we do not forget what our brain sees. Therefore it makes sense to

imagine a situation or picture when learning a word or phrase.

For example you want to learn “hombre”. Imagine a man running down the street in the

rain, holding an umbrella (umbrella sounds like “hombre”) in his hands. Now you already

know the word “hombre”, and you will probably never forget the picture of the running

man again.

However, there is also a drawback of the use of mental pictures: it takes a long time to

come up with stories around every single word you want to learn. Therefore it is essential to

learn also other words that appear in the story. In the example above you might also learn

words like “el paraguas” (umbrella), correr (running), la lluvia (rain), la calle (street) or

simple sentences, such as “el hombre corre” (the man runs), está lloviendo (it is raining).

With this example, which is not complete yet, you can see that you will learn countless

words and phrases with only one picture. By the way, you learn grammar as well. In

addition, you learn the words in context, which helps you to recall and recognize the

learned words later in another context.

One thing is important: Do not feel stupid because of your funny pictures and stories. The

funnier, the sillier, the crazier, the more visionary and adventurous the better! We tend to

remember silly things even easier.

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Summarized, this Spanish learning technique combines different ways to remember

vocabularies as well as grammar – with mental pictures, associations to a situation,

associations to the sound in another language and learning in context.

Learning by listening: The Birkenbihl method

An alternative to learn a language quickly is the method of decoding, active listening and

passive listening, called the Birkenbihl method. This method is based on the subconscious.

Our brain stores neural pathways for acoustic patterns. This is the same concept a child uses

when it learns the mother tongue.

At the beginning you translate a Spanish text word-for-word into your mother tongue, called

de-coding. The aim of this learning method is to recognize and recall foreign words without

studying vocabularies by hard. Furthermore, the learner should be able to use the learned

words in different contexts.

After translating the text you can move on to active listening. This means to listen to the

text while you simultaneously read the translated text into your mother tongue. You will get

used to the rhythm and melody of speech very quickly. The best way would be to find a

Spanish native speaker who records the spoken text for you, as you should listen to the

correct pronunciation. In the case you don´t know any native speaker, it is possible to use

the text of a movie or part of a radio program.

As soon as you understand the foreign text well, you listen passively. At this point you listen

to the Spanish text while you concentrate on other tasks in your daily life. Your

subconscious learn for you while you are on the bus, while you are cooking, while you enjoy

a bath or even while you read a newspaper. Turn down the volume so that you are not

disturbed in working on your main task. However, the voice should not be loud enough. The

subconscious prepares you to speak the new language afterwards.

After passive listening it is your task to strengthen your Spanish skills. You may decode

another Spanish text, listen to Spanish Radio, watch a Spanish movie or go on vacation to a

Spanish-speaking country.

There is even computerized language learning software that is based on the Birkenbihl

method. Different language programs for PC and MAC are offered by Birkenbihl-Sprachen,

for example.

Use one of the learning methods described and you will speak Spanish within a few weeks.

Try it – you will be amazed.

Click here to learn more about how to learn Spanish fast and effectively

by using the Birkenbihl method.