4. Native Spanish Speakers Who Want to "Practice" Their English
There seems to be a never-ending parade of locals who desire to show off or practice their less-than-perfect English language speaking skills the moment they discern that you are a native speaker. From a cab driver's winsome "Where are you from?" to the supermarket clerk; security guard; good-intentioned, curious (or nosey) neighbor to passengers on a bus or in a collective, your speech will attract any and all who have the least smattering of English from any time period of their past. This is no matter how fleeting or distant that smattering of English might have been.
"I speak a little English, too," begins the exchange.
From then on, you’ve been "volunteered" as their personal English language instructor and are doomed unless you can somehow regain the upper hand.
5. Lack of Persistence in Spanish Language Learning Efforts
It happens to the best of us; we try to say something (good) and we’re laughed at, ridiculed or even ignored (bad), so we shut up. We’ll try a private tutor, not progress well enough for our expectations, and stop altogether. We’ll listen to the radio, watch TV programs or videos, attend sporting events, and get "blown out" by an overwhelming wave of colloquial speech that leaves us incredulous---end of Spanish language learning efforts. We’ll try reading a magazine article, novel, or newspaper, and then be unable to find irregular verb conjugations, idioms and expressions, or aspects of connected speech in our flimsy little paper-back bilingual dictionary and say "the heck with it" at our efforts to understand even so much as a classified ad.
Breaking the Spanish Language Learning "Code"
How, then, do you break the Spanish language learning code to successfully develop communicative skills? That involves directly going against the grain of the above-mentioned trends.
- Don’t limit your friends and associates to English speakers only
- Involve yourself in Spanish language-based activities on a regular basis
- Get a really good Spanish dictionary and use it daily
- Take short Spanish courses---online if need be---and finish each one
- Talk to people in Spanish and ask them to help you
- Use a wide variety of Spanish language learning methods from playing games to formal study
- Have fun as much as possible with your Spanish
Never Give Up Your Spanish Language Learning
Finally, in the words of Winston Churchill, "Never give in–never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense."
No matter what you may have heard, you cannot learn Spanish while you sleep, from being hypnotized, or in a few minutes each day. You certainly didn’t learn to speak English using those methods, did you? It takes regular, extensive, concerted effort and practice to learn Spanish, or any other foreign language for that matter. Remember to hang in there, keep practicing, and use many different language learning methods, and you’ll eventually be able to fluently speak any foreign language you wish, especially a relatively "easy" one like Spanish.