The 10 Most Frustrating Things About Learning Spanish

Before reading this please find yourself a salt shaker, and take a pinch.

We are not saying that these struggles are exclusive to the Spanish language, nor that these should keep you from learning it. We at The Foreign Language Collective try to be there for you in your language learning process, and that means we also share your frustrations.

I love Spanish but learning it isn’t always a walk in the park. Here are some of the biggest frustrations most people have to deal with when learning Spanish.

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1. So many verb tenses

Seriously, why do you need them all?

2. Speaking of one – el subjuntivo.

Seriously, is there anything worse than learning something that doesn’t exist in your native language?

Or at least something that isn’t used in the same way?

And it’s not just there in the present tense – it’s there in the past, and it’s there in the future.

3. Gendered words

Another great argument for moving towards

Why do tables, socks, and refrigerators even need genders anyway?

4. Native speakers speak so fast

Like, slow down! Is there somewhere you need to be?

5. There are so many accents

And while a one on one conversation will probably be okay, chances are as soon as two native speakers from another country start speaking to each other there are going to be some words you never heard before (or not in that context)

6. The fact that words can mean something completely different in another country

And it is always something bad or dirty.

Words like paja, pajero, coger, concha, pilla, tortillera may seem very harmless in certain countries, but be careful when using them in more international speaking Spanish crowds.

Speaking of dirty things