This simple system gave me a huge Spanish vocabulary in just a few short months.
There are two parts to this system.
Part 1 is mnemonics. If you missed my email on mnemonics I have posted it on my blog for you:
http://www.synergyspanishsystems.com/blog/mnemonics-memory-mastery-for-spanish/
The second part is flashcards.
I told you it was a simple system but it’s the combination of two ideas that makes this so powerful.
Here’s what I did.
I would write English on one side of the card and the Spanish translation on the other. Under the English I would write a mnemonic.
Simple but it had a profound impact.
I knew it was working well when I was teaching at the Universidad Iberoamericana. My advanced students were close to bilingual. Their ability in English was way ahead of my Spanish. Yet, they always asked me for translations.
Almost every time I could give them the answer instantly. I had a better second language vocabulary than anyone I knew.
My massive vocabulary came directly from this mnemonic flashcard system.
You can try if for yourself here.
On that page there are 25 mnemonic flashcards for you.
They’ll make it easy for you to add 25 words to your Spanish vocabulary today.
The payoff I got for having a great vocabulary was reading and understanding Spanish faster than anyone I knew.
It has a huge impact on your success with Spanish.
However, if you learn the wrong kinds of words you can waste a lot of time. Over the next few days look for the email subject line, “The most important Spanish words.” It’ll tell you exactly which words give you the biggest bang for your buck.
Truly, greatful
You might be interested in our GAME for learning Foreign Language VOCABULARY.
Play and enjoy 🙂
http://www.wordgrouper.com/
Thanks for the flashcards. I find that the mnemonics help me. There are times I can’t remember the Spanish word after a session.
Trabajar para mi!
Dear Marcus,
I just want to tell you how i like your mail for learning Spanish.
But I,m also learning to spaek and write in English. This because I,m a dutch lady from 71 years old.
Its hard because i only learned english for almost 60 years ago in my schoollessons in Holland.
In winter me and my hussband use to stay in Spain for 3 months .
So I keep learning english and spanish by your mails and I like it this way!
With love from Babs Mulder.
Your enthusiasm is inspiring. I am now thinking Spanish.
Just been away with no wi fi am having the combined synergy-shortcut as a present to down load on Xmas day. Will it be too much for my 80 year old brain?
Indeed this technique seems effective. Though I would definitely like to see some more fun usage vocabulary added to it, I recently got done with learning food and drinks over at MyDailySpanish (https://mydailyspanish.com/spanish-food-and-drinks-vocabulary/) and I feel both resources have given me a ton of knowledge. Any chance we get to see some different methods that include more fun ways to introduce new words into our vocab?
Gréât Way to learn new words. Since I AM francophone, I will probably develop my own in French .
One problem : population …. changing the second p to bl gives poblucion. not poblacion
Marcus, thank you for producing a Spanish language system that has got me started with enthusiasm to continue.
If it wasn’t for this course I would not have this interest to learn and speak spanish but now I understand and read also speak more spanish don’t feel like am out in the cold any more thanks to Marcus
Hola Marcus,
Thanks for all your help. I really appreciate it. 🙂
Cheers Paul
Great so far.
Thank you Marcus,
Short cut to Spanish is definitely improving my understanding and learning of the Spanish language and very important it is fun.
Bernadette
The flashcards helped me alottttt…. Its really great
These flashcards would really help
I would like some Spanish, so I can talk to new people.
Acabo de aprender muchas palabras de espanol por estos lecciones
Please send me the flash cards. Am sure it will be a big help
Great, please send me flash cards
hello. My name is thankgod and i’m from lagos,Nigeria(africa). I stay with english speaker and i’ve bin learning spanish for some month now. Almost given up not until my marcus came to my rescue.muchas gracias.que dios te bendiga.
It’s worth a try. will see if if works.
henry
que siga el buen trabajo
I find your teaching methods curiously refreshing. It makes everything easy to remember and use in daily life.
