Forums > Specific Focus > Learning Spanish

sergiogomez / Moderator

Mar 4, 2009, 10:16 PM

Post #1 of 17 (5945 views)

Shortcut

How to talk like a native in no time

Can't Post | Private Reply

Looking for a magic solution to that question? There is none. You can't take a language learning pill, have vocal cord surgery, or undergo an instant transformation that lets you speak Spanish like a pro. What you can do is pick the brains of the people who have gone through or are still going through the language learning process (more like a struggle at times!). It's a combination of lots of little tips and tricks that, when practiced, will have you well on your way to chattering away in Spanish. Maybe not at excited-Mexican speed, but easily and enjoyably.

So to get the ball rolling...

Running together the ends and beginnings of words makes speaking easier and will quickly get you "in the know" status with native speakers. It's simple. Take any phrase, like con eso hay (that's all you have to do, that's good enough). Say each word slowly and distinctly. Con. STOP Eso. STOP Hay. STOP. That's the way English speakers tend to say it. Now take the last letter of each word and act like it's the first letter of the next word. Co Nes Ohay. The O and the A don't blend completely, but they should sound close together. The difference between these two ways of saying the phrase doesn't seem like much until you try it out loud, the faster the better. It works with anything. Decir adiós. Decir. Adios. Deci Radiós. It comes out faster, doesn't it? El lago. Elago. Las abejas. La Sabejas.

shoe

Mar 5, 2009, 6:16 AM

Post #2 of 17 (5937 views)

Shortcut

Re: [sergiogomez] How to talk like a native in no time

Can't Post | Private Reply

So this is why I can't understand Mexican speakers. Hmmmm. All along I thought it was my bad hearing.

It really is my hearing but this type of speech does not help in the least.

cya,
shoe

Nothing is intrinsically good or evil, but its manner of usage may make it so.
-St. Thomas Aquinas

Carron

Mar 6, 2009, 9:00 AM

Post #3 of 17 (5893 views)

Shortcut

Re: [sergiogomez] How to talk like a native in no time

Can't Post | Private Reply

One I frequently use is "gracias a Dios". Of course I pronounce it "graci adios", just like the natives!

sergiogomez / Moderator

Mar 6, 2009, 11:44 AM

Post #4 of 17 (5877 views)

Shortcut

Re: [shoe] How to talk like a native in no time

Can't Post | Private Reply

Right. The upside is that once you know what to listen for and get used to listening for it, it gets a lot easier to understand native speakers.

sergiogomez / Moderator

Mar 6, 2009, 11:48 AM

Post #5 of 17 (5876 views)

Shortcut

Re: [Carron] How to talk like a native in no time

Can't Post | Private Reply

So you swallow the "s." I do it myself sometimes, but for some reason I find it terribly funny when TV personalities talk this way. And Cubans. If it's just a normal person who talks that way I don't think anything of it. Odd.

Oscar2

Mar 6, 2009, 11:26 PM

Post #6 of 17 (5859 views)

Shortcut

Re: [sergiogomez] How to talk like a native in no time

Can't Post | Private Reply

The Tung of natives in many cases is rapid fire Spanish that unaccustomed expats, such as myself has to dig his feet in and take a double and triple take on some of these fast speaking road runners…. Laugh

I get a great reality check when I key in on the Novelas and listen to some of these fast talking woman, especially when they get catty with each other and sparks start flying. The Latin temperament is “Hot,” wide eyed and accentuated with drama, which makes pouring a cup of coffee feel like a grand finale…

Un día, when I live in Mexico on a permanent basis and engage in daily exchanges with natives, I too will get up to speed and talk so fast, I’ll be spitting all over the place trying to catch up with what I’m saying….. Ni modo.. If you think some Mexican are fast talkers, Cubans are grand champions.

