Getting fluent at a speeking a language...

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Getting fluent at a speeking a language...

Postby Seal » 2018-02-27, 21:23

I have been studying Spanish for 9 or so months now from a book.
I've reached an intermediate level, but can't really say anything without taking at least a minute to translate and think it all through.
Cant travel right now and I don't have any Spanish speaking friends, so I was wondering, what's the best way to get fluent otherwise?

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Re: Getting fluent at a speeking a language...

Postby TheStrayCat » 2018-02-27, 21:32

Sign up for a class or find a conversation partner on Skype?

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Re: Getting fluent at a speeking a language...

Postby linguoboy » 2018-02-27, 22:07

Depending on where you live, there may be a local Meetup for people who want to speak Spanish. Universities often host language tables for people to practice their conversation. Their openness to people from outside the university community varies; those on my campus, for instance, are open only to faculty, staff, and students, but I wonder if anyone's actually checking IDs to screen out people from elsewhere.

In Chicago, most of the food service workers are Spanish-speaking, so I'll practice my Spanish by chatting with them sometimes. Depending on the demographics where you are, this may or may not be an option.
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Re: Getting fluent at a speeking a language...

Postby TheStrayCat » 2018-02-27, 22:25

linguoboy wrote:those on my campus, for instance, are open only to faculty, staff, and students, but I wonder if anyone's actually checking IDs to screen out people from elsewhere.

Yep, they do. Always.

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Re: Getting fluent at a speeking a language...

Postby linguoboy » 2018-02-27, 22:29

TheStrayCat wrote:
linguoboy wrote:those on my campus, for instance, are open only to faculty, staff, and students, but I wonder if anyone's actually checking IDs to screen out people from elsewhere.

Yep, they do. Always.

As I said, that may not be true everywhere. I know this wasn't the case at my alma mater, for instance. I continued to go to language tables even after I graduated without the benefit of an alumni ID.

Church groups and other non-profit organisations also organise encountre groups or language exchanges. You never know what there might be until you start looking.
"Richmond is a real scholar; Owen just learns languages because he can't bear not to know what other people are saying."--Margaret Lattimore on her two sons

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Re: Getting fluent at a speeking a language...

Postby Seal » 2018-02-27, 22:32

Ok... Thanks, espero que me despierte en españa.

Ciarán12

Re: Getting fluent at a speeking a language...

Postby Ciarán12 » 2018-02-28, 17:13

Seal wrote:I have been studying Spanish for 9 or so months now from a book.
I've reached an intermediate level, but can't really say anything without taking at least a minute to translate and think it all through.
Cant travel right now and I don't have any Spanish speaking friends, so I was wondering, what's the best way to get fluent otherwise?


My two cents based on recent experiences getting to a fairly high level of conversational fluency in Portuguese:

- Listen/Watch LOTS of stuff in Spanish (YouTube, podcasts, basically you should be trying not to ever have media content that's not in Spanish in your life if there's a way you could have it in Spanish). It will train you in the comprehension side of fluent conversation and it will give you an intuitive feel for how things are said in the language, how often certain expressions are used, what kind of intonation they are used with etc.
- If you can't speak to anyone, speak to yourself, or record a vlog (you don't even have to put it online if you don't want, it's more about the act of actually speaking). This will help you figure out what vocab you still need to brush up on, what awkward constructions you need to use in conversation that you still can't manage to pull off fluently in conversation, and it will train you to do things like conjugate your verbs on the fly much faster.
- What Linguoboy said - try to find a conversation exchange partner.

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Re: Getting fluent at a speeking a language...

Postby linguoboy » 2018-02-28, 17:22

Ciarán12 wrote:- If you can't speak to anyone, speak to yourself, or record a vlog (you don't even have to put it online if you don't want, it's more about the act of actually speaking). This will help you figure out what vocab you still need to brush up on, what awkward constructions you need to use in conversation that you still can't manage to pull off fluently in conversation, and it will train you to do things like conjugate your verbs on the fly much faster.

This is really good advice. I forgot that I do this a fair bit. I tend to have a narrative voice running in my head when I'm alone and not otherwise engaged (e.g. walking on the street) and sometimes I'll challenge myself to narrate in an L2. Or when I'm bored at the opera, I'll see if I can translate the supertitles in my head. Then the next time I have a chance, I'll look up whatever words I needed but couldn't come up with.

I also try to text and message my friends in their native languages wherever possible. They tend to have a lot of patience with this and offer me valuable corrections.
"Richmond is a real scholar; Owen just learns languages because he can't bear not to know what other people are saying."--Margaret Lattimore on her two sons

Ciarán12

Re: Getting fluent at a speeking a language...

Postby Ciarán12 » 2018-02-28, 17:48

linguoboy wrote:I tend to have a narrative voice running in my head when I'm alone and not otherwise engaged (e.g. walking on the street) and sometimes I'll challenge myself to narrate in an L2.


I do this every day for about 40 minutes on my walk home - I live with my girlfriend and we only speak Portuguese at home, and I find it hard to switch quickly into fluent conversation when I get home if I've been thinking in English right up to the moment I get in, so it's good to get your mind thinking in your L2 before you need to actually speak (listening to a podcast can also have this affect).
I always look up words I find I don't know on my dictionary app on my phone, which helps with vocab.

