I'm curious as to which are your most common 'problems' when you speak/write Spanish.
Do you mix up your pronouns? Do you have trouble with commas and their usage? Do you have issues with grammatical gender concordance? Do you struggle with "acentos" when speaking? Do you hate conjugating verbs? What makes you go, "Damn! I should've thought of that!" or "what was that again??" or "Nooo! I can't remember!! " ?
I have a really good friend who always stumbles when it comes to 'acentos', particularly with "esdrújula" words (voiced accent on the third-to-last syllable): "mágico" (she says ma-GI-co), "luciérnaga" (she says lu-ci-er-NA-ga), etc.
What are some of your problems? Thanks!
18 Answers
My biggest problem is coming up with the words to say in Spanish. I know enough to have a basic conversation, but the English to Spanish translation doesn't happen quick enough in my head, yet...."¿Sabe ella mi número de teléfono?", sounds strange still.
Maybe you should stop translating and just speak the language naturally.
Of course, the language is not going to come naturally to you until you spend a sufficient amount of time absorbing it (both spoken and written). If certain constructions still sound strange to you, it is likely that you have simply not yet exposed yourself to a sufficient amount of actual spoken language.
I know that this might sound somewhat counterintuitive considering the way that many people go about learning languages, but I am going to suggest that, although the study of grammar certainly has its place in language learning, it is probably not the most efficient path to take if one's goal is to speak the language. That is to say that studying grammar texts and workbooks all day can only take you so far (especially when such texts are written in our native tongue and almost force us to translate rather than understand the language).
It is my belief that listening to meaningful conversation as it is spoken for three or four hours a day is probably a more productive manner of learning a language than spending the same amount of time studying grammar books. Of course it wouldn't hurt to throw in a smattering of grammar study in here or there, but often, language learners take the exact opposite approach, especially early on; namely, they study grammar hard and heavy and throw in just a smattering of listening exercises. Personally, I think that this is a very ineffective approach.
This is not to say that I am in some way "anti-grammar." It's just that I think sometimes people forget that grammar can be understood without the aid of books; that it is possible to learn about syntactic relationships without the need for cumbersome terminology or rote memorization; that it is not necessary to sit and study an entire slew of clearly contrived sentences (as one typically finds in most grammar texts) in order to understand grammar; that it is more efficient to simply analyze language as it is spoken naturally; and, most importantly, that actually listening to a language in context, allows our brains to begin to recognize and internalize these patterns whether we make a conscious effort to do so or not.
That being said, I should also point out that not all listening media are created equal in terms of effectiveness and that it is probably best, especially early on, to seek out audio material that is also rich in visual context. Of course, the most effective means would be to find a creative and sympathetic speaker, such as a friend or tutor, who would be willing to talk to you at length in the language and incorporate visual context such as gestures, drawings, activities, etc. Unfortunately, not all of us have access to sympathetic speakers, but even so, there is a virtual gold mine of material freely available on the web which, while not nearly as valuable as a true flesh-and-blood instructor, still can be very useful nonetheless.
Anyway, that is just my take on the problem.
Using the subjunctive for me. I'm also working hard on building my vocabulary.
Do you mix up your pronouns? Do you have trouble with commas and their usage? Do you have issues with grammatical gender concordance? Do you struggle with "acentos" when speaking? Do you hate conjugating verbs? What makes you go, "Damn! I should've thought of that!" or "what was that again??" or "Nooo! I can't remember!! " ?
Todos por encima.los anteriores.
The main problem I have at the moment is why sometimes there appears to be so many 'a' 'al' 'lo' 'de' etc in the middle of sentences. I struggle to understand what they mean in the context of the sentence.
I don't fully understand all the grammar-associated terms in English so I best not use them to describe how I'm doing 
.
Last saturday I had the opportunity to talk to three Peruvian ladies who were on holiday in my country and were trying to catch a train to Amsterdam. Scheduled repairs on the railroad track made it impossible to take a direct train so the first part had to be travelled by buses instead of trains.
