No hablo espanol!

November 15, 2006 4:43 PM

I've been self-studying Spanish for a while. While my reading comprehension and my vocabulary are good, and my grammar isn't bad. I can even largely understand the people I come in contact with. But, when it comes to my end of the conversation I totally freeze up. Has anyone been in similar straits, and what can I do about it?

Additional facts that may be relevant:

I'm pretty much fluent in French and Japanese. I think the French has hurt me by helping me; what I mean is, enough of the grammar and vocabulary carry over that I think I'm better than I actually am.

I've heard of several students of both Spanish and Japanese getting interference from one language when they try to speak the other, and I'm not sure if that's because of some phonological similarities between those languages or for some other reason, but it's happening to me. I keep thinking of the Japanese word instead of the Spanish word. But the Japanese is really important to me and I don't want to let that slip in order to focus more on Spanish. (The Spanish is a job-related thing).

posted by Jeanne to writing & language (19 comments total)

1. Watch Spanish language TV 2. Find people to converse with as much as possible or enroll in an appropriate level Spanish class (many tend toward pure conversation once all the tenses are learned) 3. Try "Tequila Lessons"... those sure loosen mi fluencia.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 4:57 PM on November 15, 2006

Ambrosia Voyeur has it, but it sounds a bit lke a confidence problem if you actually can understand but freeze up. The French will help a bit, but you have to get in the groove of thinking in Spanish. It sounds a bit like stagefright to me, so practice with work-people. Dirty phrases a fine place to start actually.

OT: Interesting that you should mention Japanese and it's sounds. I am a native Spanish speaker, and when I worked with a Japanese girl, I would dare her to think of the most 'difficult' japanese words she could think of. With no knowlege of Japanese, I could pronounce anything she came up with so flawlessly she would be floored everytime, even doubting that could not speak Japanese.

It also makes hearing Japanese extra hilarious to Mexicans, because in the course of of listening to Japanese speech they are very likely to say words that sound exactly like something silly in Spanish.
posted by ernie at 5:19 PM on November 15, 2006 [1 favorite]

This is a timeless problem, and the eternal solution is booze. Have fun.
posted by LarryC at 5:43 PM on November 15, 2006 [1 favorite]

Conversation: you need a conversation partner (try craigslist, or a local ESL school, to find a partner). I also highly recommend (don't laugh) talking to yourself or thinking to yourself in your target language. Spanish at work and Japanese at home maybe?

Interference is a bitch, but it'll get better, in my experience regardless of language pairing, if you exercise different languages throughout the day (Spanish at work, your fun-reading book at home is French, you watch anime for Japanese). Like, right now, I use Portuguese most at work, and study Japanese, but have a Spanish-language book ready to read...

All of this is about successful compartmentalization.
posted by whatzit at 6:04 PM on November 15, 2006

LarryC is actually totally right - back in the day, I would speak the best Spanish I ever did after a few drinks. I can't explain it but it works. I was about 85% fluent after drinking a few, while otherwise I'd say I was about 55% fluent.
posted by tristeza at 6:10 PM on November 15, 2006

North Carolina is seeing a tremendous influx of Mexican immigrants. In my town we have a Latino center, el Centro. They have a library, legal advice, and other stuff available to cope with the transition to the U.S. and getting a feel for life here. Anyway, see if there is a Latino community center where you are, and hang out there. It doesn't have to be a lot of time, just enough to get to know some spanish-speakers. Make some friends, get to know em, help them and they will help you. I think personal contact in a relaxed environment might help, and feel good at the same time.
posted by sneakyalien at 6:17 PM on November 15, 2006

The best method for me in regards to languages (native speaker of Spanish, 5 years of Japanese, 1 and a half years of Arabic, 2 years of Russian) has always been trying to translate my everyday thoughts--ie:

I'm walking downstairs, and I think "I could really go for some coffee right now. Where did I leave it?"

