How I learned Spanish in less than a year FAST (self taught)

Curious about how I learned Spanish in less than a year fast? Yes I am self taught, and no it isn't as black and white as it seems. How I learned Spanish still required a lot of work, and even though I learned Spanish fast, it didn't lead to all positive results. Watch till the end of the video to see how I accomplished this self taught, as well as a pep talk for if you already think this isn't possible for you.
Remember, your language learning story matters, no matter where you are in your journey. Be kind and vulnerable, and always cultivate the wonderful human you are behind the languages you speak.
Write me down in the comments how you learned Spanish and if you were also self taught, or chose the classroom/course route. Make sure to check out my other socials where you get to see even more content from me below!
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[@languagetraveladoptee]

→ Become more authentically YOU in your languages to end the frustration and stress (and, finally feel more calm, confident, and proud about your progress!). Work with me in my deep dive workshops that offer a more sustainable, therapeutic, and holistic approach to learning. Join the waitlist to know when I’m hosting the next one: language-travel-adoptee.ck.page/c9877e34c8 → Join the WAITLIST for the Mindful Multilinguals Collective, my signature group coaching program to go from stuck and frustrated to calm, confident, and finding joy and clarity learning multiple languages: language-travel-adoptee.ck.page/f55e614c79 Soothe negative self talk in your language studies: language-travel-adoptee.ck.page/c041cf7833

[@Countrygirl8019]

Thank you for this video I love this I’m a 40 year old African-American and I went into healthcare as a medical assistant and quickly learned in the state of California. If you don’t know Spanish in my career, you can’t get a job easily. I started practicing Spanish believe it or not a lot of Hispanics laughed at me. I was very discouraged, but I decided to keep pushing and hired a tutor. It was affordable I had to cut down on my spending to pay for it but I am still learning. I am in month three and I’m very determined. So far I’m starting to understand what people are saying, even though I don’t speak it yet.

[@languagetraveladoptee]

Way to go for your perseverance and resilience--I'm glad no one deterred you from continuing with the language, everything else will fall into place one way or another!

[@Topsealguy]

That’s the issue with Mexicans

[@RGMyers24]

I am sorry for that bad experience. En todos lados hay Pendejos. Keep up the good work. I'm Venezuelan, I teach English and now I'm learning other languages. It's never too late and we set the limits for ourselves. Buena suerte!

[@kaseyfrankle]

I started learning at 41! It’s such a fun journey! Keep at it. It gets better!

[@sojourningteddybear6838]

I’m 39 and am also learning! I moved to Miami 3 years ago and have been studying about two months. I make my new friends speak with me AND my students. 😆 Start speaking ASAP. I speak better than I hear, but they’re both increasing FAST! Keep me posted please! I’m so glad I’m not the only one!!!!❤

[@lynntfuzz]

Your time in Germany sounds like a dream- 3 days of classes and 4 days of travel, lots of friends who spoke Spanish. What an amazing experience! Sign me up!!!

[@languagetraveladoptee]

Definitely an experience to treasure!

[@joreneelanguages]

Great video, I really appreciate your honesty and this perspective that is so rare online!

[@languagetraveladoptee]

Of course, I'm glad you enjoyed! There's so much that went into it behind the scenes, I'm committed to being transparent about it!

[@adventureswithmadison]

This is a really well done video! i took notes to apply to my own studies, haha. I want to say that I love seeing your video quality improve since I subscribed late last year. Good job! I also love how you were honest at the end. I watch a lot of these videos because I simply enjoy listening to others speak about their journey to learn a language, and so many of them ignore the possible "privileges" they might have had during their time learning.

[@languagetraveladoptee]

Thanks so much for your feedback! I am consciously working on how I can make my videos a better experience for my viewers and really planning to amp it up this year, though trying to be transparent about my experiences even as I talk about popular topics in the language niches online. Expect more to come very soon😀

[@autumnteacozy]

Another good video! I love hearing your stories of your language journey. And while I didn't have the same privileges and experiences as you, I still think the info you gave was valuable 😊 It's an interesting topic though. Learning in a pre-covid world vs. a post-covid world and what that did to language learning. Along with dealing with mental health, trauma, a full time job, etc.

