what is the best way to train your ear for espanol rapido

Question

native speakers talk so fast it sounds like one long word. How do you make your ear understand

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Answer 1

Hi Sue, Everyone has this problem when they start. The best thing to do is to relax and realize it will take a while. And then, do as much listening as you possibly can. It doesn't matter that you don't understand -- in fact, you don't always even need to try to understand. Leave the tv on a Spanish-speaking station, or the radio. Or watch videos online (try telemundo, univision, or bbc mundo), or rent movies with English subtitles, or listen to music.

Eventually your ear will start to pick out frequent phrases, and you will start to be able to hear individual words, and it will get a lot easier. Listening is unlike most other things that we learn, you just can't force yourself to learn it faster. You have to provide yourself with lots of exposure, and trust that it will come.

Good luck and have fun!

• Hey can u provide us any links of spanish movies or TV shows which are good....n help us learn and catch the frequency of the sounds - Upendra Jan 29, 2012

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Answer 2

It's not only with Spanish. Native speakers of any language you don't know will most likely sound as if they are speaking fast, but that's the nature of the beast. When you know the language inside and out, you don't speak with perfectly clear ennunciation and making sure you articulate and speak in long, drawn out cadences. Sure, there are people who speak faster than others, but this is more about perception...I don't know Portuguese, and I always tell a Portuguese friend of mine to "slow down" when he talks so I can fully assess his words...

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Answer 3

Practice.

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Answer 4

Go live in a country that speaks Spanish. After a week or two (how long really depends on the person) you will suddenly realize you can hear different words. I really think living abroad is the only way to do it.

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Answer 5

Practice is the best.

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Answer 6

As the only way to learn reading a new language is to rad more and more, so the only way to learn listening is to practice listening more and more, especially with Spanish language, because (as one linguist friend told me) is really a very fast speaking language, there are many "shortcuts" and pronouns are used in the sentences, and many verbs are conjugated very similar. As you listen more and more, you start distinguishing between words and could understand the general idea of the conversation, and then -with more practice- can hear and understand every word.

I recommend this website: link text

You can hear news and radio broadcast live from Madrid, and even some recorded previous ones.

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