I can’t memorize this language I’m trying to learn. Word lists are not working. Yes, I can read or understand a few hundred written words but my ear is bad. Recently I’m taking another approach: comprehensible input. I’m watching a lot of YouTube where the point of the video is to learn the language but the instruction is delivered by listening, watching, and reading. No memorization, no need to talk right now….the theory is that to speak, one must have the words in his or her brain and have heard many good examples of how those words are used. I’m listening to the words and watching the actors and the story…I’m learning meaning with all my senses. I recognize many of the words already, but I’m trying hard to push back the urge to translate them in my head, but instead concentrate on the story. And this brings me to the headline: to learn this language I’m learning that I must pay more attention to the people and the culture. Spanish words were not created to mimic english words. Spanish words express spanish thoughts in a spanish way.