One of the main areas in which people struggle when learning a language is gaining the confidence to actually use it. They spend weeks, months and even years reading, learning and completing grammar activities but struggle to find the confidence to actually use it.
In reality, the best way to gain confidence and improve your accuracy is to use Spanish in real life situations. So here are my top tips to help you find those opportunities on a daily basis. That way you can really immerse yourself in Spanish and start to gain more confidence and accuracy when speaking.
1. Visit a tapas restaurant
Find a local tapas bar and ask if they have any Spanish waiters or waitresses working there.
They do? Great! Book a table and request that they be your waiter/waitress for the evening so that you can practise your Spanish.
It gives you the chance to practise with someone in a more relaxed environment and use as much or as little Spanish as you wish.
Perhaps just work on ordering the food etc and asking for the bill the first time. Then maybe the next time you visit you could try asking your waiter/waitress some basic questions – name, where they are from etc.
You can prepare these in advance to give you some confidence and the more you visit the restaurant and chat to your favourite waiter/waitress, the more your confidence will grow… and probably your waistline too!
2. Email a Spanish hotel
If you have booked a trip to Spain it’s a great opportunity to email the hotel to maybe find out some information about the facilities, make a request for a sea view room or ask about local events.
When you see that they have understood you and were able to respond, you will feel really positive!
This is a great way to improve your confidence and accuracy in reading and writing because you’ll find it easier to organise your thoughts and grammar before you hit send.
Not got a holiday booked? No problem! Just email some hotels and say you are thinking about booking. Then ask questions about the hotel, offers and local area. Who knows?… you may just book it!
3. Write a Weekly Diary
I don’t mean the type where every day you write the same thing… I got up at… I got dressed (or as the Spanish say, ‘I woke myself up’ and ‘I dressed myself’).
Once a week, write a short paragraph (maybe 10-20 lines, depending on your level and time) about your week.
Write as if you were chatting to a friend about what has been going on, warts and all.
For example: What a week! I had to take the car to the garage for a service on Monday but it failed and now I have to pay £200. It’s OK though because I sold my bike, so I can use the money to pay the garage bill. Other than that, it was a quiet week but Sally and I are going to a concert this weekend, so that should be fun.
Those few lines are packed with grammar that was natural and not robotic… which is how we actually speak. We don’t speak in one tense (time frame) at a time. We bounce from tense to tense and person to person, so practise in writing first and it will help to improve your ability to do the same when speaking.
4. Arrange an ‘intercambio’ with a native
An ‘intercambio’ (an exchange) is where you chat regularly to a Hispanic person in Spanish and English to give you both chance to practise.
This could be in person or online and you would typically spend half an hour chatting in Spanish and half an hour speaking in English.
There are many opportunities to find ‘intercambios’. For a face-to-face ‘intercambio’, you can contact your local ‘Instituto de Cervantes’. Of course, follow all safety precautions when meeting a stranger for the first time…. Make sure it’s in a public place, such as in a café.
If you are looking for an online/video ‘intercambio‘ you can use sites such as Conversation Exchange or Language Exchange Community. What’s more, you can even install free apps, such as HelloTalk.
The best thing about an ‘intercambio’ is that there is no need to be embarrassed because you will both be in the same position… having a go, making mistakes and learning from them but most of all… actually speaking.
Believe me, this is the best way to improve your confidence and accuracy when listening and speaking. So don’t be shy… have a go and be bold.
Oh… and grab a pen and a notepad because you’ll learn so many new words and phrases for natural everyday speech.
5. Apply the translation tool to your phone
If you open the Google Chrome app on your phone and click the 3 dots in the top right hand corner you can select ‘translate’. Then hit the 3 new dots at the bottom of the screen and select ‘more languages’. Scroll down and select ‘Spanish’ and it will automatically apply the change.
From then on, whenever you open a webpage in the Google Chrome app you can simply hit the 3 dots at the top right side of the page and you can flip between Spanish and English as you wish.
Using this tool is a great way to constantly learn… Maybe on the train or during the ad breaks when watching TV. It’s a constant opportunity to practise your translation skills and learn new vocab.
Don’t forget… you need to open the Google Chrome app, not just Safari or Google search.
6. Don’t overthink it… Just say it!
The best advice I got from my Spanish bestie, José Manuel, was to stop overthinking it and just say it.
I’d spend so long trying to get my words in order and you could almost hear the cogs turning in my brain. In the end, he said, just say it and if it’s not perfect it’s OK.
It was so liberating. I just started speaking and to be honest, most of the time, when I did make a mistake, I knew that I had and I made a mental note for next time. I didn’t dwell on it and that is the key… Just go for it!
Yes, you will make mistakes and that is fine, as every mistake is an opportunity to learn. With regular and relaxed practice, you will improve your ability to speak with confidence and accuracy at a pretty fluid pace.
7. Listen to Spanish
We can become so focussed on speaking Spanish that we forget how beneficial it is to listen.
You learn more vocab and improve your own pronunciation (because you can mimic what you hear) and therefore over time listening can really help you to grow in confidence and accuracy when speaking Spanish.
For a whole host of listening practice, take a look at Spanish Listening.org.
It has so many videos with useful follow up exercises and they are all at different levels so you can pick what you feel most comfortable with.
As the speakers are authentic Spanish speakers, from around the world, you find it easier to understand some accents more that others. Therefore, my advice is have a play and find a speaker that you like, then watch their many different videos and do their follow up tasks.
Initially, you might only understand 10-20% of what they say, but that’s fine! It’s all progress and beneficial. Plus, there is a transcript to help you follow what they are saying, so have no fear. In time, you will understand more and more and eventually you won’t need to look at the transcript at all!
In conclusion
Completing grammar exercises will always help improve your Spanish and you’ll find plenty of interactive grammar activities to do at Simple Spanish Tips. However, if you really want to grow in confidence, you need to immerse yourself in Spanish and actually use it with real people.
I’ve given you 7 really useful tips to help increase your opportunities to use Spanish, which will in turn boost your confidence and accuracy. So now it’s over to you! Get practising!
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