Are you spending hours studying Spanish but still feeling stuck? You’re not alone!
But here’s some good news: By working smarter, not just harder, you can overcome the two biggest obstacles to fluency.
In this guide, I’ll describe those two obstacles. We’ll dive into why your Spanish practice might not be turning into fluency (yet). And more importantly, I’ll show you how to overcome these obstacles to finally speak Spanish naturally and confidently.
One of the biggest obstacles to fluency is focusing too much on memorization.
Don’t get me wrong, memorizing vocabulary and grammar is extremely important. However, when you focus on remembering phrases word-for-word, it can limit your ability to have flexible, real-life conversations.
The solution? Mental models.
Mental models help you understand how Spanish works. When you understand Spanish deeply, you can adapt your phrases to express whatever you want to say.
For example, let’s say you’re trying to use subjunctives. Consider this sentence:
This is “I want you to be here”, or literally “I want that you be here.” This is a very common structure, and native Spanish speakers use it effortlessly.
But they don’t do it by simply memorizing phrases! And neither should you. There’s no way you’ll ever memorize every single subjunctive sentence you’ll ever need.
Instead, you should use quiero que estés aquí as a sentence template. You can use the same template to say hundreds of different things:
This type of practice will help you create a mental model of how Spanish subjunctives work. No need to memorize a bunch of grammar rules or phrases; instead you should focus on developing your mental models.
Watch our video guide above for a deeper dive on how mental models work.
Here’s the second reason you’re not fluent yet: You’re getting lots of practice, but you don’t have enough patience.
Mastering Spanish isn’t about cramming—it’s about consistent, spaced-out practice over time. You’ll never be fluent without something called consolidation.
What is consolidation? Imagine that learning Spanish is like building a brick wall, with cement mortar between each layer. You can’t stack all the bricks at once, or the mortar will fail and the wall will collapse. Instead, you need to let each layer dry before you add more bricks.
Learning Spanish is the same. Your brain needs time to consolidate new information, one layer at a time. Don’t try to learn a whole bunch at once, and then wonder why you haven’t mastered it! Instead, work on a little bit of Spanish every day, with good sleep in between.
It’s a surprising paradox: This slow, patient process is actually the fastest way to fluency.
Now that we’ve identified the two obstacles, let’s make a plan to conquer them! Here are three tips to structure your study effectively.
Don’t waste time memorizing specific phrases. Instead, learn the highest-frequency words and sentence structures. These create flexible mental models that you can use in countless ways.
In the video above, I share more tips on how to master the top 100 words and core grammar quickly and effectively.
Consistency is key. Even just 10 minutes a day can transform clunky Spanish into fluent speech if you practice effectively. (If you don’t have a daily routine yet, here is the routine we recommend.)
If you start with the basics (Tip #1) and practice consistently (Tip #2), you’ll be ready to build slowly and surely. Add more and more complexity, a little bit at a time, while reinforcing what you’ve learned. This way, you keep old skills sharp as you learn new ones. Over time, the new material will challenge you, but the basics will become second nature, turning into fluent mental models.
Now that you have a plan, it’s time to take action and get started!
You can kickstart your path to fluency by joining our next Spanish in One Month Challenge — a four-week grammar bootcamp that focuses strictly on essential Spanish mental models. This is a deep dive into the top 100 words, which make up 50% of everyday Spanish.
The Challenge gives you step-by-step guidelines for what to do every single day, so there’s no guesswork. You’ll get personalized quizzing to help consolidate everything you learn, plus access to our expert native-speaking coaches to answer all your questions.
Each daily lesson is bite-sized and manageable, always giving you new skills, but balancing them with daily review of everything you’ve learned. So if you feel like you’re stuck, this Challenge is your chance to break through to fluency, one layer at a time.
If you’re up to the Challenge, join us here!
