Improving Spanish language skills

[Anonymous]

DD is interested in improving her Spanish language skills. She is in a private school and tested into Spanish II as a freshman. While she is good at grammar, she is hoping to improve her conversation skills. We asked the school, but they did not have any good resources. Any suggestions?


We have some acquaintances whose DC speak Spanish and asked about setting up paid meet ups, in person or zoom, for a conversation. That has not panned out.

[Anonymous]

Unless she is able to use Spanish in her every day life she won’t be able to be proficient in conversation.

Are there any neighborhoods with a large Latino population? She could speak to various store owners or workers if she heard them speaking Spanish.

Whatever you do, don’t rely on Puerto Ricans to help her learn. They speak at a rapid pace and use a lot of slang exclusive to them.

[Anonymous]

Try online lessons. Live Lingua is one I used before I spent time in Mexico a few years ago, but I’m sure there are others.

[Anonymous]

There are some good virtual tutoring programs that connect you 1:1 with someone in a Spanish speaking country. Maybe look into that?

Spanish language TV has been helpful too.

[Anonymous]

ITalki

[Anonymous]

There are lots of Spanish podcasts and YouTube videos. You can usually adjust the speed, if you can’t quite keep up, and the videos probably have Spanish and/or English subtitles available.

Most TV shows and movies, you can change the audio to Spanish with English or Spanish subtitles.

My daughter used to attend a Spanish conversation club at the Rockville library. While that specific program is apparently no longer available, it appears tgere are now similar programs at other libraries. Just set the date range and search for “Spanish”. Other library systems might have similar offerings.
https://mcpl.libnet.info/events

The Montgomery County Public Library also has collections of books in Spanish.

[Anonymous]

Maybe it's too late to enroll for this summer, but she sounds like the ideal candidate for a Spanish immersion camp, either in the US or abroad. For example, TASIS or Enforex in Spain, or the Concordia Language Villages in the US.

[Anonymous]

Given your situation, conversation clubs or immersion experiences.

[Anonymous]

News in slow Spanish if she needs the slow speed. Others Colombian news.

[Anonymous]

Duolinguo / Spanish kids shows / Books that are short stories or poems in both English & Spanish (there's a surprisingly large amount of these)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unless she is able to use Spanish in her every day life she won’t be able to be proficient in conversation.

Are there any neighborhoods with a large Latino population? She could speak to various store owners or workers if she heard them speaking Spanish.

Whatever you do, don’t rely on Puerto Ricans to help her learn. They speak at a rapid pace and use a lot of slang exclusive to them.

This is not true.

[Anonymous]

Public libraries sometimes have foreign language conversation clubs. She can join one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unless she is able to use Spanish in her every day life she won’t be able to be proficient in conversation.

Are there any neighborhoods with a large Latino population? She could speak to various store owners or workers if she heard them speaking Spanish.

Whatever you do, don’t rely on Puerto Ricans to help her learn. They speak at a rapid pace and use a lot of slang exclusive to them.

This is not true.

She’s going into her second year of Spanish class. She started learning the language at a later age which makes it more difficult. She does well with the grammar part which is much easier than conversational Spanish. Do you really think she could converse with someone at this point?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unless she is able to use Spanish in her every day life she won’t be able to be proficient in conversation.

Are there any neighborhoods with a large Latino population? She could speak to various store owners or workers if she heard them speaking Spanish.

Whatever you do, don’t rely on Puerto Ricans to help her learn. They speak at a rapid pace and use a lot of slang exclusive to them.

This is not true.

She’s going into her second year of Spanish class. She started learning the language at a later age which makes it more difficult. She does well with the grammar part which is much easier than conversational Spanish. Do you really think she could converse with someone at this point?

Yes. She can learn to converse. I did, having started at age 12. I can speak, read and write it well enough to travel and work at a professional level in Spanish. Is my grammar and accent perfect? No. But it’s quite good. Yes, it took work, but was totally worth it. Don’t be discouraged by the naysayers OP!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unless she is able to use Spanish in her every day life she won’t be able to be proficient in conversation.

Are there any neighborhoods with a large Latino population? She could speak to various store owners or workers if she heard them speaking Spanish.

Whatever you do, don’t rely on Puerto Ricans to help her learn. They speak at a rapid pace and use a lot of slang exclusive to them.

This is not true.

She’s going into her second year of Spanish class. She started learning the language at a later age which makes it more difficult. She does well with the grammar part which is much easier than conversational Spanish. Do you really think she could converse with someone at this point?

Yes. She can learn to converse. I did, having started at age 12. I can speak, read and write it well enough to travel and work at a professional level in Spanish. Is my grammar and accent perfect? No. But it’s quite good. Yes, it took work, but was totally worth it. Don’t be discouraged by the naysayers OP!

Some people are better at languages than others. I started in 9th grade (14?) and it was difficult for me. I also wasn't great with English either fwiw but am strong at math. I've taken various courses and tutoring over the years since HS, have lived a total of 4 years in 2 different Spanish speaking countries and I can still not really carry a conversation - I can understand main ideas of speech and text but always struggle with a response outside of a very basic sentence or phrase.

But I applaud OPs DD for trying. I have 2 kids who are fluent and still figuring out how to keep it up for them once we move away, my husband isn't thrilled about the cost of a tutor. Probably the best bet would be to take a trip somewhere not too touristy but that can get expensive quickly also and also idk if one or two weeks would be enough.