- Why is Spanish so hard to speak?
So you've been climbing the Duolingo tree,
studying every day, and the moment you go to speak
to a real native Spanish speaker, you freeze completely.
What's up with that?
I'm Jim from Spanish and Go,
your resource for learning real-world travel Spanish,
and not only am I going to go over
the most difficult aspects of speaking Spanish,
but stick around till the end
because I'm going to give you my best advice
as someone who's been learning the language
for the past 10 years of how to overcome these obstacles
(speaking Spanish)
So in a previous video,
we covered why Spanish is so difficult to understand,
but in this video, we're gonna dive in
and focus on the speaking aspect.
So let's start right off
with the order of words in sentences.
So sentence structure and the order of words
can be a little confusing
to native English speakers learning Spanish.
Why is it (speaking Spanish) in Spanish,
but white house in English?
And this is because the adjectives and nouns are flipped
when compared to English.
So stick around till the end
and I'll give you my best advice on how to overcome this.
Next up, accents.
A huge struggle for English speakers learning Spanish
are accents over certain letters in words.
And this is a big deal because the difference
between having an accent over a word and not having one
can mean changing the meaning of the word entirely.
For example, (speaks Spanish) versus (speaks Spanish),
if versus yes,
or (speaks Spanish) versus (speaks Spanish).
And accents can change tense and subject as well.
For example, (speaks Spanish) versus (speaks Spanish).
I speak versus he or she spoke.
And let's not forget about N.
While this one isn't an accent,
it's a letter that we don't have in English.
It makes a sound that we're not used to in English,
and it can change the meaning
if you decide to use N instead of N.
For example, (speaks Spanish) versus (speaks Spanish).
Without the N, you're saying anus.
With the N, you're saying year.
I actually had a friend who ran into a bit of a problem
when he was at a bar and he was trying to tell everybody
at the bar that he was 23 (speaks Spanish)
In Spanish, that made it sound like he has 23 anuses.
You have to be careful with this one.
Next up is a major issue that native English speakers have,
and that is understanding the concept
of masculine and feminine nouns.
Not only is this not a thing in English,
but it's also something
that doesn't really have much logic to it.
Why is a table feminine? (speaking Spanish)
And the floor, masculine? (speaking Spanish)
Now when you're reading a word on a page,
there are some clues that can give away its gender,
but when speaking, it's not so easy.
It's often confusing trying to remember
whether the word you want to use is masculine or feminine.
And don't get me started on words like (speaks Spanish)
where it's (speaking Spanish)
but in use, it is used like a feminine word.
This is crazy confusing to most new Spanish learners.
And most words in Spanish that end in A are feminine,
but it's not (speaking Spanish)
Next up, another thing
that makes Spanish really difficult to speak
are reflexive verbs.
These can be really confusing.
When I say I wash my hands in English,
I am making it clear that I'm talking about my hands,
but in Spanish, it is confusing a lot of the times
to add that (speaks Spanish)
as in (speaking Spanish) or (speaking Spanish)
I wash my hands or I washed my hands,
which is especially important these days.
And we have reflexive verbs in English
with she, herself, he, himself in English,
but just the structure is different in Spanish.
Next up, we have por y para and ser y estar.
These confuse English speakers to no end,
and mostly because the rules for using them
are about as clear as mud
when you're just starting to learn Spanish.
And once you think you have the rules down,
you run into phrases like (speaking Spanish)
Usually, that is a permanent state of being,
but in Spanish, for some reason, they use (speaks Spanish).
And also, the verb you use
can change the meaning of the sentence.
For example, (speaking Spanish) I'm ready
versus (speaking Spanish) I'm smart.
And even though you might think marriage
is more of a permanent thing, you can say (speaking Spanish)
You can also say (speaking Spanish)
That's perfectly fine.
It's like saying, "In my heart,
I am married and I will be forever,"
but (speaking Spanish) could mean,
like, I was recently married
or it almost sounds like you're open to the possibility
of no longer being married.
Now let's get away from the grammar aspect for a moment
and talk about a few things
that can make speaking Spanish especially difficult.
For example, corrections from biased Spanish speakers.
This has happened to me.
If you happen to say (speaking Spanish) on the internet,
someone will come after you.
And this is because in some Spanish-speaking countries,
they would say (speaking Spanish)
Maybe not that strong, but (speaking Spanish)
instead of (speaking Spanish)
And if you're from Argentina,
you might say something closer to (speaking Spanish)
or something along those lines.
And if you put yourself out there a lot,
you may run into someone who tries to correct you
and say that the way you're saying it is wrong,
but it very well may be the case that they're just biased
towards the pronunciation from their country.
All of these different ways
to say (speaking Spanish) are valid.
You'll just hear certain pronunciations
more so in some countries versus others.
This can be really confusing because you would think
that you could trust a native Spanish speaker
to be able to correct you properly,
but you have to watch out.
Not all native Spanish speakers
are aware of the diversity of the Spanish language.
Next up, another thing that can trip you up
is hearing incorrect Spanish from native Spanish speakers.
This can make speaking exceptionally difficult
because you don't know
if you should say it like they're saying it
or the way you learned it.
And if you haven't learned it,
you might end up learning it the wrong way,
talking to certain native Spanish speakers.
For example, a fairly common mistake
that native Spanish speakers make are adding an additional S
to the end of the past tense form of a verb.
