The Gringa Way Technique

This is the foundation of the The Gringa Way. Most Spanish teaching is geared towards getting you to think in Spanish and forgetting your English language while learning Spanish. However, if you don’t think about how to relate what you are learning and how to compare the language that you already know (English) to the one you are trying to learn (Spanish), how will you be able to make sense out of it? That is why The Gringa Way focuses all learning of the Spanish language to things that you can relate to in English, therefore helping you make more sense out of it!

This is the order that The Gringa Way emphasizes learning the Spanish language. Most schools around the world teach reading first, then writing, then listening and finally speaking. This is probably why, even if you have learned vocabulary or Spanish grammar before, you are afraid to speak because you are afraid not saying something correct. Speaking is the most crucial part of a language, and for second language acquisition, the hardest. It is the most crucial because you have to speak to people in order to communicate. Of course you could always write down each thing you want to say on a piece of paper and hand it to people but you and I both know that doesn’t happen and in reality, can’t work effectively. Therefore, you have to know how to speak! It is the hardest part of learning a second language because it takes more brain effort, due to the fact that you need to remember what you have read and learned and you need to do so faster (unlike writing where you have enough time to write down your thoughts, check your text for errors, erase if incorrect, etc.). To give you an example, I took 4 to 5 years of Spanish before I entered a classroom where we were actually asked to speak and give oral answers and opinions, instead of just listening to the teacher talk.

This is very important and you should adapt this principle from the time you read the first Spanish word in this book. As mentioned in principle two, if you just read and do not speak, you will feel inhibited when you finally try to speak. You should practice saying every word out loud, this way you will train both your brain and your mouth, allowing both of them to help you communicate verbally!

Spanish is a very literal language (which will be covered in this book) but it cannot always be translated literally from English.  You need to encompass the Spanish language as an overall whole. Once you see the big picture, you will realize the importance of not always translating word for word!

These are the key ingredients you must have and continue to use throughout your Spanish language learning journey. Motivation is numero uno! You must be motivated to learn. Even if you are being forced to learn for a certain reason; i.e. mandatory class in high school or college, in order to obtain a new job, receive a promotion, etc. you must continue your motivation! Memorizing and remembering what you are learning is key to retention, which ultimately provides you with your knowledge. Last but not least, you need to PRACTICE! Think about sports players or Olympians….do you think they get to be as good as they are without practice? Not a chance! They dedicate so much of their time to practicing their specialty. That is why they get so good at it!