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Re: Getting fluent at a speeking a language...

Postby Seal » 2018-02-28, 17:54

Oops, I spelled "desperté" very wrong... Sorry :blush:

My two cents based on recent experiences getting to a fairly high level of conversational fluency in Portuguese:

- Listen/Watch LOTS of stuff in Spanish (YouTube, podcasts, basically you should be trying not to ever have media content that's not in Spanish in your life if there's a way you could have it in Spanish). It will train you in the comprehension side of fluent conversation and it will give you an intuitive feel for how things are said in the language, how often certain expressions are used, what kind of intonation they are used with etc.
- If you can't speak to anyone, speak to yourself, or record a vlog (you don't even have to put it online if you don't want, it's more about the act of actually speaking). This will help you figure out what vocab you still need to brush up on, what awkward constructions you need to use in conversation that you still can't manage to pull off fluently in conversation, and it will train you to do things like conjugate your verbs on the fly much faster.
- What Linguoboy said - try to find a conversation exchange partner.


That is good advice, I'll do that.
thanks for indulging a bilingual idiot.

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Re: Getting fluent at a speeking a language...

Postby linguoboy » 2018-02-28, 17:58

Seal wrote:Oops, I spelled "desperté" very wrong... Sorry :blush:

I thought you meant to use the subjunctive.

(De todas maneras no comprendo bien lo que quieres decir.)
"Richmond is a real scholar; Owen just learns languages because he can't bear not to know what other people are saying."--Margaret Lattimore on her two sons

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Re: Getting fluent at a speeking a language...

Postby Seal » 2018-02-28, 19:46

Gracias por responder en españole, es que necesito.
Sé todos los conjugaciónes y como hacer los, pero cuando trato de escriber o decir algo es difícil para mí recorder cual usar.
¿Me dijé es bien?

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Re: Getting fluent at a speeking a language...

Postby linguoboy » 2018-02-28, 20:04

Seal wrote:Gracias por responder en españole, es lo que necesito. Sé todas las conjugaciónes y como hacerlos, pero cuando trato de escriber o decir algo es difícil para mí recorder cual usar.
¿Me dijé es bien?

Esto no me causa dificultades. Todavía no sé lo que has atentado de decirnos antes, eso de España. ¿Deseas viajar en España algún día?
"Richmond is a real scholar; Owen just learns languages because he can't bear not to know what other people are saying."--Margaret Lattimore on her two sons

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Re: Getting fluent at a speeking a language...

Postby Seal » 2018-02-28, 20:48

Estaba tratando de decir que todos los consejos que te me dió Al principo, no los puedo hacer y no puedo viajar y entonces voy a esperar que me despierto en españa.
Pienso que "desperté" lo no es correcto ni.
¡Estoy tan confundida!

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Re: Getting fluent at a speeking a language...

Postby Seal » 2018-02-28, 21:02

¿qué quiere decir "has" en español?
Lo dijiste.

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Re: Getting fluent at a speeking a language...

Postby linguoboy » 2018-02-28, 21:55

Seal wrote:Estaba tratando de decir que todos los consejos que te me dió al principio,

Ya puedes tutearme.

Seal wrote:no los puedo hacer y no puedo viajar y entonces voy a esperar que me despierto en España.
Pienso que "desperté" lo no es correcto ni.

"Desperté" es el pretérito de despertar. ¿Cómo se puede estar "esperando" un evento que ya tuvo lugar?

Seal wrote:¿qué quiere decir "has" en español?

Es la segunda persona singular del verbo haber en presente de indicativo.
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Re: Getting fluent at a speeking a language...

Postby Seal » 2018-02-28, 22:36

Veo, estas leyendo "espero" como: "wait".... Estoy lo usar como: "hope"

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Re: Getting fluent at a speeking a language...

Postby Seal » 2018-02-28, 22:45

linguoboy wrote:
Seal wrote:Estaba tratando de decir que todos los consejos que te me dió al principio,

Ya puedes tutearme.

Perdón, puedo usar la Ud. forma si quiere.
Last edited by Seal on 2018-02-28, 22:56, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Getting fluent at a speeking a language...

Postby linguoboy » 2018-02-28, 22:48

Seal wrote:Veo, estas leyendo "espero" como: "wait".... Estoy lo usándolo como: "hope"

¿"I hope that I woke up in Spain" es una cosa que dirías en ingles? ¿Con que sentido?
"Richmond is a real scholar; Owen just learns languages because he can't bear not to know what other people are saying."--Margaret Lattimore on her two sons

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Re: Getting fluent at a speeking a language...

Postby linguoboy » 2018-02-28, 22:49

Seal wrote:
linguoboy wrote:
Seal wrote:Estaba tratando de decir que todos los consejos que te me dió al principio,

[Quote="Ya puedes tutearme.

Puedo usar la Ud. forma si quiere.

¡También lo puedes usar si no lo quiero!
"Richmond is a real scholar; Owen just learns languages because he can't bear not to know what other people are saying."--Margaret Lattimore on her two sons


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