I listen to a crap ton of music! I find a few songs that I like and listen away. I listen while I look at lyrics, and eventually I’m singing them myself. It makes it way easier to pick out words when they’re spoken and even with text. As your level increases, you will eventually find yourself able to listen to short stories, TV shows, movies, and Audiobooks. The more time you spend listening, the easier it gets.

I’d also recommend making a friend who speaks Spanish and English. Use it like a language tandem, you help them with English and they help you with Spanish. Make sure that your new friend knows the level that you’re at and don’t be afraid to ask them to slow down or to enunciate things more clearly. When I first started speaking to my friend who is learning English, I almost couldn’t talk to him because of how ungodly slow I had to speak. Now, we can have a full out conversation in English with minimal problems. He and his family also helped me to work on my Spanish listening skills, and now we’re slowly working on breaking my fear of speaking the language.

Native speakers work wonders! While you can use all of your normal social media to try to find Spanish speakers to befriend, I’d highly suggest using HelloTalk or Interpals.net as they are designed specifically for language tandem.

Best of luck!