Is it difficult to learn Spanish?

According to the Cervantes Institute’s 2020 report, Spanish is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world with 585 million speakers. This represents 7.5% of the world’s population. Moreover, the number of speakers will continue to grow over the next 50 years.
In this report, reference is also made to the number of learners of Spanish, which stands at around 22 million learners around the world.

And if so many people study it, is it difficult to learn Spanish? Many students ask themselves this question when they begin to study Spanish. Spanish has the reputation of being a difficult and complex language to learn due to its great richness and variety. But don’t be fooled by what people tell you because this will depend on several factors that I am going to explain below.

Factors influencing learning

1. The similarity with your mother tongue. It is not the same to learn Spanish for an Italian as it is for a Chinese person. Simply because of the closeness and similarity of the language and culture.
   
2. The number of languages you speak. The more languages you master, the easier it is to learn a new one. You are able to establish similarities and connections with the other languages, which facilitates the acquisition process.
   
3. Dedication during the learning process. The above factors can help you, but it is very important that you spend time studying and practising the language during and after lessons.
   
4. The teacher you choose. It is essential that you choose a teacher who knows how to adapt to your learning style in order to meet your needs. We all have our own pace and learning style and only with a personalised plan will you be able to progress successfully.

All these factors will facilitate the process of learning some of the most conflictive points for students of Spanish.

Most problematic points for students of Spanish

1. Past tenses. There are several past tenses that you need to learn, as well as their conjugations and uses.
   
2. The subjunctive. What is the subjunctive and when is it used? It’s a complex point, but don’t be afraid because time will be spent in class understanding how it works.
   
3. The colloquial language. Spanish has a very rich and varied colloquial language. This point is a lot of fun for students to learn. In the previous post you can learn some of the most frequent daily expressions to speak like a native speaker.
   
4. Prepositions. In Spanish there are many prepositions and their use can be a bit confusing.
   Gender. This point also confuses students because in their language the gender is often the opposite, or there is no masculine or feminine.

In short, is it difficult to learn Spanish? Well, although it is a complex language, its difficulty lies in some of the factors I have mentioned above. If you put your heart and enthusiasm into it, it will not resist you and you will be able to speak one of the most widely spoken languages in the world.

To learn Spanish and practice all the skills (reading, listening, speaking and writing) I recommend Spanish classes. For practising conversational competence and learning everyday expressions, conversation classes are the best option. Finally, if you want to take your Spanish to a higher level and obtain a certificate, DELE preparation classes are the best option.

Do you already know which classes suit your objectives?

Contact me and let’s start learning together!