Becoming fluent in a language is hard and potentially overwhelming. It involves a massive amount of time and work. Fluency can be even more difficult to achieve with the challenges posed by ADHD. Luckily, here are three key practices that will allow you to bypass the boredom, difficulty focusing, and procrastination. Learn how to become fluent in Spanish with ADHD.
Tips for Becoming Fluent in Spanish with ADHD
1) Make Conversation Exchange Friends
On my road to fluency, connecting with other language learners and meeting conversation exchange partners was vital. Practicing Spanish stopped feeling like a chore and became talking to a friend about topics I enjoy. Students with ADHD frequently need body doubling and social accountability for learning, so finding a conversation partner can be incredibly helpful.
Here are some websites for adults to find a conversation exchange partner or group:
2) Private One-on-One Lessons
I was lucky enough to find a teacher who was knowledgeable, willing to answer all my random questions, and game to follow my ADHD brain while it was taking the learning path it needed. Private lessons got me out of a group class where I was passively listening in Spanish and into a class where I was speaking in Spanish the whole time. You can’t get more bang for your buck in the journey to becoming fluent than private one-on-one lessons.
3) Find a Way to Do Your Interests or Hobbies in Spanish
I sought out videos, events, articles, and friends related to my interests. In my case, it was taking up salsa and streaming virtual dance classes in Spanish, and meeting more bilingual readers, but it can be any interest. This kept me engaged and made it easy to learn and study. Here are some random examples:
Use the best language dictionary, WordReference, to look up the words in Spanish, then Google or Youtube your interests.
Definition of Fluency
There are definitely widely established metrics for levels of near-native fluency (C1 Level). Even after taking coursework at that level, I’ve realized that fluency is context-specific. You will never stop learning words and there will always be new language in each place and context you go. The best thing is to embrace being a perennial learner and recognize that mistakes are clues that help you know what to focus on learning next.
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