[@languagetraveladoptee]

I'm glad you found it helpful for you! There's definitely such a difference, it amazes me how fast things have changed, I can't think about it too long😅

[@kiddmode]

This has got to be the greatest overall language learning video I’ve ever seen. Thank you for making it, it was very informative and will definitely help me in my journey. :)

[@languagetraveladoptee]

That's so much for your feedback! I'm glad it's helping you ☺️

[@zachariahtatman7381]

Wow great video! Its really awesome to see your videos getting cleaner, and editing getting better! I can tell you are improving! Also I love the mention of "language laddering"! I have never heard of that concept before and I would love to see a video on that topic explaining maybe what it is in more depth and to see an example of you using it! Also just a thought but I would love to see a "Key Takeaways" bullet point list or section lol, the information you cover is so valuable! but I get kind of overwhelmed by all the possible ways to learn 😅😅😅 A most important points graphic on the video would make it easier to digest the most valuable key points. As always AMAZING WORK EMILY!!! So proud to see your growing! 💪

[@languagetraveladoptee]

Thank you Zach! this is a great topic I can cover for another video, for sure. A list is also a great recommendation, I will need to add those to future videos as I go. I really appreciate the feedback :)

[@GypsieSeeker]

I’m glad you were able to work so consistently on Spanish to have those great results! I took Spanish in high school because I thought it was the “most useful” language but never really got into it. Even now it would be one of the relatively easier languages for me to become fluent in, but no way am I going back 😂 maybe a different Spanish language one day, like Galician 😇

[@languagetraveladoptee]

High school experiences with languages seem have not been very impactful for many language learners I'm hearing from, same for me but with French for the longest time! And so true, sometimes certain languages will just never "click" with us, and that's ok! Btw Galician would be super cool to learn, in the future I definitely want to branch out into these kinds of languages too🤩

[@Yihwa_W]

I appreciate your honesty about the significance of time and effort in language learning and can relate to some of your points. I enrolled in a language program in South Korea for one year. Within that year, I was able to pass the Test of Proficiency in Korean (TOPIK) II level 5 (second highest level). After being constantly praised by teachers, native speakers and friends, I stopped saying how long I had been studying Korean and just said "for a while". Because it felt somehwhat fake. Yes, I learned the language super fast, but I am also a Mandarin speaker, which turned out to be an advantage, and I did nothing but learn Korean for a whole year, living in the country and using Korean all day at school and after school. I'm not a language learning genius, I just spent a good 2000+ hours learning the language in that one year and another probably 1000+ hours using and consuming it.However, the greatest struggle was exactly what you mentioned. When I started another language after Korean, I felt so pressured and stressed because now I could only actively study for about an hour a day and maybe 30 minutes passively listening to the language. After having such great success with Korean, I experienced the opposite with this new language and eventually had to give it up for mental health reason. It took me another 2 years to develop a healthy expectation for myself, and then I started with a completely different language and set myself the rule of learning no more than 1 hour a day. Fortunately, that worked. I am not a language learner, but a person with diverse interests who also happens to enjoy learning languages.

[@languagetraveladoptee]

Indeed! Thanks so much for sharing your story, I really resonate with it. Transparency for me is key, especially because I know I'm not the only one feeling how I do in these kinds of vids!

[@sheeliekittie9298]

btw, i know you're a busy bee already =) but, do consider going back to portuguese! it would be so interesting to see a video about the similarities and differences among the romance languages, what's similar, what's not. for some reason i never confuse french with spanish, but omg, i speak portuguese when i WANT to speak spanish and vice versa all the time. as you're also someone who comprehends the grammar and how this is important when building a relationship with a language. i would be interested to know your thoughts on how we can better keep track of all these crazy past tenses!

