However, in the past I had some really nice language exchange partners, and they became more or less my friends. Finding a good language exchange partner which who you can connect is important, and is great fun as well.

And about the coffee and food; aren’t there any Spanish/Latin restaurants where you live? Or a supermarket? In the Netherlands there aren’t many Spanish restaurants, but the times I found one and went with some (Spanish) friends we were only talking Spanish. It’s a good practice and great immersion, apart from the confidence boost you get after an evening like that.

You are right (tutors, friends). I was, well, just hoping to learn some type of secret I guess. I did the tutor route, in addition to years of formal schooling (grammar nightmares), and of course speaking with friends. Still, it isn’t the same as running down to your local McDonald’s and ordering your coffee in Spanish, or talking with the Spanish speaking librarian in Spanish. I think I am having Spanish withdraws having spent the last six months in Central America where all I did was speak in Spanish. Ha!

David

I learned all of my Spanish with only spending one month in Spanish the last two years. The key is to find people you like with whom you can speak. This can be friends, but you can also use a tutor for this. I recommend a good friend though; it’s way more fun to hang out with a bunch of natives and connect to their culture.

*Side note: I do well when in a Spanish speaking country. Actually, I think (biased opinion here) that I do great. The Spanish seems to just flow. In the states (U.S.) though…, well, it is a different story. Each day speaking Spanish becomes less and less, even though there are opportunities (limited) where I could have used Spanish -McDonalds, Mexican Restaurants, etc. Some days I think to myself screw it and just speak Spanish as if I couldn’t communicate in English. This of course isn’t that easy since I have the typical gringo look. Any others go through this? Also, HINT – maybe a possible future article, How to remain in Spanish when not in a Spanish speaking country. Just a thought. Oh, and sorry if this isn’t the right place to ask/suggest this.

David

My only experience with SRS is with anki

http://ichi2.net/anki/

It works on all platforms, and can even work through a browser. It seems to be quite popular, so there is lots of support and help you can find here and on other sites.

Good luck

@ES
Funny to see that someone find grammar learning fun, shows that we’re all different . I’m not saying your method is wrong (if it works for you, I’m happy), but I (and many other persons) find it really boring. Do you know AJATT, by the way?

I actually got the idea for this from Professor Arguelles, perhaps the creator or main proponent of Shadowing. He calls this idea Scriptorium and, whether the source is an SRS entry or a novel, pretty much follows the same idea. Just like you, I’ve noticed that writing the sentence makes me pay greater attention to the individual parts and I’ve also been using it to improve my handwriting. And just as the Chinese learners have figured out, it also helps with remembering the characters.

Cheers,
ES

*Using an SRS is boring, grammar is interesting, and Japanese is much more regular and internally consistent than something like Spanish. I do look forward to a less grammatical approach when I move on to Korean which is irregular but my knowledge of Japanese should allow for faster intuitive pick-up.

Thanks,
David

Read sentence.
Read aloud.
Read aloud without looking at the screen (by memory).
Write sentence down without looking at the screen (by memory).
Show “answer”

I’m not sure if that is overkill… it definitely slows down how quickly I go through reps. But the idea is that I need to have a firm grasp of the sentence for me to be able to remember it for the time it takes to write down.