Even if you are an advanced or proficient Spanish speaker, you may find that your Spanish skills start to slip after a while if you don’t live in a Spanish-speaking country and don’t have the opportunity to speak Spanish on a regular basis. Naturally, you don’t want your skills to erode, especially after putting in so much time and effort to learn the language in the first place.
So how can you keep your Spanish skills sharp with minimal effort and minimal time commitment? Here are a few methods I use:
1) Read a book. I usually have a Spanish novel on the go. It’s an easy, passive way to keep Spanish active in your brain. I like mystery and police novels. Right now I’m reading Cazador de Almas by Alex Kava.
2) Subscribe to a Spanish magazine. Getting a magazine such as People en Español delivered to you each month serves as an automated reminder to keep up your Spanish.
3) Change your start page. I like to set the start page on my web browser to a Spanish site. I like to read the latest news from Buenos Aires so I set it to Clarin. Sometimes I change it to Esmas.
4) Tune up with Verbarrator. I’m a big fan of the Verbarrator. I use it to refresh my memory on some of the trickier verb conjugations that I seem to forget when I’m not speaking Spanish regularly (such as past tense subjunctive).
5) Help a friend learn Spanish. There’s a good chance you know someone who is learning Spanish. Offer to help them study. Even if they are beginners it will help you keep Spanish at the front of your mind.
6) Listen to Latin music. This has to be the easiest way to keep Spanish words and phrases running through your head. Let me suggest one song: Por Un Segundo by Aventura. Fantastic lyrics.
How do you keep your Spanish skills sharp? Let me know. Write a comment below.
I’ve been speaking Spanish for years and have no trouble pronouncing 99.9% of Spanish words. I know I speak the language pretty well because native speakers have no trouble understanding me and I can communicate what I want to communicate. There is, however, one word that I’ve never even come close to mastering. In fact, when I say it, most people don’t know what the heck I’m talking about. Or, worse, they think I don’t really know how to speak Spanish.
The word I’m talking about is “raro”.
“Raro” means “strange” or “weird” and is commonly used, especially in Mexico.
In English, we might say “Wow, that’s weird” or “How strange”. In Mexico, they would say “Qué raro”.
Now the point of this post isn’t to highlight my Spanish deficiencies but rather to point out a useful technique that many advanced non-native speakers employ. The technique is word substitution.
Instead of beating myself up for not being able to properly pronounce one little Spanish word, I simply make a word substitution. In place of “raro” I say “extraño” or “inusual”, depending on the situation. Sure, it’s not perfect, but it’s close enough.
So next time you encounter a Spanish word you can’t pronounce, find a substitute word and move on. Life is too short to worry over a little word like “raro”.
Update 18 August 2011 – My colleague Kim McConnell has tested Jetset Spanish and just posted this Jetset Spanish review.
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Today I received an email from Mauricio at Rocket Languages letting me know about a new Spanish course they will soon be launching. The course is called Jetset Spanish.
Jetset Spanish has been designed to take a lot of the fear out speaking Spanish when you still are learning the language and aren’t confident in your abilities. The course does this by letting you interact with people in a video. The goal is to let you practice and improve your Spanish without fear of embarrassment. It seems pretty clever!
Here’s how Mauricio explains it:
“Learning Spanish can also be a lonely experience if you don’t have anyone to practice speaking with. Wouldn’t it be great if you could practice with native Spanish speakers anytime you wanted – without the fear of making a mistake? Imagine if you could actually sit down at a restaurant with them, share a meal, and join in the conversation without the fear of failure. Picture having your own Spanish-speaking friends to show you how to get around town, book accommodation, and go shopping – in Spanish! What if you could meet their friends and family, get the lowdown on how to party Spanish-style, and join them on a trip to the country?
“ That would be a pretty cool way to learn to speak Spanish right?”
The other day on the bus, I noticed a friend of mine practicing her Spanish with the aid of a little book called Spanish 60-Second Grammar Workouts, 140 Speed Tests to Boost Your Fluency.
