When To Speak
When do you think a person should begin practicing speaking with a language partner? Should they first have a good base vocabulary, (though without pronunciation practice,) or should they jump in and practice the only phrase they know?
9 Answers
First chance you get. Even if its the absolute basics.
Echo fontanero's comment!!! As soon as possible. Basic conversation present tense stuff, whatever!! The more you hear, speak, and read the better it is for you. Remember, immersion takes the cake but if you can't do that, do what you can!!!! Good luck and good question!! 
Grammarians and methodologists at a high university level study a language under a microscope, but don´t necessarily speak it well. So if your interest is using the language for which it is intended, then do as the others here have suggested. Start speaking it (what ever you happen to know) immediately. And don´t be afraid of making mistakes because you will. Mistakes are OK!
Agreed, I have gone the immersion route and am now going back and learning grammar after a year and a half (or more) of on/off immersion and after talking with my friends daily. The trouble is that though I know a lot, some people will ask something like "but what about the compound......etc.... thing" and I don't know what to say. I often times know that I use a certain phrase, but not the grammatical reason. Nevertheless, I feel I am yards beyond the grammar learners that don't speak to natives. Communicating in the real world is the only real way to be able to understand and speak, the grammar part, in my opinion, should go hand in hand, or even come later, it doesn't need to come first just like it doesn't come first for children when they learn languages.
From day zero. The easiest part of learning a language (at least, the half-dozen that I have studied) is the pronunciation. It tends to be very regular (Even in English, the sounds are not especially difficult. The problem lies in the irregularity of the spelling.) One needn't know what the words mean in order to pronounce them but, without a reasonable ability to pronounce the words, you will not be understood (however correct your sentences).
Speaking (in the sense of carrying on a conversation [understanding and replying] to oral Spanish), is an entirely different question. However, pronunciation (whether production or recognition is still crucial).
With only a limited vocabulary and only a tenuous grasp of grammar, one can communicate. You will not be mistaken for a native and your listener may have to make a special effort to understand you but communication is possible. For some purposes (basic communication)., this is enough.
Unfortunately (perhaps) for more than "basic" communication, everything becomes more important. Better vocabulary and more accurate grammar being the main considerations.
Not until you can say Thank You.
It is all downhill from there.
You won't believe how quickly they will teach you: You're welcome.
Imagine the tiniest pebble you can, and picture the ripples it can make!
My room mate hears me saying the phrases aloud and it gives her a laugh for the day! If I waited until I could do full sentences with all those verb conjugations I'd never see the light of day!!
Oh yeah, jump right in because speaking is the scariest part and once you get past that you really start to learn. Check out the Saturday night Skype sessions.
I agree. As part of a Spanish-speaking group of people, I had started speaking before I studied grammar. After so much practice, grammar came only to explain why I was using the words in that way, since I had already been using them in every-day conversations. So, for me learning Spanish was not difficult at all, because grammar was then not something "unknown" and difficult, but something that would make me love the language even more.
