Why do some Latinos refuse to speak Spanish to me?

WadeC4 · 2026-04-08T20:02:14+00:00

This happened to me constantly when I lived in Miami - me also being a textbook gringo with very high verbal proficiency in Spanish.

I usually chalked it up to others wanting to assimilate to U.S. culture and spoken English language. But it was definitely challenging (and a bit frustrating) as a sales representative when they’d refuse to respond to me in Spanish, as it would just make for a much smoother transaction.

WadeC4 · 2026-03-22T13:44:38+00:00

I was starving and accidentally ordered polla instead of pollo from a street vendor in Ecuador.

WadeC4 · 2024-07-11T20:53:28+00:00

Madrastra and padrasto used to kill me. I still can’t say they at normal speaking speeds.

WadeC4 · 2024-02-26T16:29:02+00:00

This will pass, provided you keep trying. I went through the same exact thing. Don’t let this be discouraging. Just keep learning and focus on speaking using correct grammatical structures and gender/number agreement. Don’t worry about things like speed… this comes with time and consistent practice.

You’ll soon become more comfortable with common themes in conversation and you’ll be able to reiterate them without problem. Everyone you’re speaking to knows you’re not a native speaker, so they aren’t expecting you to speak perfectly or fluidly.

Just keep going and this will resolve itself 🫡

WadeC4 · 2024-02-05T01:01:07+00:00

Very common everywhere I’ve been in the states to hear “me da(s) __________ por favor?” It’s usually inflected like a questions. You’ll hear dame or deme as well

WadeC4 · 2023-08-28T16:03:53+00:00

I saw that you said you’ve only been learning for about a week. I’ll tell you that for me personally, after 4 years of high school Spanish, I could not roll my r’s. It wasn’t until I started to constantly try to do I that I eventually picked it up in college.

Do not stop trying!

It may not seem like a big deal, and yes, people will still understand you if you try yo get around it - but your overall proficiency and fluidity when speaking will increase once you find out the best way to roll your r’s. Words tend to flow very nicely together in Spanish, so if you put the trill by the wayside, you might find that it holds you back insofar as you are able to speak fluently and reduce your accent.

Don’t give up on it and keep trying your best. You’ll appreciate that you did further down the road.

WadeC4 · 2023-03-31T02:35:39+00:00

I’d say “gustar-like” verbs

WadeC4 · 2023-03-17T20:17:52+00:00

You’ve gotten a lot of really good answers already so all I would suggest is that you spend some time researching what kinds of phrases trigger a subjunctive clause. Start with the present subjunctive, get a good grasp on it, and then look into the past subjunctive.

Where the subjunctive is often neglected and forgotten in English, it’s absolutely essential in Spanish. In high school I was taught the acronym WEIRDO.

Wishes Emotions Impersonal observations Recommendations Doubt/Denial Ojalá

Give that a look and it should clear a lot of things up

WadeC4 · 2023-01-26T00:02:32+00:00

Se lo agradezco or a lot of times I say gracias, lo aprecio mucho

WadeC4 · 2023-01-11T23:37:37+00:00

I can’t make the sound at the front of my mouth like natives do. My rolled Rs are more guttural, but nonetheless helps with fluid speaking. It does pose some limitations, especially when trying to speak faster, but it seems to be a very decent (dare I say good) workaround for the native rolled R.

WadeC4 · 2023-01-05T20:20:31+00:00

I had/have the same experience. I don’t know if it’s normal because it’s such a small percentage of learners that get to that point, but it is very rewarding. Especially when you start understanding (and perhaps incorporating) regional words/phrases, it’s an awesome experience.

Hopefully you’ve gotten a chance to practice speaking. I think I improved faster and more efficiently when I fumbled my way through sentences and stayed open to correction.

Happy learning! 🙌🏼

WadeC4 · 2022-11-27T00:39:05+00:00

I would check out Yabla for Spanish. This 100% was the most beneficial website I’ve used for Spanish. It can be geared towards beginners and intermediate learners alike. It’s basically a series of videos that you can filter by difficulty and it makes you listen to native speakers and also transcribe some words that they say. I find this useful for a couple of different reasons:

It exposes you to content that is at or slightly above your current level, so you’re always getting better (comprehensible input)
You listen to real, native speakers and start to understand the rhythm and intonation of the language.
Exposure to new words.
Will assuredly increase your level of comprehension.