After this thought occurs to me, I try and figure out how I might say it in the target language. If I don't know, I construct what I can, and then look up the rest later. It's quite effective because you learn to say things you want to say, and not constructions.
posted by Lockeownzj00 at 6:21 PM on November 15, 2006 [1 favorite]

I think that as you get more experience/vocabulary/practice with the Spanish and Japanese, you won't mix them up so much.

I'm beginning to study Arabic and keep trying to throw in words from the one semester of Mandarin I took five years ago! On the other hand, I'm able to keep Spanish and French separate pretty well (I don't know if that's because they're so similar or if it's because I studied them longer).
posted by srah at 6:41 PM on November 15, 2006

Actually, Lockeownzj00 expressed better what I meant by "talking to yourself." heh.
posted by whatzit at 6:44 PM on November 15, 2006

I have that problem a lot with French. In an academic setting, in French immersion, hell, even travelling in a French-speaking city I can communicate pretty well. However, when over at my francophone friend's house for dinner and when her family gabs away in French, I understand it, yes, but I often find myself responding in English.

I think it's a case of brain not catching up... I'd have a response ready and I know the other person is waiting for my reply, but I can't formulate the French under pressure. What I find usually works is if I start with a very generic opener - "Alors" for example, which helps put my mind in the "French" setting so to speak, and then forcing myself to slow down altogether and think of the next word, instead of thinking of my actual response.

Does that make sense?

I have German crossing over into French and even English all the time, as German is my second language and it's more deeply rooted than English is, even if I don't use it much. and I used to always try to substitute "watashi" with "je" when I was self-teaching Japanese while studying French at school. More practice definitely helps distinguish them. I get audiotapes from the library and listen to them on the bus and listen to the intonation differences between Japanese and French (French is more expressive, I find) and from the intonation differences, it becomes easier to distinguish the two.
posted by Phire at 7:14 PM on November 15, 2006

"Don't be scared to make mistakes," that's what my cousins always tell me! I've been exposed to Spanish my entire life and I'm almost fluent--but I get flusetered very easily because I don't want to sound like an idiot! So just talk talk talk ... once you get on a roll you'll see how easy it all comes to you!

I have to agree, a few drinks certainly helps my Spanish.
posted by dearest at 8:10 PM on November 15, 2006

Pimsleur language tapes/CDs make you talk. all. the. time. Whenever you're comfortable to talk to yourself out loud, you can listen to these and talk. Highly recommended, but here are some disclaimers: I had the Swedish one, don't know about the Spanish; they are quite expensive (but maybe you find some on EBay or so); and the vocabulary used on each CD is quite limited, so it might not expand your vocabulary much, but you will get to talk. Suerte!

For the crossing over of languages (Italian and Spanish compete for the same compartment in my brain, other languages seem to have one of their own), what Phire said. Buying a few seconds of time by using filler words helps.
posted by meijusa at 8:54 PM on November 15, 2006

ernie: As someone who has taken more than eight years of Spanish and four years of judo instruction (requiring that we learn many Japanese terms, count in Japanese, and spar and compete in front of Japanese-speaking judges), I know exactly what you're talking about—Japanese and Spanish do have incredibly similar sounds.

As for speaking Spanish, alcohol really does help. I rarely feel comfortable conversing in Spanish anymore, although I can read it very well and understand people speaking it fairly decently—I always freeze up and feel embarrassed when I have to search for words in Spanish. Once I'm drunk, though, I've been known to babble on in reasonably fluent Spanish for more than half an hour at a time (much to my boyfriend's dismay).
posted by limeonaire at 10:40 PM on November 15, 2006

I always said that I "learned" Spanish in school, but never "spoke" Spanish until I started traveling in South America. There is no better cure than to be in an environment that forces you to speak a foreign language. I distinctly remember the moment "I got it" - I had been in Costa Rica for a few days, chatted in my poor Spanish to a kind and patient elderly gentleman and that night, I dreamed in Spanish for the first time. It was the coolest thing ever.

