5 Tips to Leverage Your English for Faster Spanish Acquisition

Spanish lends roughly 30% of its vocabulary to English.

That means you have a head start because you know more Spanish than you think.

Knowing this can make your life easier.

Leveraging your English knowledge when learning Spanish can significantly streamline your acquisition process.

1. Cognates Identification

Start by recognizing cognates, similar words in English and Spanish. This approach can quickly expand your vocabulary. Focus on common cognates. Integrate them into daily practice and build familiarity and confidence.

1. Compile a list of daily English words you use frequently.

2. Use an online dictionary or cognates list to find the Spanish equivalents of these words. Pay special attention to cognates, words that sound similar and have the same meaning in both languages.

3. Create flashcards, with English on one side and Spanish on the other, focusing on these cognates.

4. Use these similar words in your daily language. Write sentences or short paragraphs using them. This will help solidify their meanings and improve your recall.

2. False friends

While cognates ☝️ can help expand your vocabulary, be wary of false friends—words that appear similar in English and Spanish but have different meanings.

Identifying and learning these words helps avoid common mistakes and enhances comprehension. Regular review of these terms can prevent confusion and improve communication skills.

1. Identify a list of familiar false friends between English and Spanish. Resources are available online or in language learning apps.

2. For each false friend, write its correct meaning in Spanish and an example sentence to illustrate its use.

3. Create flashcards for these false friends with the word on one side and its meaning and an example sentence on the back.

4. Regularly review these flashcards and test yourself by creating sentences using these words correctly.

3. SVO Structure Practice

Both English and Spanish primarily use the Subject-Verb-Object order for sentences and follow the same pattern:

• S - There is the person doing something.

• V - What they are doing.

• O - Who or what they are doing it to.

Translating simple sentences from English to Spanish helps you understand well. It also helps you write well, and reinforces this structure.

1. Understand the basics of the Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) structure by reviewing simple sentences in English.

2. Translate these sentences into Spanish, maintaining the SVO order. Begin with sentences like "I eat apples," which should translate to "Yo como manzanas."

3. Practice forming new sentences in Spanish using the SVO structure. Start with a subject (you, he, she, it, we, they), choose a verb (action), and end with an object (what the action is done to).

4. Add complexity slowly. Do this by adding adjectives and adverbs to your sentences. Keep the SVO order.

4. Verbal Tense Alignment

English and Spanish have some of the same verb tenses. This makes it easier to talk about when things happened. 

Matching English tenses with their Spanish counterparts lets you learn more intuitively. Practice conjugating verbs in various tenses to deepen your understanding and usage.

1. List the main tenses in English (present, past, future, etc.) and find their Spanish equivalents using a reliable grammar resource or app.

2. Select a set of regular verbs and conjugate them in these tenses in both languages. Focus on the patterns and differences.

3. Create a daily practice routine where you write or speak sentences using these verbs in various tenses, gradually adding irregular verbs to your practice.

4. Use Spanish media, like simple news articles or children's stories, to see these tenses in action. Try to identify the tenses used and translate sentences back to English.

5. Prepositions with Direct Equivalents

Learn prepositions that mean the same thing in English and Spanish. This helps you understand basic ideas about location and relationships between objects.

Start with these matching prepositions. 

They make it easier to build sentences correctly. This gives you a strong base before learning harder parts of the language.

1. Make a list of basic prepositions in English (in, on, at, under, etc.) and find their Spanish equivalents.

2. Use visual aids, like pictures or diagrams, to associate these prepositions with their meanings. Label these in both English and Spanish.

3. Practice forming sentences using these prepositions in context. For instance, place objects around you and describe their location using prepositions.

4. Challenge yourself to write short paragraphs describing scenes or activities, using as many of these prepositions as possible. This will help cement their usage in your mind.

By strategically leveraging the Spanish words and constructions related to English, you can streamline your path to fluency significantly. 

Applying techniques allows you to intuitively grasp core vocabulary and grammar making the acquisition process feel more natural and enjoyable.