The statement that learning Spanish or any other second language is easier for some people than for others totally ignores the fact that almost every human being can learn to speak at least one language.  Learning Spanish as you would learn math or music or science is not a valid comparison.  While it is true that learning science is not as easy for some as for others, because their brains are just wired differently, that is not true of learning Spanish.  No one has an easier time learning a second language than another person.

 

Part of the reason this view of learning Spanish is so widely held is that fluency in Spanish is equated to being able to read text in Spanish--not to communicate in the language.  With attention to the rules of punctuation, pronunciation and inflection, it is possible for a non Spanish speaking person to read or even memorize phonetically and recite entire passages of Spanish text, to the point where they could not be distinguished from a native speaker by a native speaker, and yet have no knowledge of what he had said. This person would probably be judged to be fluent in the Spanish language, but with no knowledge of meaning or content.

The distinction between learning Spanish and learning about Spanish is the difference between speaking the language and studying the grammatical rules which describe it.  We can equate it to the ridiculous extreme of taking an infant and placing it in a classroom with grammar rules and memorized vocabulary and pronunciation guides beginning the process of teaching the child English.

If you want to find methods for learning Spanish look for courses that emphasize spoken fluency in the language.  You should be able to travel in Mexico, talk to the Spanish speaking neighbors and get along just fine in the language.  Then, if you want, you can study the grammatical rules and verb tenses and otherwise learn about the language.

English speakers who can't string together a sentence in Spanish are guilty of the same kind of thinking as that presented in the book called The Ugly American referred to as social incest. Living in Mexico is the perfect kind of environment for learning Spanish. 

Without Spanish, you can never really get to know the color and depth of the culture and tradition which is the land of Mexico. If the only people you know in Mexico are bi-lingual because you've never learned the language, you are missing out on the largest segment of Mexican society.  To close yourself away from the people around you of either language is not only hard on the social interaction skills, but it likely that the cost to you both in terms of financial and emotional damage will be far reaching.

By learning to speak the Spanish language, you'll have a much better starting place than if you learned grammatical constructions and had flawless pronunciation.  Learning to speak the language before you worry about how its constructed is the key to Spanish language learning or any other language, for that matter.