If you have experienced a learning language block, you might want to find better techniques. Learn the Spanish comprehensible input in this blog post.
Spanish comprehensible input
If you want to speak Spanish fluently, you need to understand what native speakers are saying all the time. It doesn’t matter how much you practice or how much of a grammatically-inclined learner you are.
If your learning target is comprehensible input, then it doesn’t matter how much exposure you get. You won’t be able to learn Spanish without comprehensible input.
That said, the original language you’re learning can greatly impact your understanding of new words and phrases.
This article covers why comprehensible input is so important for learning any language, strategies for implementing comprehensible input, and some useful resources to help with implementation.
What makes comprehensible input so important?
Like all language learning, the more time you spend in the language environment, the better you’ll become at communicating in the language. Certain concepts are very hard to understand when you don’t have any exposure to the language.
One of those concepts is how native speakers use language. If you want to understand Spanish well, you need to understand how Spanish is used in real life.
Since Spanish is a living language, there are bound to be differences between how it’s used in Spain and how it’s used in the United States. But even if you learn Spanish in Spain, you’ll probably want to use Spanish at home as well.
When you learn Spanish at school or in a community, you’re exposed to the Spanish language in a controlled, limited environment. But most people use Spanish every day.
Understanding how Spanish is used in real life will give you a leg up when you start learning Spanish on your own.
How to implement and measure comprehensible input
There are many ways you can implement comprehensible input in your Spanish learning. Here are a few examples:
- Have native speakers record basic Spanish phrases (ideally ones that you would use in normal conversation) and have them read them out loud. You can also try to have them record basic sentences with everyday Spanish phrases.
- Find videos, audio files, or articles in other languages (particularly Spanish-native ones) and try to understand what they’re saying.
- Use the Google Translate function on your phone, computer, or whatever you use to read articles and social media posts. You can also set your device to translate everything on the fly.
This is an especially useful tool if you use Spanish as one of your main languages.
Why is comprehensible input so difficult to achieve?
As we discussed, comprehensible input is necessary but not enough to learn a language. To be a good language learner, you must also work. So how can you get comprehensible input if it’s hard to achieve? Here are a few ways:
- Find ways to make your Spanish learning more fun.
- Find ways to make your Spanish learning easier.
- Find times when Spanish happens naturally in your life, whether at work, community, or school.
Strategies for implementing comprehensible input
Here are a few helpful strategies for implementing comprehensible input in your Spanish learning journey:
- Find a way to make basic Spanish phrases more memorable.
- Find a way to make basic Spanish sentences more memorable.
- Find a way to make basic Spanish audio files or videos more memorable.
- Find a way to make basic Spanish articles/books more memorable.
Some useful resources for Spanish learners
These are useful online resources to implement comprehensible input in your Spanish learning journey. Memrise is a great place to learn basic Spanish vocabulary and phrases.
You can also use it to help you get started with grammar tables. It’s organized by topic, so you can quickly find what you’re looking for.
Memrise is a great resource for learning basic Spanish vocabulary and phrases. It’s organized by topic, so you can quickly find what you’re looking for.
Memrise is a great resource for learning basic Spanish vocabulary and phrases. It’s organized by topic, so you can quickly find what you’re looking for.
Hangouts – This is Google’s real-time video chat product. It’s only available in a few countries, but if you can access it, it’s a great tool for making real-time Spanish learning groups.
Google’s real-time video chat product, Hangouts. It’s only available in a few countries, but if you can access it, it’s a great tool for making real-time Spanish learning groups.
Bottom line
Comprehensible input is important for learning any language. To be a great Spanish speaker, you must understand how Spanish is used in real life.
Decoding what native speakers say in real life will be much harder than just reading about it or studying grammar rules.
You can implement comprehensible input in your Spanish learning journey by making basic Spanish phrases more memorable, and basic Spanish sentences more memorable, basic Spanish audio files or videos more memorable, and so on.