Getting Back Up to Speed After a Break

Hello Everyone, I started learning Spanish around 6 months ago, but I had to take a 3+ month break in the middle due to real life time constraints (law school finals, bar exam prep, post-bar vacation, etc). Anyway, I am back and ready to dive back into learning Spanish, but I am not sure where to start. Many of the old lessons are familiar when I go over them, but I have forgotten a fair bit as well. Prior to taking the break, I was about 90% of the way done with the first course (premium) and was getting ready to start the second course (premium plus). How would you recommend I proceed? Go over all the audio lessons again? Or just read the lessons and ensure I know them? A mix of the two? Something else? Thanks.

I have been working through the course for over three years now. To me it's a bit like "panning for gold".You just have to keep going over the"material" again and again until you get a few grains that are of value to you (and you can actually use). It's getting the balance between going back over old stuff (which can get boring) and looking at the new materials to keep yourself interested. My tips would be 1. A little but often. 2. Try thinking in spanish for a short time each day. 3. Make notes don't just copy them 4.Speak out loud anything you know in spanish eg Words phrases,little stories. 5. Stick with it (you do learn something each time you try) even when you don't think you have. Buena Suerte.

I am going back to a schedule for learning Spanish. I also plan on setting aside 15-60 minutes a day (60 on weekends) to learning Spanish. I will also try some of your suggestions like making notes, and I already try others (e.g. thinking of the various sentences I know, etc). I just am not sure how to best spend my time. Should I go over all the old lessons fully, or should I skim them for knowledge and then move on. I recognize most of what I learnt before, but I have a hard time recalling it. Simply put, if I am given a Spanish sentence or word at the "premium" course level, I can accurately translate or define it. However, if you gave me the English sentence and asked me to translate it, I have some difficulty due to the lack of using the language. I am leaning towards just going over all the lessons starting around lesson 2.1. This will mean I won't get back to where I was for a 1-2 months, but at least I will feel more comfortable with the content.

Hola, Sounds like you are totally committed to learning, which is a great start. I'm a professional teacher but in Biology not in languages. The reason why you find it easier to translate from the Spanish is because, you have cues/clues from the written material, and some understanding from your previous studies and so can mostly- work it out from what is written. However, you don't have these clues/cues when you have to translate from English, so it's more difficult because, you have to work from what you actually know and have retained. Your right using the language will help. The two problems I find as an intermediate learner is: 1 Difficulty understanding native speakers. 2 Translating in my head what I want to say. I live in the UK and can access Spanish News via Sky TV and Radio which helps with both. I also try to speak to as many native Spanish/South American people as I can. There is nothing wrong in going all the way back to the start. I always find something I have not fully understood even in the most basic stuff. John

Hola a todos, I agree and can relate with all of the above comments and suggestions. For me, my hurdle has been to release the fear of speaking. I am committed to studying something in Spanish every day. I just sent a post in the Spanish vocab fórum. I invite all of you to join me there and we can continue to use what we know.