Learning a language can be very difficult, particularly for an adult whose brain and thought patterns have already slid into the rut of daily routine and have forgotten how to stretch beyond those boundaries. Children, however, have no such difficulties. Their minds have the ability to retain amounts of information infinitely greater than those that can be retained by an adult. This makes childhood the perfect time to learn a second language.

Children learn a language by hearing it spoken all around them as infants and have usually grasped the fundamentals of speaking it by the time they are two years old. They do not attend classes or do exercises in workbooks. They do not attend seminars or conferences or read vocabulary lists until they are blue in the face (a sentiment that anyone who has ever had to take a language class in high school can sympathize with). They learn the language because the language is an integral part of their daily life.

This same method can be used to teach a child to speak Spanish. Simply incorporate Spanish vocabulary into their daily lives. Call their toys by their Spanish names and teach them their colors and numbers in Spanish. Wish them a good morning and a good night in Spanish, and slowly expand the amount of Spanish you speak to them in a day until it is the primary language used between the two of you.

Try not to translate for your child. It is impossible to develop fluency in a language if they are forever attempting to translate what they are hearing into English in their heads. If there is something they don’t understand attempt to show them in the same way you did when they were an infant learning to understand English. It is important to remember that they are going to learn to understand the language long before they learn to speak it and will probably continue to speak back to your Spanish in English for quite some time. This is completely normal and should be encouraged until they have a solid grasp on the language.

Children are much more capable of learning a second language than adults, and this valuable skill is one that will serve to smooth their way as they grow into adults themselves.

Adrian gives tips and advice on how to learn Spanish, including reviews of popular Spanish language courses like Rocket Spanish at http://rocketspanishreviewed.com