Just try to find a situation where you will be surrounded by Spanish speakers - hearing it and responding to it is the best way to perfect your accent. And have fun! I have never had anyone laugh at me for trying; they always just smiled - at least I tried!
posted by HeyAllie at 10:49 PM on November 15, 2006

Just to echo the advice above about talking to yourself - out loud - all the time. When I was learning Spanish and French I would walk around the house just talking (in the language) about whatever would come into my head ("I'm getting my socks out of the drawer. Now I want some breakfast")!! It makes you more comfortable with your speaking voice in that language, and like Lockeownzj00 noted, you'll increase your vocabulary because it'll highlight things you find difficult to express.

Practice, practice, practice!! I used to have the same problem about speaking - but I think I was just shy about the sound of my voice speaking the language - but the more you practice the more you get used to it.
posted by schmoo at 2:00 AM on November 16, 2006

More advice: it seems like such an easy thing to say, but you have to get over your shyness of language, in a sense. I mean, for an apparent linguophile, you're being mighty apprehensive.

This reminds me of something I posted on my blog recently--after watching this French movie (on a Spanish DVD, in Spanish subtitles), I was perusing the extras and there was a director interview. It was Costa-Gavras, if you're wondering. Anyway, he's Greek, but he was speaking Spanish to the interviewer. It was pretty good--but he made mistakes frequently; he must have learned Italian first because he kept saying "corpo" instead of "cuerpo" and "donna" instead of "mujer" and stuff like that.

But the point is it didn't detract from what he was saying at all. Rather, it gave him quite a unique flair, and despite his mistakes he was fairly fluent.

Ignore mistakes! You can't calculate fluency like that. You just have to say things as they come to you (obviously, don't try to tackle bigger fish than you can--don't discuss the tenets of socialism just yet :P), and in a few months, you and your Spanish colleagues will be looking back and saying, "wow, look how far you've come."

Also: for the "crossing over." I suggest doing what Phire said; you have to create a partition in your mind between these languages, at least when you're learning them like this. You should have key phrases or 'mindsets' to 'trigger' each language--like Phire mentioned, by saying "Alors," you consciously bring yourself into French, because you're even pausing and thinking in French. Learn these words and concepts. Make some kind of sentence that'll become you can repeat mentally to be your catalyst: 'español es un lenguaje precioso y gracioso,' or something. I donno.
posted by Lockeownzj00 at 3:28 AM on November 16, 2006

Yeah, it's good to think of a few phrases in the language before speaking (if you have time) and certainly a drink doesn't hurt. Things get so much easier when you can think in the other language. I was brought up bi-lingual (English and Spanish) up until the age of six and then I forgot all my Spanish (my parents wanted me to learn English exclusively) and it took me years to get my Spanish back. It's not perfect but the day that I began to think in Spanish meant that I'd climbed to the top of a hill as far as my re-learning Spanish was concerned...
posted by ob at 8:56 AM on November 16, 2006

You'll have to use both Spanish and Japanese regularly (I don't mean "all the time", but with some degree of regularity), or they're going to get mixed. I live in Japan, and have for over a decade. My mom is Spanish, and I actually spoke Spanish before I learned English. However, I never use my Spanish, and now when I try, Japanese invades it hopelessly (conjugating the past tense of "comer" as "cometa", for example). So try to get a little practice of both in as much as you can, so your mind doesn't lump them in together as "English, French, and Other".
posted by bugbread at 2:50 PM on November 16, 2006

If you're having trouble just with the ends of conversations, here are some ways to wrap it up other than the standard ("hasta luego", etc):

* "bueno, ya..." (a good lead-in)
* "ahí nos estamos hablando"
* "nos vemos"
* "hablamos más después"
* "cuídese / cuídate"
* (Costa Rican) "lo/la vi por tele"
* (my favorite) "que te vaya bién, que te mate un tren, y te deje la cara como un sartén"
posted by mjklin at 7:01 PM on November 18, 2006