One thing that can be extremely beneficial to you when learning Spanish is to simply pick up a book or newspaper.

Try and select reading material that matches your current ability, so beginners can choose a kid’s book or comic. There are two exercises you can choose to do, each of which helps with different aspects of your language learning.

The first of these helps with vocabulary; pick a shortish passage - a newspaper article or a couple of pages in a book are perfect for this - and read through it while trying to understand as much as possible, marking any words you are unfamiliar with. Once you have finished the article you can look up the words in a dictionary and re-read the article, reminding yourself of any words that still don’t stick.

The second excercise is suitable for reading novels; this time read, trying to understand as much as possible, but whatever happens don’t stop to note words you don’t know. By forcing yourself to read as fast as you can you’ll find that you can follow the story despite the gaps in information. You’ll also find that what you may miss in one context you will pick up from other clues, whether it is dialog, descriptions or the reactions of characters in the story.

This exercise will help build your coping mechanisms for when you don’t understand everything, such as when you are speaking to a native Spanish speaker talking at full speed.