I asked her how she liked it.
“It’s great,” she replied. “These little mini-quizzes help keep me sharp on things like the past tense and imperative when I don’t have much opportunity to speak Spanish.”
I borrowed her book and it does look pretty good for reviewing, remembering and solidifying grammar knowledge, particularly for advanced-intermediates.
Personally, I wouldn’t buy it though. I prefer to do all my grammar practice with the Verbarrator. But, hey, variety is good too!
A couple weeks ago I received an email from Patrick Jackson at Learning Like Crazy on the topic of “Spanish slang and informal Spanish words.”
Patrick’s emails are always a pleasure to read and I usually learn something new. This particular email taught me an informal Spanish word I had never heard before, but now plan to incorporate in my vocabulary. I thought I would share it with you here.
The next word that I am going to share with you is a very informal vocabulary word. You may want to pay close attention here because I can assure you that you will not see this word in a Spanish vocabulary or grammar book. And you will not learn this word in a Spanish home-study course or taking Spanish classes in a classroom setting.
But Spanish speakers use the word.
I have heard it used in Colombia, in Nueva York, and also in the reggaeton music from Puerto Rican recording artists.
In one my Spanish dictionaries, next to the word is the abbreviation “Fam” which stands for “familiar”.
Here’s the word:
Pillar – to see, to catch
Spanish speakers use this word in the same way that English speakers use the verb ”to see/catch” as in “to see/catch a person” especially when the person seen did not want to be seen.
Por ejemplo,
Yo pillé a tu novio con otra en la discoteca. (I saw your boyfriend with another womanin the club.)
I recently came across a Spanish course designed and administered by a teacher named Maria Fernandez. Although I haven’t tried the course, I wanted to bring it to your attention since it appears to be both user-friendly and comprehensive. Maria is an experienced teacher with over 15 years experience.
“I’m looking for the best complete spanish learning system. I hope you can help me. I’m planning on moving to Mexico in a few years & want to be fluent. I’m looking for one that is well balanced w/ grammer, vocab. & the whole 9 yards. Rocket Spanish is pretty good but I feel I need a more extensive course. I really don’t want to give $650 for Rosetta Stone unless it is that much better than the others. I’v been looking @ some others,”Fluenz”, “Tell me more spanish” @ I’m sure there are others. Can you give me your opinion on these @ any others you could recommend. I have been through the “The Everything Learning Spanish Book” several times so I do have a start on my Spanish.”
Here is my reply:
“I get the best feedback on Rocket Spanish which costs $99. But if money is no object, you might want Rosetta or Fluenz. Personally, I would get Rocket then spend the extra money on the Practice Makes Perfect books, and a tutor.”
Once you achieve a reasonably advanced level of proficiency in Spanish, you will need to bolster your understanding of idiomatic expressions. To help you do this, you’ll probably want to purchase a good reference book of idioms.
Of course, there are several good options. Here’s a review of Barron’s Spanish Idioms. The review includes a few good samples from the book.
I recently had the opportunity to test drive a new software program that’s designed to make it easier for people to learn Spanish verbs. It’s called the Verbarrator. What a fantastic program! This little piece of software (well, maybe not “little” since it contains more than 30,000 audio files) lets you drill yourself on all common Spanish verbs in all tenses. There’s English and Spanish audio plus an “immersion mode”. You can study the verbs on their own or in Spanish phrases.
It takes quite a bit of time and repetition to learn Spanish verbs. That’s why I think Verbarrator will be a great help to a lot of people who are trying to learn the language — it makes it easy to focus on the verbs that give you the most trouble.
Product developers say that Verbarator was more than three years in the making.
There’s more information about this verb drill program at Kim’s Verbarrator review.
Do the things you like to do. Like to listen to Spanish music? Do it! Like to watch Spanish television? Do it! Learning Spanish doesn't have to be hard work. Enjoy the process of discovering the language.
