How To Learn, Speak Conversational Spanish

[vera brown]

It seems that many people are learning Spanish these days. The exact
reasons for this trend are unclear. Maybe it's because there are 41
million Hispanics in the U.S. Maybe it's because there are 17 million
Hispanics in the U.S. who either do not Speak English very well or who
do not speak English at all.
Perhaps it is because, in the Western Hemisphere, Spanish is the
language with the most native speakers. It could be because Spanish is
widely spoken in Europe, and useful to travelers.
Also, it could be that in today's "shrinking world" we are all
becoming more international in our thinking and don't want to remain
monolingual.
For whatever reason you choose to learn Spanish, your first goal
should be to master conversational Spanish. That is the natural way to
learn.
Think about it. You could converse in English before you understood
any of the formal rules, before you even understood the meaning of
"conjugation", "gerund", "participle" or "superlative".
Here is how to go about learning and speaking conversational Spanish:
1. Getting started. Get yourself an interactive audio learning course,
either on CD's or via a digital download from the Internet. (You can
find several at the links in the bio box below) You will need the
audio part, spoken by native speakers to get the accent, inflection
and rhythm of the language down pat.
The advantage of learning from native speakers is a large one. Ever
hear anyone who did not grow up with English, speaking it? They will
have a noticeable (sometimes almost unintelligible) accent. It's the
same with Spanish. So you want to learn from educated native speakers
and try to sound like them.
2. Learning the basics. The advantage of digital media is that you can
buy an interactive-audio Spanish learning program for less than $100
on the Internet 24/7. You can download it and be taking lessons in
minutes.
You can offload lessons to your iPod or other cp3 player, take them
with you and study anytime, anywhere that it is convenient. You pick
your own speed, can repeat as often as you like.
Go through the interactive-audio learning course, taking the lessons
in order. Concentrate on getting through the basics first. Work on
getting your speed up, reacting rapidly in Spanish and beginning to
think in Spanish.
You might experiment with free-form listening, like switching over to
CNN news in Spanish, but don't put much time into it.
3. Practicing - polishing and honing, building on what you know, to
learn, speak conversational Spanish. There are several ways to go
about this. You will need to engage in free-form conversation with
native speakers of Spanish.
You could, for example:
+ Find someone you know who speaks good Spanish to practice with.
+ Post an ad at your local college or university for a native Spanish-
speaking student to act as your tutor.
+ Go online and find chat rooms where Spanish is spoken. (That will
give you practice in interacting with written Spanish.) + Open a Skype
VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) account, ask who in the Spanish
chatroom also has a Skype account and arrange to talk with them.
(Skype account to Skype account on the Net is free. For a few dollars
you can setup to call local phone numbers in Spanish-speaking
countries and access them via the Net from anywhere.)
+ Arrange to visit a Spanish-speaking country and engage in
conversation with people you encounter.
However you go about it, practice is important. To master
conversational Spanish, it will be essential for you to get some
practice actually speaking Spanish in real conversations. It is the
only way, really, to learn, speak conversational Spanish well and
effectively.
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