Private: Blog
4 Steps to help you attune your ears to fast Spanish speakers
- 23rd April 2018
- Posted by: Angela Quiroga
- Category: Uncategorised
One of the biggest issues when learning Spanish as a foreign language is the speed at which natives speakers seem to speak, and I say seem to speak because as your ears attune over time you will find that it wasn’t as fast as you originally thought. Granted there will be some variations that will be faster than others depending on region and dialect, so for the sake of argument I will agree with most of my students when they say that madrileños (people from Madrid) speak the fastest! But even after a while of listening to madrileños’ pace of speaking Spanish your ears would start dicerning words and sentences.
So what can we actually do from our living room in Westberkshire, Wiltshire and even Hampshire to attune our ears to fast Spanish speakers?
As obvious as it sounds you need to listen to more sources of Spanish, but to listen in what is called diligent practice. A term I came across in a book called Grit by Angela Duckworth, where she explains how passion and resilience are the secrets to success. This might seem unrelated to learning Spanish; but I found the concept to be applicable to language learning.
Step 1.
Sit and listen for a set period of time without any other distractions, sorry no driving, walking the dog or drifting somewhere else in your mind whilst you are doing diligent listening.
Step 2.
Schedule time on a regular basis for the purpose of step 1, the consistent repetition of this activity will yield results, maybe not after you have done it 3 or 5 times but after having done it routinely for 3 or 4 months.
Step 3.
Choose appropriate material to your current level of vocabulary and tense knowledge to encourage a sense of achievement rather than a sense of frustration because you might as well be learning Chinese!
For instance, this site www.practicaespanol.com, has tons of useful articles on current affairs with its corresponding audio but they are mainly aimed at levels A2 and above so trying to tackle this if you are still a beginner would probably be frustrating.
Step 4.
Get immediate feedback so that you can adjust accordingly and pick out those words that sounded alien. That way you can familiarize yourself with them.
Use online exercises that test you and give you the answer straight away or use of cds/mp3s and its transcripts to make sure you understood right.
In summary, to attune your ears to the Spanish language try diligent listening; This means:
- Sitting and concentrating solely on the listening at hand
- Doing it consistently for at least 3 or 4 months
- Choosing material that is right for your level
- Getting immediate feedback
Possible sources for listening for different levels:
Your class CD along with the transcript and any other cd sources you might have.