You’ve been dutifully studying the textbooks, slaving over the audio-cassettes, stopping strangers on the street to practice. You freeze, though, when someone asks you for directions in Spanish.

HELP!

You probably need some tips on how to keep yourself going on the road to fluency. Here are 7 pointers to improve your Spanish.

1. Keep Yellow Post-Its.

Learn those horrifying irregular verb conjugations by organizing them into verb charts on yellow post-its. Then stick them on the bathroom and bedroom mirror. Repeat them daily until they’re learned. Change the verb charts every week. Soon they’ll be part of your daily grooming routine. Also, put post-its with vocabulary words on walls, furniture and household items so that every time you look at them, you will see the words in Spanish!

2. Tape Yourself.

Tape yourself reading a Spanish article aloud. Knowing how you sound may make you wince at first. Do this every week for six weeks. It will serve as an inspiration later when you compare your progress.

3. Raid Your Local Video Store.

Films sub-titled rather than dubbed are the best since you’re exposed to both languages at the same time. This is an excellent way to pick up the Spanish equivalent of the countless American idioms so prevalent in American films. For Mexican Spanish, look for the series of films by the late comic Mario Moreno, known as Cantinflas.

For peninsular Spanish, Spain’s controversial filmmaker Pedro Almodovar’s films are usually available in video stores, including Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. Watch the movie once with the subtitles covered with paper or masking tape. Then look at it again with the subtitles uncovered to see how much you had right! Go scene by scene by scene if you like.

4. Become a Carpetbagger.

Pick up the scores of government bulletins available in both languages. Look at the English version and the Spanish version side by side. Analyze a paragraph at a time.

Compare sentence structure and word choice. How did they begin the sentence in English? Did they begin the sentence in the same way in Spanish? Why not? Count how many Spanish words were used versus how many English words were used. You might be surprised to find more Spanish words. Use this as an incentive to break the word-for-word translation mentality, and learn to think in word clusters to convey meaning.

5. Check Out Children’s Books at Your Local Library.

Children’s books are especially helpful. You’ll find Spanish fables and myths in simple vocabulary with pictures as visual aids. This is a fast way to build your vocabulary.

6. Tune Into a Spanish Talk Show.

A Spanish T.V. or radio news broadcast might overwhelm you because of the speed of the announcers’ speech. (He/she is reading it). A talk show or interview show is better since it has a simple question and answer format. It’s also slower and closer to normal speech patterns. Repeat what the interviewer and interviewee say. Don’t worry if you miss some words. Echoing native speech not only loosens up your tongue but also builds your speed and fluency.

7. Buy Yourself a Top-Notch Dictionary.

You need one dictionary to tote, and one for home. For a pocket dictionary, both the University of Chicago’s or Langenscheidt’s are excellent. They are easy to find in bookstores. For a desk dictionary, the thick Simon and Schuster’s International Dictionary is the best general dictionary.

If you diligently practice these exercises for six weeks, you’ll notice a big improvement in your vocabulary and fluency. You might even get asked for the “secrets” to learning so quickly.

After weeks of hard work and practice, what if you still blurt out a no problemO instead of no problemA?

Not to worry.

Enjoy the language of Cervantes!