Understanding Spoken Spanish
I have been learning Spanish for about 6 months now and in some senses I'm doing well. I can express myself reasonably effectively when I think of an English sentence and want to say it in Spanish.
But in many ways I think this very method has been my problem. When I hear Spanish spoken, my brain latches onto the words it recognises and instinctively translates them to English. Of course, by the time it's done this, several more words have gone by unheard. This is a major problem for me as it completely prevents me from understanding spoken Spanish.
It's become an urgent problem as I will be spending quite a while in Spain starting in 6 weeks time.
Does anyone have any tips, or is the best advice, as I suspect, 'keep practising'?
Jerry
11 Answers
The most often heard advice is "stop translating". Of course this is nearly impossible on some level, since you would have had to have heard the entire Spanish language back and forth to know enough to completely stop translating. You're best bet is to immerse yourself with TV shows etc... and learn enough idioms etc... to know when to say the right thing.
Ex.
You feel hungry, two things happen. The feeling, also you think "I'm hungry".
So "tengo hambre" = I'm hungry, I have hunger. Or you could say "Estoy hambriento" if you want it to sound more like English, with estar "I am"
Some guys jumps out at you "You scared me". Me asustaste, me has asustado You scared me... easy enough....
But then you think "Hey man what the heck are you doing jumping out at me all crazy like without regard for whatever I might have been doing there like that"
How do you translate that? Some parts of it don't work. So you need to know what a Spanish based sentence might say there. That is the tough part as your vocabulary will be limited, it takes time to know, but I say start by watching a lot, a lot of TV shows then ask the forum if you have questions.
Oh yeah, to answer your question, don't focus on the word you know. Spanish isn't learned by single words but by sentences and groups of words, if one slips by don't grab onto it, let it go and just hear the sentence. If you say "¿qué?" no one will care, and even if you say "what?" you will still likely be understood, that's one of the words that everybody seems to know these days.
Gracias.
I think if your issue is trying to move away from the tendency to translate in your head, then rather than learning word for word, try other methods like using flashcards.
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That way, you won't tink "hedgehog... erizo". Instead you'll think:
erizo
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If you can associate images, feelings or something else with a new word or phrase in Spanish, then you'll be moving away from text-based thinking, and away from translating in your head.
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Another method is starting to learn synonyms in Spanish. So rather than learning that "enojado" is "angry", you could learn that "enjoado" is "furioso".
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I don't know if I've explained that very well, but these two methods really worked for me! 
Say words out loud.
Build vocabulary.
Become intimately familiar with verb conjugations.
I have no one to speak Spanish with, but it dawned on me one day that it might be easier to hear sounds that I myself make. So, speaking out loud might help. It's just a theory of mine...no real proof.
My Spanish listening comprehension is poor, but words that I'm very familiar with I can't help but understand. For example, camino. Whenever they say camino, it jumps out at me. My brain understands it completely. I don't have to be paying attention to understand it when they say camino. So, increasing your Spanish vocabulary is probably one of the most important things you can do. It will probably take 10 years or so to develop your vocabulary to anywhere near a true fluent level, but you might get there in 5 or less if you get to spend time in Spanish-speaking countries. It probably took you anywhere from 2 to 5 years to develop your English vocabulary to the point of fluency (assuming you started learning to talk at around 2 and became fairly polished-sounding by anywhere from 4 to 7). There's a lot of words with most of them having more than one definition.
I also noticed that once I became really familiar with a particular verb conjugation (like past perfect or subjunctive) that suddenly those verbs were jumping out at me. My conclusion was that deep familiarity with verb conjugations is a good thing, though I still haven't conquered that either.
But, yes, it can all be summed up in "keep practicing."
I have the opposite problem! I can understand so much more than I can produce.
There are a lot of songs with Spanish and English subtitles on this youtube account that can help you: http://www.youtube.com/user/buenoentonces
The program Bueno Entonces itself is good, but I have no idea if I'd recommend it or not because it's so expensive, it doesn't get you to "B1" like it promises, and there's way too much English spoken and it's not as funny or entertaining as it claims.. BUT I can understand fast speech a lot better than people who's Spanish is otherwise 100 times better than mine because of it.