Peter

Jul 4, 2009, 5:26 PM

Post #7 of 17 (5092 views)

Shortcut

Re: [sergiogomez] How to talk like a native in no time

Can't Post | Private Reply

Most of us "gringos" don't have the ear to hear the language well, there are just so many more sounds and levels of accent to the english language. The Latino generally hears english much better than we do their language but has trouble speaking it. For me, I am making headway but still have trouble listening. Television is just too rapid-fire to understand well.

There is no shortcut and you have to slug it out learning the basics. But after you learn the verb conjugations and can speak somewhat fluent at a basic level you still need one-on-one conversation to dial it all in, and the language schools don't seem to know what to do after they give you the basics. But I have found a "magic elixer" and a school for conversation that has brought me so much closer to fully assimillating here I feel I must share with all who struggle like me.

Those cantinas that offer companionship at your table, for the price of a couple beers, are quite abundant all over Mexico can make for a great learning institution. Now, I am not a drinking man by habit but an occasional snoot-full I find refreshing, and these ladies beside from being good listeners take special pains in making themselves understood.

Interesting conversation and alcohol-induced fluency can really speed up the learning process and make it a pleasurable, pain-free experience. I'm not kidding. For any of you who can do this, try it. A good four-hour afternoon session with a lovely instructor/partner can cost less than similar instruction time at a language school and yield tremendous results, quickly. Just do yourself and all of us a favor and take a taxi to and from your lesson, they are very inexpensive here in Mexico.

sergiogomez / Moderator

Jul 6, 2009, 9:29 PM

Post #8 of 17 (5037 views)

Shortcut

Re: [Peter] How to talk like a native in no time

Can't Post | Private Reply

That first step you take is the longest stride...

You're definitely on to something there! You must have a lot of stamina to keep the beers coming for four hours...or maybe that's just a way to get things started?

La Isla

Jul 7, 2009, 1:14 PM

Post #9 of 17 (4998 views)

Shortcut

Re: [Peter] How to talk like a native in no time

Can't Post | Private Reply

In Reply To

Those cantinas that offer companionship at your table, for the price of a couple beers, are quite abundant all over Mexico can make for a great learning institution. Now, I am not a drinking man by habit but an occasional snoot-full I find refreshing, and these ladies beside from being good listeners take special pains in making themselves understood.

Interesting conversation and alcohol-induced fluency can really speed up the learning process and make it a pleasurable, pain-free experience. I'm not kidding. For any of you who can do this, try it. A good four-hour afternoon session with a lovely instructor/partner can cost less than similar instruction time at a language school and yield tremendous results, quickly.

I´ll bet you've had some very interesting conversations with female-companions-for-hire at cantinas, and, in any situation, the intake of alcohol does make anyone trying to speak a foreign language much more fluent, because inhibitions about making mistakes just disappear (I've been known to speak dreadful French after just one glass of wine!). But what would you suggest for a middle-aged woman who does not frequent cantinas and who is looking for someone to practice her Spanish with?

sergiogomez / Moderator

Jul 7, 2009, 3:17 PM

Post #10 of 17 (4987 views)

Shortcut

Re: [La Isla] How to talk like a native in no time

Can't Post | Private Reply

If it were me, I would probably try to strike up a conversation with people working or shopping alongside you at the grocery store, waiters and waitresses at the restaurants you like to go to (if they're not too busy), shop owners, your neighbors. It's easy to find tiny shops and stands just by walking down the street, and most of the people that work them are more willing to talk at length with a stranger than a typical American would be in the same position. It's possible to make a lot of friends this way, or at least get to know someone well enough that you can stop and chat about their (or your) grandkid's latest adventures instead of sticking to "how much are the tomatoes."

Bottom line: Mexicans of any age love to talk. Start a conversation with them and they'll rapidly open up to you, especially when they see that you're trying to learn their language. Be prepared to laugh at your own mistakes.

