I had this problem a while back…I was terrified of talking to people in Spanish. I guess there was a fear of screwing up or not being able to understand if they said something back. I dunno, it was pretty silly. I eventually overcame my fears and now find it incredible to talk to people in Spanish, even if it’s just some basic conversation or phrases . Afterwards I feel like I accomplished something, and that my hard work was paying off.

Great post.

I have this problem. I know a lot more now than I did three months ago, but I am afraid that I will irritate people because I have to ask them to slow down or repeat themselves, or better yet, they’re using words I haven’t learned yet. I am getting better. I’m blonde-haired and blue-eyed. I love the surprised look I get when I throw out some Spanish to the Mexicans in San Diego. I try to speak Spanish every day, but it’s usually not to a stranger. I will strive more to do that. Thank you!

This is perhaps the toughest message to convey to students in middle and high school. Language is about communication, and learning is about engagement.

Thank you, D, for posting this.

Yes, Miss Profe sums it up perfectly when she says “language is about communication and learning is about engagement.” Too many people want to speak the foreign language they are learning at the same level as their native language. But that type of fluency doesn’t happen overnight. It takes hard work and a willingness to make a little bit of a fool out of oneself at times. (Check out the link before to see what I mean.) Hang in there!!

http://spanish-podcast.com/…no-big-deal/

Oops! Excuse the typo. I meant to say “the link below”.

Do you know how many words has spanish language?Please ,if anyone knows the answer send me a e-mail.Thanks

David, I completely agree with you that most times the fastest way to learn a language is by being in situations where the target language is needed for meaningful real life communication.

I moved to Spain two years ago with absolutely no knowledge of the spanish language. The first couple of months were really dificult, I couldn´t go grocery shopping, to the doctor´s or even watch TV without looking for someone to translate.

Talk about need and motivation. But I knew I had to learn to move around on my own and do things by myself without disrupting the schedule of friends and families. It was a necessity. A real life need to communicate meaningfuly in real life situations. Besides I had already fallen in love with the city of Madrid.

I´ve got my fair share of embarassing mistakes or as Bilingual Blogger so nicely puts it making a fool out of myself, I´m very determined though to achieve a certain level of fluency and I think I´m doing pretty well (if I say so myself).

I´m still learning, but I tell you I´ve got all the motivation I need.

David,

Speaking to strangers in any foreign language is a great way to learn a new language. Students need to get over their fears and start speaking.

You’ll improve your speaking and listening fluency and learn more vocabulary. Great advice David.

http://www.letutor.com – Spanish class in Phoenix, AZ

David,

It has been a long time. How are things going? I was just catching up on some of your blog posts and this one struck me.

Mosts students problems revert to not enough practice and their are 2 reasons.

1. Not enough access to Spanish speakers.
2. Fear of speaking to Spanish speakers.

Both can be overcome.

1. Search really hard. In the US it is easy to find a group of Spanish speakers somewhere or to take classes.
2. Everyone makes mistakes. I’m sure you don’t make fun of someone or think less of them when they are learning to speak English. Spanish speakers will think it is great that you are trying.

[...] for the most part there’s a high signal-to-noise ratio here and some fresh ideas (e.g., 6 Reasons You Should Talk to Strangers in Spanish). Two thumbs up from this [...]

hi there!

nice blog, congratualtions. I wanted to mention the project i am working on. It´s a language learning community where you can meet people learnin virtually almost any language. Of course, many of our users, are spanish native speaker. So if you are afraid to talk to strangers in spanish on the streets, maybe our site could help you to take the first step from the confort of your home.
chek it out http://www.palabea.net
it´s for free, of course

saludos desde berlin!

One more reason: you may get better deals . I have lived in Los Angles for a few years, so I had plenty of opportunities to try and speak Spanish to strangers. when shopping, I need to speak to strangers anyways, so when I see that the attendants are speaking Spanish to each other (to make sure I don’t assume too much), I go ahead and try to practice my Spanish. A couple of times this resulted in small discounts or “it’s on me” (I didn’t even ask for it… I guess they thought they would compensate me for my efforts ).

If you have children, then speaking Spanish to your children not only helps them learn Spanish but it also helps you improve your Spanish. I’ve spoken to my children in Spanish for the past 11 years and my Spanish has improved a lot since then. It’s also improved because I listen to Spanish podcasts that I find in iTunes such as Finally Learn Spanish and Spanish Grammar and I listen to the BBC news on-line in Spanish.

Jade

GREAT SITE!!! I could not agree more with Jade, speaking a second language to your children so that they can become bilingual benefits both parent and child. If the parent is monolingual, make it a family affair and learn a new language together!

Maribel Suardy
“We are Little Amigos”
http://www.wearelittleamigos.blogspot.com

Hello, i look for people speak english, i speak spanish