I stayed stuck at beginner Level Spanish for months.
Until I learnt 3 crucial things.
And I’m going to break things down step by step for you in this article.
To show you how much I excelled in just 1 year in Spanish…
Using this full technique, I was able to close one of the biggest Mexican insurance companies in Latam for an Artificial Intelligence product.
And the year before, I didn’t know a lick of Spanish.
Wait, that’s not true. I knew words like “tacos” and “chimichongas”.
My apologies as I know to some Americans I would be considered bilingual.
Anywho, if you struggle with language learning like I do and did, you’re going to find this strategy useful to become fluent in Spanish.
And no, it’s not going to require you to study 8 hours per day like some Youtube videos claim.
Below are the steps I took to optimize my grammar and conversational skills.
Going from beginner to advanced intermediate in the first 6 months.
(To be clear —this is a realistic timeline without being apart of the CIA)
Step 1: Create a CSV File with Common Spanish Verbs and their Conjugations
Start by creating a CSV file that contains the verbs you want to practice. You can use any spreadsheet software like Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets.
Here’s a basic format to get you started:
But wait!
Before you start doing things manually (yuk).
Just steal my work.
Copy the Google Sheet below that I made with the 50+ most common Spanish verbs and their conjugations.
Step 2: Use ChatGPT or Claude AI
Now you got your stolen work sheet (hehehe).
What’s next?
- Open ChatGPT (or Claude AI) - use the default model (ie 4o for ChatGPT or Claude 3.5).
To keep things simple, I’m going to offer this guide only with ChatGPT
- Download the Google Sheet as a csv file and click on the "Upload File" button to upload your CSV file with the Spanish verbs.
- Provide these instructions in your prompt:
- “Use the verbs from the CSV file to create fill-in-the-blank sentences where I have to provide the correct conjugation.”
OR - “Challenge me by asking for the conjugated form in a specific tense.”
- “Use the verbs from the CSV file to create fill-in-the-blank sentences where I have to provide the correct conjugation.”
- Finally, include specific preferences.Make the quizzing process more personalized by adding to the prompt some or all of the following:
- “Give me three tries before revealing the correct answer.”
- “Ask me about the verbs in increasing order of difficulty based on the tenses.”
Step 3: Quizzing Yourself
Once ChatGPT has your instructions, it will start asking questions based on the CSV file and the instructions you submitted.
Go through the quiz and questions it asks you.
In the beginning you’re going to fail a lot. But who cares.
It’s about the practice and consistency.
Don’t be hard on yourself. Just do the work.
Daily practice is what I would recommend.
Doing this for 30mins everyday before a live teacher session.
(btw I’ll show you the best tool for conversational practice next).
Throughout, ChatGPT will provide feedback, keep track of your responses, and let you know how you’re doing.
If you get it wrong, it can provide hints or explanations to help reinforce your learning.
Step 4: Practicing Conversations in Spanish
Now comes the most important and fun part…
With the warm up activities done, roll into a call with a Spanish teacher on Baselang.
As someone who’s tried Rosetta Stone, Babbel, Pimsleur and every many other tools to enhance my Spanish…
You are going to beat speaking the language.
This is the biggest advantage I’ve seen from Baselang over the other options.
You have the option to take lessons with native Spanish speakers.
Or just have conversations. Which means you can practice what you rehearsed.
Now, I’ll admit, using this technique I did much more than just 30mins of review and a 30mins of calls everyday.
For my first 3 months, I had 3.5 hours of practice everyday. Mix of review and conversational practice.
If there was a new word I heard in conversation, I asked.
I’d then have the following convos with teachers and I’d be using it in conversations wherever and however.
This helped me jump from a beginner to Advanced Intermediate in just 6 months time.
I now have clients in Mexico, Peru, and Spain now that I work with to discuss ecommerce and other project types.
Conclusion:
Quizzing yourself on verbs is a great way to reinforce vocabulary and grammar, but nothing beats practicing Spanish through real conversations. Engaging in dialogue to help learn the small details in pronunciation and when to use your conjugations.
This not only applies to Spanish but to other languages as well.
In a nutshell, the 3 crucial things I alluded to were:
- Revise and Study minimally with a list of verbs or words at hand.
- Quiz yourself using AI (Claude works just as well as ChatCPT)
- Immediately implement what you learnt into live conversations
So, if you're serious about mastering Spanish, I highly recommend giving Baselang a try
(Yes, this is a referral link above)
You’ll be amazed at how quickly you’ll improve with your listening and speaking skills.
PS – you can take this method two steps further by quizzing yourself with ChatGPT’s 4o Preview Model. Use the voice feature and quiz yourself in vocabulary, nouns, and whatever else to enhance your Spanish exponentially.
