Rapid speech."when we speak it is "out there"

Question

Today I had a house full of "trabajadores" we are in the process of some remodeling. As I was speaking with the workers I suddenly realized that I was speaking in their rapid cadence, not my usual measured spanish.

Now then, appreciate that my spoken spanish would give Heidita and Lazarus a heart attack, Keeping in mind that when we write, we get to reflect and edit, when we speak it is "out there"

I am sure that many of us here, in our learning phase (in both) languages will find ourselves doing this.

Has it happened to you?

Tell the forum of your experiences.

buena pregunta! - amykay, Mar 8, 2011

Gracias Heidita :-)) - pacofinkler, Mar 9, 2011

Gracias amykay - pacofinkler, Mar 9, 2011

Answer 1

Well, my written English has improved a ton since I joined SD, then I started to join the skype chats on saturdays and well, I don't know if I've improved my english soooo much, but I can feel it's working, I don't feel so ashamed, and everytime I try to speak, it is more fluent than the last time.

I hope to be better and better with time, and then be able to speak with any of you as if I were an English native speaker.

Dakie: I made a few small edits to your english, check them out.Hope you don't mind.

Tu Ingles es excelente Dakie! - amykay, Mar 8, 2011

Of course I don't pako, thank you very much. - Dakie, Mar 8, 2011

And thank you too amykay, I hope to see you on the next chat. :) - Dakie, Mar 8, 2011

Oh I was sure about the "be", I don't know why did I write "being". jaja thanks pako. - Dakie, Mar 8, 2011

Dakie, those details come up constantly when translating. - pacofinkler, Mar 8, 2011

Dakie , if you don't mind i will watch your posts and make those minor corrections. - pacofinkler, Mar 8, 2011

No preocupes Dakie. - pacofinkler, Mar 8, 2011

Answer 2

When it comes to real life conversation I'm not even at the point where I can remember the answer to "Como estas?" Without thinking long and hard!

And when I do talk people often can't understand me because my pronunciation is so bad. It's very frustrating when you work hard and you feel like you're making progress on paper but in reality you sound like a complete beginner.

¿Cómo estás? - lorenzo9, Mar 9, 2011

Answer 3

This happens to me all the time at work especially when I am having a conversation with one person and another joins in. I think the normal process is to learn to read, learn to hear, and finally learn to converse fluently. Like you said, when we read and write we have time to analyze things and a lot of resources to help us out.

Poco a poco, paso a pasito. Cada día aprendemos algo nuevo.

Paso a paso Pescador, - pacofinkler, Mar 9, 2011

Answer 4

There really is no substitute for speaking with natives when it comes to learning Spanish. I try to do it every day. I still make a lot of mistakes, but I'm improving a lot faster than if I didn't go out and make mistakes. I talked to a lot of people during Carnaval and had a lot of fun.

Good comment Lorenzo, and so true. - pacofinkler, Mar 9, 2011

Answer 5

Oh no, paco, I don't normally get heart attack when I hear people speak,

I am used to really weird stuff, trust me, I teach children...so that says it all

In any case, to get to really listen and speak to natives and see if you can do it (which in your case you obviously can ) join us on skype, best practice ever.

have a heart attack - lorenzo9, Mar 9, 2011

I guess I'll have to get hooked up with skype and join y'all. - pacofinkler, Mar 9, 2011

Answer 6

An artist friend from Mexico City came and stayed a bit with us, we did a lot of talking during the weekend.

The best 'compliment' I've ever received and one of the best encouragements was when she told me "I can tell you're not translating from English to Spanish, you're thinking in Spanish".

It's amazing how fluid your speech becomes when this 'happens'.