First and foremost, always be willing to make mistakes. Willingness to make mistakes means being ready to put yourself in potentially embarrassing situations. This can be scary, but it’s the only way to develop and improve. No matter how much you learn, you won’t ever speak a language without putting yourself out there: talk to strangers in the language, ask for directions, order food, try to tell a joke. The more often you do this, the bigger your comfort zone becomes and the more at ease you can be in new situations:

Never underestimate the power of listening. The key to communication is understanding what people are saying in your target language. A great way to improve your ear is to make listening  a daily exercise. With podcasts, TV shows, news broadcasts, radio, YouTube and a host of other resources, the choices are endless. If you are living in a country where Spanish is their native tongue, visit a coffee shop and listen to conversations, how people order, and anything else you could possibly listen for. Beginner Spanish learners need to listen as much as they possibly can.

Don´t lose faith, you will have good days and bad, but as long as you are trying, you are getting closer to your goal. Learning a new language is hard, and it can feel like you go from confidently chatting one day to not being able to string a sentence together the next. If you’re having one of the latter, just think of how far you’ve come, and where you want to be when it’s time to go home. And don’t forget, if you’re not quite there yet, you can always apply to go again next year.

You have to speak in order to communicate. Speaking is by far the most important part of developing your language and communication skills. Most of us learn a language to connect with others. If you can’t say anything, you miss that connection. Getting caught up with the idea of being able to read, write, listen and speak perfectly will overwhelm you and cause inaction. Aiming for conversational fluency gives you a stepping stone on the path to full fluency (including reading/writing) and then mastery.

•Thanks to many years of experience, Íbero Spanish School Buenos Aires is able to offer some of the lowest prices in the city for Spanish classes at an institution. Students never have to pay a registration fee or hidden cost.  With a free, thorough placement test and pre-class advising, we ensure students begin at the right level and progress at a rate that suits their learning.  This is normally done via e-mail or on the first Monday of classes, before your class starts.

I booked a  Spanish group class for 5 mornings, and was in a class of two. so Ibero were definitely responding to customer need. Virginia, the teacher was excellent, she followed requirements, and although we were quite different in our learning styles and specific needs, she gave us challenging tasks. She was patient and helpful when I was attempting to speak Spanish, always the nervewracking part!! The office staff were helpful, and had a sense of humour too, despite a busy office with many people coming and going. Thank you, and I will be returning for my next set of lessons soon :-) Steph Young, UK.