Do you find that your errors are not corrected when speaking with an indigenous speaker?
I find this to be the case generally both in English and Spanish.
17 Answers
In this forum I usually correct mistakes, especially when the person asks for corrections, or I know the person and I know that corrections will be welcome.
In the real life, correcting people is a more sensitive issue. If the person is not a native speaker I'll try to make his/her confidence stronger, and I will only correct the most important and repetitive mistakes, and only in the appropriate moment, and kindly.
If the person is a native speaker, I won't correct anything unless I'm speaking to a very close friend of mine, I find the moment for doing it, I know that the person will appreciate the correction, and in any case I will be extremely subtle doing it.
The dynamic of writing is so different from speaking. It's easy to correct someone in an internet forum, everything is pretty much static and it's all cyber anyway. But when you are involved in a conversation, it is very easy to come off as a jerk if you are always correcting what someone just said. It totally destroys the dynamic of the conversation, and in a lot of cases you can completely lose your train of thought. When I first started learning Spanish, I asked people to correct me. I am around a lot of Hispanics, so the opportunities to correct me were multitude. Even though I had asked for correction, after a while it gets incredibly frustrating to be constantly corrected, even though that is the best thing that I probably needed. Now that a few years have passed, it is rare that I get corrected, I usually have to ask someone. Not to say that it doesn't happen, just last Sunday I was right in the middle of a conversation and this lady interrupts me and corrects me. I had slightly mispronounced a word, and obviously she was correct, but it was a most inopportune time, not to mention slightly embarrassing. The other lady that I was talking to left, so we didn't have the opportunity to finish our conversation. The minor correction could have waited without the interruption and could have been done in a more discreet way. When the shoe is on the other foot, I am very hesitant to correct someone, especially in front of a group of people. When I know that they are learning, and they have asked me to correct them, I will.
After you reach a certain point in your ability to converse in Spanish, in other words, if you can carry on a fluid and dynamic conversation and just make a mistake every once in a while, the corrections need to be done in a more sensitive way. However, if one is a beginner and every sentence sounds like it's coming out of one of the translation engines, then correction needs to be done immediately, albeit gently.
I find that my ability is directly proportional to my confidence. Sometimes, I'll go days where I feel that I'm speaking really well and then someone will tease me (good-naturedly), or I'll realize I've been doing something wrong and it will throw me off for a couple of days.
It's important to realize your mistakes but a lot of times, I think it is more important that you have the confidence to make them in the first place.
You would need to make it clear to the native/indigenous speaker that you are open to correction and ask them to correct you whenever necessary and depending upon your ability they may be prepared to take on such a responsibility.
My personal view is that many people outside of a learning community such as SpanishDict would be likely to consider this too much of a responsibility unless they were helping you in a teaching capacity. This would be especially true if the person needing help were just at a beginner's level. ...as there would probably a great deal to correct and I say this most respectfully to people here who are starting to learn the Spanish language as we all are beginners at some stage in time. This is a teaching community, like some others on the internet and so other people are willing to work together to help you
I have begun helping to teach English to a native from Spain: a young girl of 22 that my sister put me in touch with, who lives locally and who was looking for help in learning to speak English. .She is helping me to improve my Spanish I can speak English fluently.
When you have reached at least an intermediate level in Spanish (or another language you are wanting to learn) and can offer to help correct the other person in another language that they are wanting to learn which you can speak fluently as a native or to a reasonable level of proficiency then you could reasonably expect them to correct you, from time to time and whenever necessary as you would also do the same for them!
Within SpanishDict:
You could post a thread asking for a native to help you with your Spanish and reciprocate by offering to help them with their English. These language exchanges can be wonderfully beneficial for all who take part in them.
Outside of SpanisDict: You would have to be wise and sensitive in the way you approach people to ask them to correct your Spanish: both in terms of the timing of your approach and particularly with regard to the person you choose to ask It would not be advisable to approach complete strangers in the street but when you have built up a friendship with native speakers and are willing to help them in return I am sure that you will successful in finding someone to correct you
Update; One further thing to add I have been occasionally corrected by my parents, mostly my mother, even as an adult simply when I have made a small grammatical mistake at their home, and it can be very frustrating when you only want someone to listen carefully to what you are saying without interrupting. It is considered rude to keep interrupting people, especially strangers just to correct them in some aspect of their language so it is hardly surprising that most natives would be reluctant to correct you unless invited.