[@languagetraveladoptee]

I'd love to get more Portuguese in! I'd like to pass language proficiency exams first though in Italian, Spanish, and French first to get the differences straightened out. But it's definitely on my list! The past tenses are definitely something else, I understand them passively but definitely don't use all of them actively!

[@sheeliekittie9298]

@@languagetraveladoptee that sounds like a good plan, to clarify your levels and where you're at with the other romance languages. I also felt due to Latin's influence especially with Italian more than other romance languages, Italian grammar can get VERY challenging when going more in depth. Do you feel language exams are good, in order to know what level we are at? How do you find these exams and/or where do you go to take them? I find there are so many online ,but i'm not sure how reputable they are. many seem to be very generalized so I'm assuming for example if I really want to know my proficiency with Spanish or Portuguese, it's best to find something more professional for an exam?

[@Countrygirl8019]

I use coursera from UC Davis it’s great!

[@languagetraveladoptee]

coursera is amazing!

[@sheeliekittie9298]

creo que eso es la verdad para mi - solo en mi opinion, espanol es mi idioma preferida, no ce, pero mi relaccion es muy especial y ah, para decir verdad me encanta!! ^.^

[@languagetraveladoptee]

me alegra de que lo hayas aprendido! :)

[@seriesaddict441]

​@@languagetraveladoptee​ *me alegra que lo hayas aprendido. No necesitas la preposición "de" aquí. Si dijeras "me alegro de que lo hayas aprendido" entonces podrías usarlo. Saludos! Soy de Azerbaiyán. Vengo del vídeo de Julio Graner 😊

[@languagetraveladoptee]

@@seriesaddict441 muchas gracias! Tiene sentido lo que dices. Mucho gusto🖐🏼

[@gs99_]

Which is your language resource guide?

[@languagetraveladoptee]

here it is!: language-travel-adoptee.ck.page/a3eed98a84

[@martinablee4471]

Where can I get the guide?

[@languagetraveladoptee]

here it is: language-travel-adoptee.ck.page/a3eed98a84

[@ethomas6385]

What was your major in college

[@languagetraveladoptee]

German Language and Literature!

[@VivasPuertorriquenos]

Why is “yo caminado” is wrong and “yo caminé” correct I understand some verbs like “hablar” for instance “I speaked” is wrong but I still don’t get why it is a big deal I have looked at all sorts of literature and it still doesn’t satisfy me when they either say “it’s the Spanish language and not English” or “it doesn’t provide the complete idea or context” when it clearly does like the shortest sentence in the world “Jesus Wept.” It conveys the idea of -ed in the -t suffix I am being critical because it is frustrating when I can see that it could be done and simplify the language but no I have to be given unconvincing arguments I am just asking a critical question is that bad.

[@ryanbailey44]

Caminado, hablado, tomado, ect are the past participles of the verbs and associated with the progressive tenses and the passive voice. I am not a native spanish speaker but I'd imagine "yo caminado" would throw them off because you are using the incorrect verb conjugation. Conjugations and certain combinations of words and expressions convey specific things, and when used inappropriately lead to confusion. I'd say just imagine being conditioned all your life as a native speaker to associating caminado with "yo he caminado/hemos caminado/fue caminado" and then imagine hearing someone say "yo caminado" to express "I walked". There isn't necessarily a logic to it, but this is the way the language evolved and languages have their own internal logic which dictates the rules by which its members must communicate.

[@pureone8350]

You need to learn a few things about languages; first, you're using English to judge what is most appropriate or 'simplifies' a language. This is wrong. Spanish speakers don't conceptualize the world in the same way you do, this is why we say it's Spanish, not English. "Yo caminado" doesn't mean the same as "I walked" in English. You have to add "he" in front,(yo he caminado/I have walked) for the grammer rules to be consistent in Spanish. The first step is to realize that you're using English to judge what rules Spanish should have, which isn't the right approach.

[@moyon369-ec9]

Hello, congratulations on your channel, hello everyone, I am a native of South America, if you are interested in practicing Spanish, we can do it and that way I can also learn your language. Only write me.

[@languagetraveladoptee]

Glad to have you here!