I could make a case that the biggest enemy to learning basic Spanish, or to improving what you already know, is…. perfectionism. Fear of failure. Luckily, this is something within you, and therefore something you can work on.
Generally Spanish-speaking people worldwide tend to be very encouraging about our attempts to speak their language. I’ve noticed this in Spain and Mexico. I once spent a month in Guatemala and many of the people that we spoke with were Indians for whom Spanish was a second language. They tended to speak rather simply… it was easy to follow them.
So don’t be too hard on yourself when you are starting to speak Spanish, or even later, when your Spanish is pretty good but still has gaps and errors. Hey, you’re only human!
Another Big Enemy to Learning Spanish: Inertia, or Laziness
It’s all too easy to think you’ll get around to learning Spanish one of these days. But does that day ever come? That’s why it’s important to set goals, even if only in a casual way, because the process of thinking about why you want to be able to speak Spanish will motivate you and will also help you get clear about what method of learning the language would suit you.
Gotta admit it, you do have to do some work if you want to learn how to speak Spanish!
