I've been learning Spanish for pretty much my whole life, from when I started school until I was 16, but I still can barely form a coherent sentence (just goes to show how the school system sucks at teaching foreign languages).
I'm watching mixwell's stream and I can't understand anything, he speaks soooo fast, but it's kind of inspiring since I want to learn how to understand a native speaker.
Are apps like Duolingo any good?
I can hold conversations but I can't say I'm fluenty cuz I don't have many opportunity to speak anymore. I use to study 2 hours a day 4 days a week for 7 months. I didn't know any english/spanish. There were many other things that help me a lot to learn faster and pracc my listening like watching movies and series (watch in the language you want to learn and the subtitle too). Magic the gathering(cardgame) help me too.
immersion technique is prob the best. That's how many of not native speakers learn for ex. english. Just put on a show or read a book in a desired language, repeat many many many times and after some time you are gonna understand more and more. To start u may read a paragraph and then translate it or sth, or watch with subtitles. Just be aware that at first ur not gonna understand anything.
yeah, just wanted to add that duolingo is completely worthless, only good thing ab it is that u grind the language ig? if u really like accomplishing like 200 or 500 day streaks it may be a motivation but overall learning languages from there is not the best idea. I recommend anki flashcards(flashcards are the GOATS of learning vocab) and maybe some grammar from books, only if you dont understand it at all(usually after some time of working with a language it can come naturally, at least for me it is and i've heard others say similar things).
Idk I learned English and since then my Spanish has sucked ass but honestly the easiest way is probably to just live in Spain for some period of time and learn to speak the language but that's kinda hard to do unfortunately GCSE Spanish doesn't teach you very much you have to do it as an A-level if you want to actually learn it
Immersion is the best way. I don't recommend language apps, don't recommend tutors. You can learn a language completely free.
Read books or watch shows you find interesting (you can also watch streamers (though you said mixwell speaks a little fast, you could try starting with someone who speaks a little slower), or youtubers (if they added subtitles to their video even better)). It doesn't always have to originate from that country either, I know the community I'm in some people watch JP dubs of American television like recently someone watched Breaking Bad and another person watched Dune.
Be consistent. It's slow in the beginning and a little frustrating for sure but unless you need it in a jiffy then you shouldn't be in a rush, just have fun, that's the best part about the immersion method; that it's just watching/reading stuff you'd normally experience and enjoy just in another language.
Idk how it'd work specifically cause I'm not learning a latin language
Despite what others in this thread has said, I highly recommend language apps like Duolingo. It isn't as effective as immersion, but in my opinion language apps help give you a feel of the language, maybe teach some basic vocabulary. I use the basic foundation Duolingo gives me to better my overall comprehension when I do other language activities like immersion (for me it's listening to music and singing.)
Try to learn basic vocabulary and gramatics first since spanish is very different from english in that sense, u gotta understand first how the language is structured and how to form sentences, then once u have a decent idea of that u will keep improving your vocabulary over time, hard thing about spanish are verbs but u will know when to use each with experience, also recommed inmmersing yourself and trying to be in contact with the language regularly/trying to always learn what something means if u dont understand a specific word/sentence, remember it takes time and each language has harder and easier aspects so just be consistent with it and remember that in order to learn a language u need to form strong lasting neural connections not just memorize stuff so do it at a sustainable pace in which maybe u dont learn a lot but what u learn u will remember. For spanish:
easy to learn when immersion. try using it via video games, streams, if your work allows some basic use, etc. most of my spanish is from being like "¿que es ___ en español?" "a, gracias" yk. or context. "¿cual es tu dolor?" as i say "¡el es un diablo!" as i hear. my written spanish is stinky stinky poo poo but I get by.
Discord