Spanish

We have always say to our students: Spanish is Easy! Spanish is one of the languages easy to learn for English Speakers:

• The Spanish Alphabet is a very good example of how easy is the Spanish pronunciation. For example, the vowels: a, e, i, o, u. They have only one sound and it is the same everywhere in the word: at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of the word.
• Both languages, Spanish and English have many similar words. They are called: cognates. That means they have the same form and meaning. For example: cafeteria (English), cafetería (Spanish); hospital (English), hospital (Spanish); bar (English), bar (Spanish).
• Both languages have similar sentence structure, giving the English Speaker a ‘more familiar feeling when listening and speaking Spanish’

It is important to mention that Spanish has more verb conjugations than English, and this can be a little more challenging for the learner.

Each person has a different and unique motivation to learn Spanish as a Second Language. Therefore, each student’s progress is different. We have had all kind of students. Some students have reached fluency in 7- 8 months, others in a year or more. It all depends on the time you put into the process of acquiring Spanish as your Second Language.

However, we want to make a quick reference to what the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) states about learning languages in general. FSI classifies the Spanish language in their Category number 1. This means it takes about 23 to 24 weeks (over six months) spending around 3 hours per day learning Spanish.

Some say that if you spend an average of one hour per day you could be reaching fluency in about eight months to a year.