Although the driver was relieved that at least somebody could speak to them (their English was very poor) I found it difficult to find the correct words for what I was trying to say. I have enough vocabulary for a decent conversation only the conversations I had before have never been about travelling by train 
. As I didn't know the word for "track" I spoke about the "thing that the train travels over". Very articulate... 
I also found it hard to come up with the correct conjugations of verbs. Luckily, the longer I struggled on the better it went. Of course, my opening sentence had been that I was only still learning Spanish so they were patient with me.
I did manage to explain about the wonderful world of SD and they were very interested in signing on to improve on their English. So one of the newest members may be someone I've actually met .
Saludos, Chica
Even as a Spanish native, I still get confused with the fuere/fuese/fuera subjunctive forms and I still hesitate when I have to use the conditional, because I tend to place pusiera/pusiere/pusiese instead of pondria sometimes... 
I understand Spanish very well, so it amazes me how often I hesitate in answering when someone asks me how to say something simple in Spanish such as, "I like to walk among the big trees." I especially dither over prepositions, and if I overthink preterit vs imperfect I can get all snarled up. When you have a chance to be immersed in the language, you eventually make choices without thinking. I love it when that happens! So to everyone who is struggling, I say: Don't worry too much, because when you have a chance to use your Spanish a lot, people will be very kind and the communication will happen and you'll be just fine!
Usually, if I apply myself, I can learn proper conjugations and tenses and the like. The use of the subjunctive, however, still gives me trouble! Writing is easier than speaking because it allows me more time to think...I wish I had more opportunities to carry on conversations but I am shy about asking native speakers to bear with me as I stumble along.
Some of my problems...
Sinalefa (hearing and speaking)
Subjunctive (reading, writing, speaking, hearing)
Unfamiliar verb conjugations (reading, writing, speaking, hearing)
The difference between imperfect and preterite. (speaking and writing)
Saying clearly a and e in unstressed syllables (ex: puede vs. pueda)...as I want to convert both to schwa. (speaking...and hearing, too, actually)
Not being able to convert unstressed vowels to schwa in general (speaking).
I hate the word for bat (murciélago)...now I hate the word luciérnaga, too. Something about throwing the stressed cié sound in the middle of a word (speaking)
For now I use English rules for commas...have not studied that subject as it seems of little importance at my stage.
I'm still a beginner so I am still learning much of the language. However, the area that causes me the most confusion, at the moment, is prepositions. I just cant decide when, which or where they should be used!
I haven't had too much trouble with most of these things (I've had to gone through the pain of learning, yes, but generally after being corrected a few times I understand what's happening).
For me, training my ear to Spanish has been hard.
Is this just for Spanish? (I hope not... 
)
I have always had problems remembering when and where exactly to use commas. Also for the longest time, I mixed up "It's" and "Its" although I have no problem with that now...
vocabulary
prepositions
pronunciation
Putting the subject after the verb takes some getting used to.
"¿Sabe ella mi número de teléfono?", sounds strange still.
In English the subject must be placed after the verb in some types of questions too! (not in yes-no questions, because of the auxiliary do)
Can she do it?
Have you got a minute?
Hey, I would be happy to help you with this. I am a native of Mexico and will be basing my info off Mexican speech. Do we mix up our pronouns? I'm not sure exactly what you mean by that. We put pronouns before the verb. For example, Me llamaste, meaning, you called me. We don't have trouble with commas though in Spanish commas are not as common as in English. Grammatical Gender Concordance? Well as a native no... but people who speak Spanish as their second language don't generally have much an issue with it. Accents? Well, Even as a native I have trouble with accents such as those from Spain and Paraguay. It's just something you have to hear on a frequent basis and then it eventually becomes second nature. I have heard from non-natives that conjugation was rather difficult and frustrating at times with irregular verbs.