(This post was edited by sergiogomez on Jul 7, 2009, 3:19 PM)

esperanza / Moderator

Jul 7, 2009, 3:53 PM

Post #11 of 17 (4973 views)

Shortcut

Re: [sergiogomez] How to talk like a native in no time

Can't Post | Private Reply

Good suggestions, Olivia. A few more:

Join a group devoted to one of your interests: a church, a gym, folk dancing, etc. Volunteer at an old folks' home or an orphanage. Look on a bulletin board in a book store for meetings that might interest you. Take a course in some kind of artesanía.

http://www.mexicocooks.typepad.com

raferguson

Jul 8, 2009, 7:29 AM

Post #12 of 17 (4947 views)

Shortcut

Re: [sergiogomez] How to talk like a native in no time

Can't Post | Private Reply

And don't be afraid to hire a tutor, maybe a college student. An hour a week of conversation with a tutor is going to help, assuming the tutor stops and explains what you are doing wrong. The joke I tell is that a tutor is going to correct any mistake that you make frequently, if only because they get tired of hearing the language mangled.

Street conversations are good practice, for sure, but people in casual conversations are not going to correct your errors, if only because they are too polite to do so.

Richard

http://www.fergusonsculpture.com

La Isla

Jul 8, 2009, 4:33 PM

Post #13 of 17 (4922 views)

Shortcut

Re: [raferguson] How to talk like a native in no time

Can't Post | Private Reply

Since all of my private students have at least an intermediate grasp of the language, most of my teaching comes down to what I could call "mediated conversation", with occasional detours into grammar review and practice. It seems to work since most of my students have been with me for at least several months!

raferguson

Jul 9, 2009, 7:07 AM

Post #14 of 17 (4902 views)

Shortcut

Re: [La Isla] How to talk like a native in no time

Can't Post | Private Reply

That was generally how my conversation classes were run, conversation with occasional detours into grammar and usage. I did not find homework assignments or a more structured format all that helpful.

Occasionally I might identify something that I needed to study after class to make sure I really learned it. That would be something that the teacher taught, but I needed to memorize, or perhaps learn more about.

Richard

http://www.fergusonsculpture.com

sergiogomez / Moderator

Jul 10, 2009, 10:32 PM

Post #15 of 17 (4845 views)

Shortcut

Re: [raferguson] How to talk like a native in no time

Can't Post | Private Reply

That's pretty much the way I try to run my language classes. It just seemed like the easy thing to do, instead of coming up with quizzes and lesson plans and all that crap. Everyone seemed to like the arrangement, and we all have a lot more fun. Seriously, who wants to go to lessons where teachers berate you for every mistake, blast you with boring rules, and plan out assignments for you to do like you were five years old again?

zaragemca

Nov 13, 2009, 9:20 AM

Post #16 of 17 (2963 views)

Shortcut

Re: [sergiogomez] How to talk like a native in no time

Can't Post | Private Reply

To my friend Sergio Gomez, I observed that you make a reference to the Cubans in relation to the speaking, ( which is true), but the history of it is that, it was brought it to Cuba by the people from the, Islas Canarias. These were colonies off the mainland of Spain, (close to Africa), and that was their way to speak the language, but people coming from other part of Spain like; Galicia, Castilla, Cadiz, Aragon, Vascuna, Asturias, etc., would have better pronunciation of the, (s), and (r), and less contraction of the words, (which seems to be the problem). Gerry Zaragemca
International Club of Percussionists

(This post was edited by zaragemca on Nov 13, 2009, 10:00 AM)

Georgia

Nov 22, 2009, 6:45 PM

Post #17 of 17 (2686 views)

Shortcut

Re: [zaragemca] How to talk like a native in no time

Can't Post | Private Reply

I think it's also a coastal/island thing. In general, in Central and South America people from the coast speak much more rapidly than those who live inland. Historically, they were exposed to many more influences as well because of trade/seafaring and the like. If any of you have been to Guayaquil and Quito, Ecuador, that is a classic example. All of Cuba is pretty much coastal and I love to listen to them speak and watch them walk! The business of swallowing letters isn't confined only to Spanish speakers, my kids do it when they speak English, too.