Speaking another language is an amazing experience and it can help you make new friends and access important business opportunities. But you have to wonder, should you learn Spanish or should you study Spanish? At first, these appear to be the same thing. That’s not the case, however. There’s a huge difference between learning and studying, and we are here to explain that.
Studying
When we study something, we accumulate knowledge and we use that knowledge the best way we can in various conversations or anything like that. However, when you study something you didn’t learn it yet. You are reading articles or books about Spanish, you are using flashcards to memorize words or you are listening to the teacher. You are also studying Spanish via watching YouTube videos or any other similar task.
Studying something doesn’t mean you learned it completely and you master it. For example, maybe you took Spanish classes 10 years ago, but you don’t remember Spanish anymore. That doesn’t mean you learned Spanish, you just studied the topic and was exposed to it. Being exposed to it to actually memorizing something is a huge difference. That’s why studying is the first part of learning a topic. You need to first study Spanish before you actually learn it. However, studying a topic doesn’t make you a master of that topic unless you learn it.
Learning
Learning involves studying, but it focuses on the acquisition of skills and making that new topic a part of the things you know. Basically, when you learn Spanish, you start by studying it, understanding the basics of the language, and memorizing grammar as well as a variety of other topics. You can say that you’ve learned a topic when you are very skillful about something or you know a lot about it. Usually, you are exposed to the topic at hand, understand just about everything about it and you’re constantly interested in it.
Which one is better?
Studying a language is great, but the truth is that you want to learn the language and not just study it. That’s why you should always learn a topic instead of just studying it a little bit. You need to cover as much as you can about the topic, learn about it and you will have no problem becoming an expert in Spanish. Learning is time-consuming sometimes, but it’s the best way to master a language.
If you want to communicate and learn in a foreign language like Spanish, the best thing you can do is to attend a language school. Here you will be able to learn the language and not just study it. The language school will offer you all the tools you need to understand Spanish, its grammar, and the words you need to use in order to speak similarly to a native. Learning Spanish is an amazing experience, it helps you expand your career and you also get to connect with extraordinary people that speak this great language!