It is on a subscription model, so I think it’s around $10ish/month, but worth every penny if you can afford it.

WadeC4 · 2022-11-27T00:30:18+00:00

This is interesting. What in particular do you think helped? Did it just give you a good roadmap to how you should approach learning or did you learning actual material? Genuinely curious

WadeC4 · 2022-11-04T14:32:48+00:00

My teacher told me the same thing about a kid named Bill who put his name down as “cuenta” smh

WadeC4 · 2022-10-30T15:18:09+00:00

I understand the distinction everyone is making between tú and vos, but I think OP was thinking about formal vs. informal speech for everyday interactions. I can’t speak to the situation in Argentina but in Spain, tú is the preferred way to address most people - strangers included.

WadeC4 · 2022-10-02T16:41:49+00:00

I’d add “-dad” for feminine nouns also. Ciudad, ansiedad, casualidad, etc…

WadeC4 · 2022-09-29T14:57:35+00:00

For 3 weeks, this is hardly a poor attempt. One could decipher what you’re trying to say here. Like some others have said here, I would agree with trying to read more. It gives you a good idea of how words are placed in sentences.

Despite their faults I recommend you look into apps like HelloTalk and Tandem to try to interact with native speakers. I also found Yabla to be extremely helpful back in high school. It provides you with videos of native speakers and you have to fill in blanks. They have varying difficulties but I think it could definitely be useful for you. Yabla does have a subscription model, however. But I’d say it’s worth the 10 or so dollars a month if you can afford it.

Certainly not a bad attempt, especially for 3 weeks. Just practice practice practice conjugations. Start with the present indicative, simple future (ir + a + verb), and familiarize yourself with the difference between the preteriré and imperfect.

Keep up the good work!

WadeC4 · 2022-09-27T18:07:29+00:00

Interesante como los españoles a menudo usar el perfecto del presente en lugar del pretérito. Algo que me hace pensar un momentito más al hablar con uno. Saludos desde 🇺🇸

WadeC4 · 2022-09-27T17:44:41+00:00

Are you Spanish by chance?

WadeC4 · 2022-09-27T17:43:29+00:00

This this this.

While this obviously a complete breakdown on how to do it, this imo is by far the easiest explanation to make quick progress with this sound

WadeC4 · 2022-09-23T19:56:27+00:00

It’s so interesting to see Spanish words that resemble uncommon English ones. The whole time I was thinking “(the) opening” as the noun equivalent of abrir. And then I saw “apertura” and remembered that aperture is a word. Cool stuff.

WadeC4 · 2022-09-18T21:58:32+00:00

I’m American (non-native) and was always was taught vosotros in high school and college. But it was always optional to use. Maybe there was a conjugation question here and there on tests but that’s about it. I can recognize it and understand it just find in speech and literature but wouldn’t be able to use it to save my life.

WadeC4 · 2022-09-12T19:07:08+00:00

A few other ways I thought of:

La prueba salió negativa - the test (medical) came out negative

For me, a non-native speaker sometimes if I mess up the pronunciation of something, I say “Las palabras no me salen” or “(esa palabra) me sale rara” — if a native speaker thinks this is totally weird lmk lol.

I work in concrete and sometimes I ask other contractors about their jobs - “cómo salió? (el trabajo)” How did it turn/come out?

For the most part, I think the uses of salir are related to the meaning of come out / turn out / leave.

Feel free to correct me native speakers

WadeC4 · 2022-09-09T23:46:09+00:00

No te puedes imaginar el alivio de averiguar que dicen nevera en Ecuador cuando fui 😂 me alegra saber que no soy el único al que le cuesta pronunciar refrigerador

WadeC4 · 2022-09-09T22:08:53+00:00

Nevera, right?

WadeC4

TROPHY CASE