Always, always speak Spanish fluently now with bravado!
A pronunciation secret that I learned by accident, and my experience from the beginning has shown me that to speak Spanish fluently now, you have to unleash your inner child actor! The concept behind allowing your personality to be recreated in your conversational Spanish, and your daily practice of your Spanish pronunciation, began to emerge for me when I started learning Spanish while in high school. During my first Spanish 1 class with the guidance of a great teacher, we learned to pronounce the vowels correctly first and then the consonants. Luckily for all of us, and I know this made a big difference, our basic phonetics lessons were presented using very simple and lively methods as opposed to the buzz written from memory of time after time and verb after verb. First, armed with just those phonetic basics, but applied correctly, I started practicing my Spanish vocabulary using the assigned Spanish words, then the assigned Spanish phrases along with of course the Spanish grammar exercises. One of the unique aspects of speaking Spanish and a great help for all of us who study Spanish, is that most of the words in the Spanish language are so “regular” (which means that the pronunciation rules are consistent and natural), that if you just “stick to the script” so to speak, something amazing happens as you say the words. “
The first thing I noticed while listening to me read my sentences in Spanish aloud, and what you will also notice when you get it right, is that suddenly and without trying too hard you can’t help but listen to yourself, for there is no better way to say it! , “that sounds Spanish”! Reading an easy Spanish magazine out loud without even worrying about what Spanish words you’re saying or what they mean is especially fun because at the same time, you can’t help but receive immediate and direct audio feedback from your voice, but without the distraction of translating any word meanings! Although it may seem different at first, give it a try and you will see how it allows you to get a rhythm and feel for the language. This is a mind-blowing practice that encourages you to learn to speak Spanish fluently in part because you are training yourself to vocalize sounds more easily and naturally, and most importantly, you are vocalizing and speaking. It is not uncommon to hear many people complain about being too shy to try to speak Spanish, even when they have the perfect opportunity!
Well, with this process you are already speaking, and this gets you used to how the Spanish that comes out of your mouth sounds! After applying this liberating Spanish practice, you will be amazed at how authentic your Spanish speaking can sound and will encourage you to improve a bit simply by playing with your pronunciation. This will also motivate you to easily mimic the Spanish dialogue and conversation you hear! Finally, this is a super technique for learning Spanish by yourself and it is a great change from your online Spanish practices and speeds you up for a real conversation to speak Spanish fluently now with friends and people you know! In a future blog post, I’ll cover some tips for modifying the pronunciation of vowels and consonants, or jump on my blog now!