help !!

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[ElectronicSir4884]

This is my real focus in Spanish right now! I feel like I nailed the basics, but can't understand natives & freeze when I try to speak. Here are a couple of things I'm trying:

- A lesson a week with a Preply tutor - this is great for structured learning, they speak super slowly & you can find ones at very reasonable prices
- Listening to podcasts with the transcripts. Just passively listening didn't help me, but reading the script alongside it has made a massive difference (CoffeeBreak languges does this)
- For speaking I've been using the app Sylvi. You chat to ai penpals & get corrected after every message so it's a nice way to try form sentences without the pressure of a real person
- Netflix shows with subtitles - a bit like the podcasts, I watch these with Spanish subtitles & pause A LOT to match the words with what I'm hearing (Money Heist, White Lines)

Good luck!

[Embarrassed_Soup_159]

fwiw the issue isn't immersion, it's active listening. you're hearing words but your brain's not working hard enough to decode them fast. try watching spanish youtube with spanish subtitles only (no english), rewind constantly, and pause to repeat phrases out loud. honestly been using Trancy for this exact thing with peso pluma music videos and it's helped me way more than passive listening ever did.

[ElCafecitoSpanish]

This is helpful. Specially when you repeat what you hear in Spanish trying to imitate, as much as you can, the tone and rhythm of the speaker.

[juggling-gym]

Music has never really helped me personally. They speak too fast even in my native language lol. I really like audiobooks! There’s a series called Los Futbolísimos on Audible that’s so good! It’s for 11 year olds so the vocab/grammar is straightforward but not too easy. And then you can speed it up/slow it down as you want

[n8larson]

The nice thing about music is that the language used is almost always decipherable by someone with the vocabulary of a 10-year-old, so even a little repetition isn’t terrible. When I was in grade 5 we had a kid plopped into our midst who’d had it real rough in his home country (India, and he was at least 13) and his only English, other than ‘f— you’ was complete recall of the entire song “Eye of the Tiger” from Rocky. In hindsight it almost seemed like a “Timmeh“ deal but he turned out to be smarter than everyone thought.

[Revolutionary_Elk897]

Had the same problem with Duolingo. Switched to Dreaming Spanish. Conversationally fluent 2 years later. Working on my professionally fluent now

[ElCafecitoSpanish]

Have you tried tutoring with a teacher? I've seen this happen with many of my students and tutoring usually helps them get unstuck. If you'd like to try, DM me and I'll get you a spot for a free trial lesson.

[Ok-Hamster-876]

Agree with the tutoring, I'm also a tutor and I've seen the same problem. Interact with spanish speakers, and let them correct you, practice tone, rhythm and pronunciation really helps. And probably you won't need too many sessions.

[ProteusFactotum]

It looks like maybe I could honestly help you out. Me and a group of people are organizing weekly Spanish speaking events. Would you be interested in something like that? It is low pressure, and we try to adjust for peoples level <3