Spaniards are talking too fast
For an example, I was studying ser and estar. Then I completed it and looked for some sentences which included them but I saw that they were talking too fast. What can I do without going to a Spanish talking country? Podcasts or something else? Please help me. Because of my work I cant go to a Spanish language school, and further, my country isn't in the European Union so I face visa problems when I try to take a trip to Spain. If I go South America, will it be useful or are there big differences in accent?
22 Answers
I've heard it called the "marsy dotes" effect.
You know the song? What you hear is...
"Marsy dotes and dosey dotes and liddle lamzy divey" - but in effect is "Mares eat oates and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy"......
I still have trouble, when listening to Spanish, to distinguish the end of one word, and the beginning of the next, but I am very persistent......
I'm an native english speaker and I know "we" talk to fast for people that are learning english as a second language. 
It can be trying but the more you immerse yourself into the language the better. Listen to radio, watch novellas, and try to look at the following websites:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/mividaloca/
http://www.rtve.es/television/aguila-roja/
http://www.learner.org/resources/series75.html?pop=yes&pid=366#
http://lomastv.com/?alt=4
and READ:
http://www.univision.com/portal.jhtml
http://www.elpais.com/global/
http://www.elmundo.es/index.html
http://www.mylanguageexchange.com/
Just a thought! Everything helps.
I can communicate in english and this is enough in my work please dont comment if you won't give an answer about my question - orcus
Hi orcus, good question but wrong attitude. If I had seen this thread, Goyo was very generous, I would have deleted it.
Please read the rules for posting, we have few rules on this site, but one is correct spelling and punctuation. And friendliness. Your answer to Goyo was rightout rude. We do not appreciate this kind of attitude.
My professor from Mexico speaks very fast and I cannot understand him. My other professor is from Panama and I can pretty much understand all she says. I think it just comes with time and patience something I feel that I am running out of.
My wife is forever saying I speak spanish too quickly to her, but it seems so unnatural to slow down! When I'm speaking to someone who listens well to spanish I don't get the same response. My one friend Anna speaks very quickly, and it gets worse when she is excited. But you can still catch it once you have more time under your belt with it. 
There are obviously big differences in speed between native speakers of ANY language, not to mention regional variations in pronunciation. (E.g. I find it almost impossible to catch what someone from Glasgow is saying first time until I have been there for a day or so - and we both have the same native language).
But when listening to another language you have the added problem that even when you hear a word you know, the meaning is not instantly there for you. Your brain takes a short while to translate the word, by which time the speaker has moved on and you have missed the rest of the sentence. I am still at an early stage with listening to Spanish. I am gradually hearing and understanding more and more words but I am a long way off from being able to understand a complete sentence first time, spoken at 'normal' speed. I do believe it will come but it's just a matter of learning and exposure. The more words you know well and the more Spanish you hear the more progress you will make.
So take heart and tenga buena suerte!
Americans speak English very slowly compared to Australians, for instance, especially in the South. The real problem is parsing the stream of sounds into words, whether you understand what the words mean or not.
I recommend watching Spanish TV, especially the news. There are shows where they speak slowly and clearly, like Vida Salvaje, and shows with limited vocabulary, like cooking or sports. If you don't have Spanish language TV where you live, there is streaming Spanish TV on the net.
Remembering myself about 12 years ago turning on any English station trying to get anything from this river of sounds... I find it really funny when English natives complain about other nations speaking "too fast" 
I agree Spaniards and Spanish people in general seem to be speaking very rapidly.I turn on a radio program or watch shows on the internet, the faster the better. The more I listen and continue to study vocabulary, the more words suddenly pop up out of that stream of phonemes.Then I know I am learning something.
Why are you studying Spanish?I think that might be helpful information for someone who knows more about the Spanish spoken in other countries.
Does anyone have any actual evidence that Spanish (or any other language) speakers actually do talk faster than speakers of some other language? Over the years, I have heard similar statements (by students) about many languages. It seems that learners alway think that native speakers talk too fast (no matter what language one is discussing).
You say Spaniards speak too fast. Spanish speakers learning English say that we speak too fast. Is it not simply a question of ones lack of familiarity with the language makes normal speech seem fast?
Not in all countries...
Spanish TV will help to you
One thing I really like about LoMasTV.com is you can slow down the video, hear them slow then speed up - it is very helpful for learning and then hearing at a Native speaker's speed and practicing back and forth to get more comfortable with the speed.
Also, I think practice in any Spanish speaking country is great practice. Is there an important reason for you that you need to speak as they do in Spain? Perhaps knowing your exact concern, we could do a little brain-storming about how to factor that in. There are some important differences between how the language is spoken in different countries, (probably the vosotros form being the biggest one,) but the huge boost in learning and applying language skills would help you if you were speaking Spanish in Spain as well.
Also, as a friendly aside: please don't take the request for proper grammer, capatilization and punctuation personally. The people pointing it out aren't just fussy or petty - it is because it is a language learning site for people to learn both English and Spanish. If we type "u" instead of "you" the translator can't help them and they can not learn proper spellings and word usage. It's special for this site and it really makes it a great place to learn. If the native Spanish speakers weren't vigilent for me, i could not learn from them. So, please take it seriously; it truly does improve the educational value of the site significantly and it is worth the extra work and effort.
'Tell me more' is a great source
Elanor, this site have rules. If you can't ask with a perfect grammar, you shouldn't ask questions.