I actually asked permission of the young lady mentioned above to interrupt her on occasions to correct her English even though we already had an arrangement where I would help her learn English. The keys here are:
1 Show respect and sensitivity and always ask for permission to correct another person's language
2 Communicate clearly what you want them to do to help you and never assume anything!
I hope this helps 
Just adding my ¢2, although I think it all has been pretty much said already. A teaching exchange is a very different thing from a social exchange. If you approach me speaking in your brand of Spanish in order to try and practice your skills, I'll do my best to take in what you say, and reply with a language level and speed matched to what I'm getting from you. But I won't interrupt you with corrections because, as many have pointed out, that'd feel rude to me.
Now, if you come to me for language lessons, and (preferably) pay me for it, you can bet your butt I will be interrupting, correcting, and doing my best to make sure you understand why you're being corrected.
I agree that it's mostly a matter of politeness. I don't correct people when they speak to me in English. I'm rarely corrected when I speak to other people in Spanish. Occasionally it will happen when I use the completely wrong word, but if the listener can still understand me they tend to not say anything.
It does depend on the situation.
When I was in Spain recently my sister and her friends were aware I was learning Spanish so when I did get brave and open my mouth they did correct me.
I think if someone I didn't know, like in a shop or something, corrected me every time I spoke it would out me off altogether and I would speak even less.
I work with people who have English as a second language, their English isn't always perfect but at work so long as I understand what they are saying I won't say anything. As someone already said it would interrupt the flow and we would never get anything done.
If they are unsure of something and ask me of course I am happy to help and I would do the same if they asked to practice their English with me.
I don't think it is the work aspect, I think that people feel like they are being rude when they correct someone's grammar. Not to mention the fact that it breaks up the flow of the conversation. I find that whenever you ask a native speaker a question, they are happy to help.
They don't correct my errors but if it's a short conversation they naturally repeat a lot of what I say after I say it, I do this as well. Actually if you're a teacher it's a bad habit because sometimes what the person said was fine and didn't need correcting but your brain picks up on some slight unimportant thing that you didn't even consciously notice and makes you repeat it your own way. Which makes learners second guess the things they already have right!
Anyway once the conversation is more active and moving generally errors don't get corrected unless they didn't understand me.
And if the conversation is very practical, like asking for something in a shop, as long as they understand you they don't say anything so they can get on with their work!
I try to correct other learners in class but when it's an "error" not when it's a mistake. A mistake is a slip of the tounge, for example you use the wrong gender and say la hombre. While an error is something you never knew and you need to learn, like maybe la problema!
If you miss the error in the heading above, this proves the point!!!!!!!!
As opposed to the error in the body of the post?
Bueno aquí en España conozco gente de otros paises que evidentemente pues no hablan el Español como los que hemos nacido aqui, pero lo importante es hacerte entender (y luego ir mejorando) si vienes aqui y tienes amigos te corregiran de buena gana de vez en cuando, pero si te entienden aunque te expreses mal no pasara nada. A nosotros nos ocurre lo mismo al hablar ingles o ir a otros paises, yo se que mi ingles pues no es bueno y para los americanos e ingleses tiene que sonar horrible pero lo importante es hacerte entender e ir mejorando y si te ayudan pues mejor ^^.
I think it's a question of manners, nobody wants to offend or put somebody off. That said, when I'm with friends I do ask them to tell me where I'm going wrong if I detect something is not quite right and they help me. I do the same when I'm with people who are learning English and I know well enough not to offend.
Sure. Who wants to spend time correcting someone? It's work, and unless one has the role of teacher, most tend to avoid this work!
A lot of good feed back here!
I would like to just mention that the purpose of any language is to communicate. When we communicate effectively it is not always necessary to be perfect in grammar and form. If I understand what a person wishes to tell me, I do not think it necessary to point out technical issues with their form of communication. .
I prefer to talk... and be talked to. Idea exchange is far more important than form. THAT is language.
If the person is a native speaker, I won't correct anything unless I'm speaking to a >very close friend of mine, I find the moment for doing it, I know that the person will >appreciate the correction, and in any case I will be extremely subtle doing it.
That is a very good point. There are not many native speakers of English who speak perfectly all the time. I know I don't. I wouldn't dream of correcting someone, unless they were a very close friend and a word was used completely incorrectly.