I already have these flash cards and they do help a lot. Thanks so much.
wil be interested in any learning technique you have for spanish, want to improve and become fluent. x
Hi 🙂
Please send me the flashcards.
Thank you
Please send me the flash cards system. Thankyou. Donna.
es curioso como usa first language trying
I like the idea of the flash cards
Please send me what you have for flashcards. Thank you.
Thanks…great system
I am really enjoying your lesson. I have studied Spanish during at several levels but this is the best. I am able to hold this and I am enjoying the lessons more. The flash cards are going to make it easier and fun.
Very interested in your flash card
Well done
Kathryn
I like the flash cards method because I am over 54 years and it helps me to remember considering i am now trying to learn a new language
54 is quite young.
http://www.synergyspanishsystems.com/blog/speaking-spanish-and-running-marathons-at-100-years-old/
Interested in learning from flash cards.
Thank you
LP
I want to get started with your system.
please send me the flashcards thank Helge-G.
My Spanish is really improving using Marcus’s lessons and I have recommended them to several friends who are enjoying them too.
However, I think everyone learns things differently and I just don’t find mnemonics works for me. I have also tried other programs that use pictures but that does nothing for me either. As long as I can see the word written in Spanish and hear it pronounced correctly I do OK. Simple repetition is the key for me.
Please send me the cards. Cindy
https://s3.amazonaws.com/HowToSpeak/mnemonicflashcards1-4.pdf
Please send me the flashcards.
Gracias, sabrina
Most words do not lend themselves to mnemonics, I’ve found.
¡Hola amigos! Fuí de vacaciones a Costa Rica por tres semanas en el mes pasado.
No necesité hablar ingles allá. Me dí cuenta que pude hablar mucho más español que antes.
Aunque fue un poco difícil entender a los campesinos, fue muy fácil entender a la gente en los
lugares turisticos. Lo peor es que tuve que dejar atras mi curso Bola de nieve así que ahora tengo que recuperar tres semanas y estudiar más rápido. Pero vale mucha la pena seguir estudiando. ¡Pura Vida!
Sounds great! I’m very discouraged with my Spanish right now…need a boost!
I have used a similiar system for some time, but I think that the addition of the mnemonics is a good idea and I am going to try and give it go . The one area that i have difficulty in remembering vocabulary is prepostions. Any ideas?
Bob
I have one hint that will help more than anything see when it comes to Spanish prepositions.
Read in Spanish a little everyday.
When I found out I could improve my Spanish just by
reading, I really went for it. I used to read in
Spanish for an hour every day.
It was quite easy actually as I always liked reading
newspapers in English anyway. I’m a sports fan, so I
just switched to reading about sports in Spanish
language newspapers.
First, I only read the sports section. Later I started
adding the entertainment section. Then later again I
read everything, even politics, although I lost heart
a bit with the corruption and drug trafficking murders
in Mexico.
It was amazing to me and people who knew me just how fast
I progressed once I started reading extensively…
After the newspapers and magazines I started reading non
fiction and novels and my Spanish really took off.
I can’t recommend reading in Spanish highly enough.
The prepositions will fall into place and you’ll get a host of
other benefits as well.
Click the link above that says, Mnemonic Flashcards 1-4.
Marcus, muchas gracias por todos lecciones.
Hi Marcus:
Thank you for your insightful tips.
I am not able to access the flashcard 1-4 link, unfortunately, so I can’t get your 25 flashcards.
Regards,
Barbara
Don’t know website.
I’d love to be fluent in Spanishas I am in English. I live in a Nursing home and almost all the “help” speak spanish. I’d love to converse witrh them in their language. We’d become better friends.I’ve tried but don’t get too far. Please help me. Thank you and God bless your work. Sister Michael Mary Kean
Would love to improve my vocab in Spanish using your method.
Gracias por Flash Cards Y consejo!
Saludos
Saleem