How Lucy From “English With Lucy” Learned Fluent Spanish By Age 18

Do you ever wonder how other people manage to learn more than one language? 

Perhaps they have a unique gift unavailable to the rest of us? Maybe they were lucky enough to live in a foreign country and immerse themselves in the language and culture. 

Or does their dedication and passion for speaking get them over the line? 

Lucy Bella Simkins from the highly successful YouTube channel “English with Lucy” wouldn't say she has any special powers or gifts.

But she did have passion, dedication and a powerful raison d'être that fuelled her success in Spanish.

So let's discover how that made her fluent in Spanish at just 18!

If you prefer watching videos to reading, hit play to watch the video version of this post below. Otherwise, keep scrolling to read about Lucy's journey to Spanish fluency.

Lucy's Story

Living in rural England has its ups and downs, and one of the drawbacks can be the lack of people your age, especially when you're a teen. Sometimes you leave home to make friends, which certainly seems to be Lucy's experience.

However, Lucy hadn't seriously considered learning Spanish until she was sent to a school where it was compulsory to study a second foreign language.

Just like Luca Lampariello or Steve Kaufmann, this pivotal early experience was crucial to becoming a fluent Spanish speaker.

Since she had to choose another language in addition to French, Lucy decided to learn Spanish. But she was somewhat shocked to be put in a class where the girls had been learning the language for two years.

Talk about being thrown in at the deep end! At first, Lucy felt like she was drowning, but one day, something clicked.

We were going through the verb tables and I suddenly saw the logic in it. I thought, ‘Oh actually, this is almost like a formula that you have to learn.

Lucy Bella Simkins, English with Lucy

Lucy Grabbed Every Opportunity To Learn

Switching schools was another crucial step in Lucy's journey. In this new school, only three students chose to learn Spanish — meaning each student received a wealth of individual attention from the teachers.

Lucy's passion for Spanish blossomed — and with it, her desire to spend time in Spain. She saved like mad and, at just 16 years old, set off for Seville during the summer break. And she loved it!

Even struggling with the 40+ degree heat didn't dampen Lucy's Spanish passion. In fact, she repeated the experience three times, working and saving for four months each time so she could take her school breaks in Spain. 

Naturally, romance blossomed in Spain, and at 17, she moved there to live with her Spanish boyfriend. By age 18, she spoke fluent Spanish and became so comfortable with the language that strangers couldn't tell where she came from.

Reinventing Herself By Speaking Spanish

You might think, “well, it's all right for Lucy, but I just can't disappear off to Spain.” However, as we'll see, it's not the travel that made her successful. It's the work she put in while she was there that contributed most to Lucy's Spanish success.

However, a common thread among dedicated language learners is how they reinvent themselves in another language. Simply put, Lucy felt like a more interesting person in Spain than she was back in England. 

I could shock everyone. I felt funnier, more interesting and different in Spain.

Lucy Bella Simkins, English with Lucy

Another group of English students in Seville at the time hung out together and made no attempt to speak Spanish. But Lucy wanted the opposite and took every chance she got to talk to Spanish people and fit in with the local crowd. 

So, Lucy had many reasons to learn. Love was a powerful driver; so was fitting in with the culture.

Having a purpose is crucial, of course, but there are other important language learning factors too. What else did Lucy do to make her journey so successful?

General Fluency vs Accuracy

Many language learners are so petrified of making an error that they won't speak until they've learned all the vocab and grammar they might need to converse.

That's accuracy — trying to get everything right without making any mistakes. Sounds like something the fear villain would say right?

Lucy takes the opposite approach.

I would definitely say the biggest thing is working on general fluency rather than accuracy. I could hold a conversation and sound more or less like a native speaker but I would make a lot of mistakes. I would much rather be like that, than be word perfect and sound like a robot. I think it's all about trying to sound natural.

Lucy Bella Simkins, English with Lucy

That's not to say that Lucy didn't care about her errors. But instead of letting them stop her, she made a mental note to move on with the conversation now and find out how to fix them later.

Having a combination of both approaches would be ideal, but it can be tricky to focus on both simultaneously. So you often find that language learners tend to care about one rather than the other. 