Another way to do it is watching Spanish films with Spanish subtitles, you're brain will get faster at catching and recognizing the things it knows.
As you said my brain is a little slower than the speed people speak at, I'm always a sentence behind, but that's okay as long as it's not two sentences behind because you've a certain amount of aural memory, I dunno how to explain it. It's like if a teacher catches you not listening in class you'll usually remember the last sentence she said before she caught you even if you weren't listening at all.
Every answer gave me something I could relate to that helped. Thanks to everyone who replied. And especially for the cute hedgehog pic!
Es hora de practico mas espanol ahora mismo.
I was writing out a guide based on my own personal immersion experiences and what I have found works best. Learning in an immersion environment after having learned the language in a technical way through grammar and verb conjugations is completely different from anything else and requires a bit of a different approach to truly take advantage of. See if I can finish the thing this week.
-Charlius-
Concentrate on learning vocabulary in context (fairly simple sentences that help you remember the meaning of the new word). If whatever study materials you're using don't provide example sentences, check out the sentence in our spiffy new addition to the dictionary (the video pronunciation feature) or make up your own illustrative sentence. For example, if the word were "trago" "¿Qué es un trago?" / "Quiero un trago." / "¿Cómo se dice 'trago' en inglés?" would be poor choices while "¿Quieres tomar un trago (de vino)? " would be much more effective. On the whole, I'd say fairly simple sentences and don't try to crowd in multiple new words at one time.
When people converse in their own language, they don't speak/understand one-word-at-a-time, they normally process phrases/chunks/breath groups/simple sentences (longer/more complicated sentences are treated by combining shorter units) and language learners should do the same (when listening to a native there simply isn't time to be focusing on each word). Ideally, if someone said a single Spanish word to you, what should pop into your mind is this kind of sentence (or perhaps, a mental image that illustrates the meaning), rather than an English equivalent. If it's the/a English word, you're not speaking/understanding Spanish, you're translating.
My biggest problem with understanding spoken Spanish is vocabulary.
When trying to speak Spanish myself, vocabulary is also a problem but I still have problems with pronunciation. I have to constantly remind myself to keep my tongue in the front of my mouth.
Right now I'm in a beginner Spanish class and part of the course includes a video of Spanish culture. If I get 1 or 2 words out of 10 or 20 I'm fairly lucky! But the beginning introduction was in English and the suggestion was to not just listen but to see what was being talked about. In the market place was food and leather products. In the countryside was the olive groves and vineyards. So by just seeing what's around you it's possible to know what is being talked about. Hopefully this helps along with the other posts!
Turn the radio or the TV on to a Spanish channel and leave it on while you do other things. What happens is most of the Spanish is a blur but every now and then your brain will recognize a word or a phrase. This will increase with time.
When reading anything in Spanish read it out loud.
Immersion. Best thing. Since you are going to a Spanish speaking you will have the best opportunity to learn Spanish. Don't only listen, put yourself in situations where you have to speak Spanish.
Don't worry too much about your trip coming up. You can only learn so much at a time and unless you live in a Spanish speaking country, hearing the spoken language will be a slower developing skill. In stead look at you trip as a opportunity to to learn and practice the spoken language. Just teat it like a field trip. Good luck and enjoy.
Be patient with yourself. Understanding any foreign language spoken is the hardest part. When you are in Spain, when you don't understand, ask them to repeat. Most people will know you are a non-native speaker and will be patient with you and repeat things. It does seem labourious but it allows your brain to tune into their speech. Have you got any self taught books with a CD? If so, play the CD over and over again. You won't understand all the words the first time, but you can refer to the text later and associate what you hear and what you see. In time you will recognise the sounds more quickly and won't need the text. The radio is also good. Of course you can't refer to anything. But at least you will get the rhythm in your head. I found news broadcast useful, especially international news. At least you have some background knowledge and you will find them easier to understand.
Enjoy your time in Spain. After a little while, I'm sure you would look back and wonder what the difficulty was.
Courage !!
