Select your Spanish resources. You will need one Spanish phrasebook with accompanying audio or an online audio podcast that has a transcript. (Please see Resources section.)
Begin to listen to your Spanish audio resources. Though you may not understand what is being said, you mind is becoming familiar with the sound of the language.
Listen to the audio resources with their accompanying written transcripts. Match the sounds you are hearing with the words and phrases you see on the page. Note the sounds of vowels and special Spanish letters. Continue to listen and read until you become familiar with the phrases.
Write the Spanish phrases you have been hearing and reading onto notecards. On one side write the Spanish phrase with its Spanish spelling. Underneath the phrase write the phonetic pronunciation. On the backside of the card write the English translation of the phrase.
Practice and learn the phrases written phonetically. First look at the spelling in natural Spanish. Then look at the phonetic spelling. Sound out the phrase several times until you can repeat it easily. Glance back and forth between the phonetic spelling and the natural spelling. Once you are properly pronouncing the Spanish phrase, turn over the card and speak the English definition aloud. Memorize.
Make new cards with only the correctly spelled Spanish phrase on one side and the English translation on the other once you are able to remember the pronunciation of the Spanish phrase without sounding it out using the phonetic aid. Or, cross out the phonetic pronunciation with a black marker so that it cannot be seen.
Continue to practice learning Spanish phrases with the notecards. Look at the Spanish phrases and answer with the English definition. Then turn over the deck of notecards and look at the English translation while saying the Spanish definition. As you master one group of phrases, continue to add more phrases and words following your audio resource. By this time, you may not need to include the phonetic aid as you will be learning to read and pronounce Spanish as it is naturally written.