Lucy cares about fluency first because she's a natural communicator.

English With Lucy's Tips For Success

The ability to notice things is one of the key skills in picking up a new language. So, don't wait for a teacher to point something out; start noticing things and mimicking them for yourself. 

Mimic How Native Speakers Use Their Mouths And Tongues

One of Lucy's breakthrough moments came when she realised that your mouth and tongue work differently in Spanish than in English.

That's because letters may look the same on paper in two languages, but the shape your mouth makes when you pronounce them is different.

I used to be really fascinated with people's mouths when they were talking. People would say, ‘stop looking at my mouth, look at my eyes.' But (I noticed) the way they said D's was different. I started mimicking that. At first I forced it and then afterwards it came naturally.

Lucy Bella Simkins, English with Lucy

Here's the big lesson: when you zero in on a learning goal, it will improve. 

Find Ways To Practise Speaking

Learning from the natives who wouldn't — often couldn't — explain the idiomatic Spanish they used forced Lucy to learn by speaking as they did. 

She was lucky to spend a lot of time with her partner's Spanish grandmother, and hearing her speak in context repeatedly, Lucy picked up grammar and vocab as a baby would.

Then when no one could explain things, she worked them out for herself. 

But speaking with friends and relatives was only one way that Lucy practised. You probably know how hard it can be to start a conversation with strangers. However, Lucy had a trick up her sleeve to pull out at concerts and bars.

I remember being so cheeky and pretending I didn't speak any Spanish sometimes, and then I'd suddenly launch into conversation. I was just testing things out, having fun.

Lucy Bella Simkins , English with Lucy

Lucy's not the only language learner to pull that stunt. It sounds like fun — and it is — but it also points to taking control of your learning and finding fun ways to practise in all sorts of situations.

People who find ways to get speaking practice learn to speak the language best.

Notice Things Everywhere And Don't Let Go 

Lucy was passionate about improving her conversational Spanish. 

She admits:

If there was something that I truly didn't understand I wouldn't let it go. I was always a little bit wired. So, if I was riding on a bus and I saw e.g. a pigeon I'd always think ‘what's that in Spanish?' If I didn't know, I'd write it in my notes app on iphone and look it up. I never let anything go, because if you don't do it in the moment you won't do it later.

Lucy Bella Simkins, English with Lucy

This approach answers an often-asked question: is immersion enough on its own? And while in theory, it can be, in reality, there's more to it. 

Deliberate practice plays a significant role in helping you improve your language skills. 

Remember, even though children start off being immersed in their native language, they also spend years studying, practising and learning the finer language points in school and as part of their everyday lives. 

The English With Lucy Method: Immersion + Hard Work = Success

Lucy's journey shows that METHOD is less critical than ATTITUDE.  

Lucy had a clear reason for learning Spanish, and she dedicated time and effort to that goal. She noticed even the tiniest details of the language and obsessed over committing them to memory. 

Another factor common to language learners is the desire to be “someone else” when speaking that language. Lucy was “just another girl” in England, but people thought it extraordinary that she could speak their language in Spain.

It's hard to manufacture that emotion, but this phenomenon of “escapism” comes up again and again in high achievers.

Unfortunately, we can't all jet off to a foreign country when we want to learn the language. But we can simulate that immersion experience at home. And we can all summon up dedication and perseverance if we have a powerful reason for learning.

So, if you ‘know your why’ and you're ready for the how check out our StoryLearning® method to see how reading and listening to stories can help you learn even a tough language like Japanese in just 6 months.

Olly Richards

Creator of the StoryLearning® Method

Olly Richards is a renowned polyglot and language learning expert with over 15 years of experience teaching millions through his innovative StoryLearning® method. He is the creator of StoryLearning, one of the world's largest language learning blogs with 500,000+ monthly readers.

Olly has authored 30+ language learning books and courses, including the bestselling "Short Stories" series published by Teach Yourself.

When not developing new teaching methods, Richards practices what he preaches—he speaks 8 languages fluently and continues learning new ones through his own methodology.