You might hear some people say (speaks Spanish)
instead of (speaks Spanish)
or (speaks Spanish) instead of (speaks Spanish)
(speaks Spanish) instead of (speaks Spanish)
or (speaks Spanish) instead of (speaks Spanish).
(speaking Spanish)
Don't say that. Just don't do it.
Nacacia: Well, now you've *did it*, girl!
Nacaranda: You've *did it*? I thought we agreed. Girl, use a dictionary!
My possible boyfriend is on another level, he's not trashy...
Vitor: Nacaranda... What *did you said*: "He's not coming?"
That's what you *thunk*. Didn't you *knew* who you were dealing with?
Nacaranda: You didn't *failed* me, Vitor!
And if you're really putting yourself out there
with your Spanish, you might run into this next one.
Native Spanish speakers confusing you into thinking
that you are not saying the correct thing
because I've run into this many times with my,
the other half of this channel and my wife,
when we're traveling, oftentimes, I will say something
to maybe a receptionist or someone at the bank,
and they act like they didn't understand me
even though I said everything correctly.
And there have been occasions where my,
a native Spanish speaker,
goes ahead and says the exact same thing that I said
to the receptionist or whoever we're talking to
and they understand her,
and I know that I said it correctly.
Now when this happens, this can add a lot of doubt
to your own Spanish-speaking skills.
And it might make you wonder
if you're even speaking correctly, but there are occasions
where people are just not ready to hear you speak Spanish.
They might think,
"Oh, this person's going to speak English to me,"
or, "Their Spanish is going to be broken."
And for one reason or another, they don't understand you.
And sure, it could be that you said something incorrectly,
but I can tell you from experience,
even when you're spot-on,
sometimes people end up getting confused anyways.
And for one last grammar issue,
let's talk about the subjunctive.
The subjunctive mood causes more problems
for Spanish learners
than possibly any other grammatical topic,
and it's because there's no exact equivalent in English.
An example of the subjunctive in English
would be something, like, if I were you, I wouldn't do that.
But there's something about the rules
behind using the subjunctive in Spanish
that make it really difficult to understand
when you should and should not use this.
Some examples of the subjunctive mood in Spanish
would be phrases like (speaking Spanish)
or (speaking Spanish) or (speaking Spanish)
and these take some time to learn.
But one of the biggest things
that a lot of Spanish students miss
is that speaking is a different skill.
This is why you can study and practice with Duolingo
and feel like you're making a lot of progress,
but then when you go to actually speak
to a native Spanish speaker,
you feel like you have forgotten everything.
And this is because performing
and actually speaking what you've learned
is a whole different skill that you have to work
and practice and get better at over time.
When you're at home learning and studying
from a book or taking classes online,
if it's not with a native Spanish speaker,
you're not exercising that ability
to speak Spanish with a real person.
If you're just studying by yourself,
you don't have the same nervousness that you would
when you're about to speak to a native Spanish speaker.
You don't have the pressure to try to impress them
or to try to show them that you've actually learned a lot.
And it can be really frustrating
when you feel like you have learned a lot,
but you just cannot express that or show that
to the person that you're speaking with.
So what are my biggest tips
for overcoming all of these problems?
Well, I've got a couple.
First and foremost, you need to be listening
to as much Spanish as possible.
You can watch shows on Netflix in Spanish
with Spanish subtitles.
You can listen to Spanish podcasts, like ours,
The Learn Spanish and Go Podcast, which is all in Spanish
and has a bunch of tools to help you improve your Spanish
and to make sure that you're getting the most
out of each episode.
You can read books. You can watch movies.
And while taking in and listening
to as much real Spanish as possible
isn't giving you the opportunity to speak,
it is helping you recognize patterns in the language
and to get a better understanding
of when you use certain words,
like (speaking Spanish) or (speaking Spanish)
When you hear these phrases over and over again
from native Spanish speakers
who are usually getting them right, most of the time,
your brain is able to pick up on that and organize it
and help you remember for when it actually is time to speak.
And another huge tip I have for overcoming the difficulty
as I talked about in this video of speaking Spanish
are to actually sign up for classes
and practice with a real Spanish speaker.
This can be with a platform like italki
where you can book single one-on-one classes.
It could be with Lingoda,
using something like their Sprint Promotion,
where you can practice for 90 days in a row.
It can be with another platform,
like BaseLang, where you pay a set amount
for unlimited classes each month.
I'll leave links to all of these resources
in the description of this video.
We are affiliates for each of those programs,
but we use and recommend all of them for different reasons.
But speaking to a real native Spanish speaker
is going to help boost your confidence.
It's going to help you get over the nerves
or the nervousness of speaking the language.
And it will give you the opportunity to make mistakes
in a somewhat controlled environment
where you know that your teacher is there to help you.
You can ask questions. You can make mistakes.
You can make mistakes over and over again
about the same thing,
but you're going to be learning in the process.
And for some of the grammar topics,
especially that we talked about in this video,
for a lot of them,
you just have to drill these concepts into your mind.
Getting more input in Spanish is important,
speaking with native Spanish speakers is important,
but also drilling the concepts
that you're having difficulties with
into your mind as much as possible is also important.
So I'm gonna leave some tools in the description
of this video, where you can practice more
with things like (speaking Spanish) and so on.
(speaking Spanish) See what I did there?
And remember that you can find more resources
in the description of this video or at spanishandgo.com.
Thank you, guys, for watching.
Don't forget to Like and subscribe
for more travel and Spanish tips.
And remember, (speaking Spanish)
The journey is the destination (speaking Spanish)