Why can't we attract more native Spanish speakers?
After reading a few threads lately that touch on this, it got me thinking....well, why aren't more native Spanish speakers attracted to this site?
First of all let me just say, I am really happy with the level of support and guidance we already get from native speakers on this site. In fact, I count myself as being unbelievably lucky for the level of help and support that I do receive. I have made some valued friends on this site.
However, what could be done to attract more native Speakers? Do we do enough, as a website and forum community, to help and encourage them with their English?
Without looking too deeply, I would say that probably 95% of people on this forum are native English speakers - and that is reflected in the posts and questions asked. How many native Spanish speakers see this then leave for other places and never return, I obviously don't know.
Could more be done with the actual learning material? We have 4 quite comprehensive modules for English speakers, but only 2 for Spanish. I've almost completed the whole 6 now and can tell you that there is far more content included in the learning of Spanish than English. Why is this so? Why can't we add more for people trying to learn English?
Also, I suppose the name 'Spanishdict' rather than perhaps 'SpanishEnglishdict' might not help. Ok, I can see from all sorts of marketing/commercial angles why it wouldn't be a good idea to change a name/brand, but this alone may not reach too many Spanish speakers.
So what can we do about it, ourselves? Well we could make a start by thinking of ways in which we can introduce more threads/questions geared to helping people learn English. We could correct their work and give them more alternative ways/expressions in which to say different things. I know many of us aren't too confident about our English grammar (me more than most!) but sometimes its not always about being 100% grammatically correct. Its about explaining nuances in English, offering alternative ways of saying things etc.
Please don't get me wrong, I am not saying that we don't do a lot of this already, but I just think that we need to be aware that if we want to attract more native Spanish speakers and encourage them to fully participate, then we need to be overtly aware of our responsibilities in return.
Any thoughts?
22 Answers
I would love to see more threads by all of you, English speakers, written in Spanish.
Apart from the daily threads, I don't see many attempts on your part. The 95% of the posts in this site are written in English, if not more. Why is that?
As a result, any Spanish native who took a quick look would feel that this site is only for learning Spanish, not English. This was my first impression, at least. I remember that it took me a while to realise that threads in Spanish were also "allowed" here.
Several stray points:
On corrections I will make the same statement I always do:
This is a learning site, everything should be subject to correction, and if you don’t want to be corrected, why are you here? If I bother to write in Spanish, yes I want it corrected.
I really do not want the idea that there are people who may not want corrections to cause anyone to hesitate to correct me. And for that reason I graciously accept corrections to my English as well.
Really the expected culture here should be of one of correction, and we should not cater to those who don't want to be part of that.
Also remember corrections take work, and many of us hesitate because we don't understand the grammar of our native language that well, we just know what sounds right and what not, without being able to explain it. So I am willing to accept corrections with "that just isn't how we do it" without further explanation.
To attract more Spanish speaking English learners:
This is a very English dominated site. That is very helpful for beginning Spanish learners, but not for beginning English learners. So the Spanish speakers we have are mostly the more advanced English learners, and it might be nice to get people hooked on the site at a lower level.
If a Spanish speaker who is a beginner at English asks a question in Spanish, try to answer it in Spanish.
Also let’s try make beginning and intermediate English learners feel more comfortable in posting in Spanish. As a low intermediate, I know that if I am going to post in Spanish, unless it is simple, it is going to take me a lot of effort (and still be filled with errors). I think some Spanish speakers might hesitate to answer in Spanish because they are not convinced we are going to read the answer or understand it. I am not sure if a separate statement somewhere saying “I am comfortable with responses in Spanish” would be helpful. I mean I can always ask for clarification if I don’t get the point of the answer.
I have seen responses from some first time users to receiving a response in Spanish that were quite negative- so I would say the same thing I said above in reverse, a Spanish learner who is a beginner and asks in English probably should get an answer in English. But if you want to move yourself to intermediate, you should be able to accept answers in either language.
HI billy, good thread.
One of the things I have been going on and on about is
Please correct Spanish speaking natives!
In most posts , normal posts, not on daily threads, natives are not always, not to say hardly ever, corrected.
I opened a thread on this but it did not help much. Members like Cogumela ,coffeelate,Raúl, only to mention a few, WANT to be corrected and the English speaking members just feel they don't want to point the mistakes out "in the open", so as not to embarrass them.
Cogumela was here clearly corrected "in private" and I pointed out a mistake on Raul's post here, to give just a couple of examples.
So, after a time, natives just leave...
So I can only repeat, over and over, we are here to learn, we ALL want to be corrected and nobody feels embarrassed when they get corrections. And we all learn from corrections, not only our own mistakes, but the mistakes we see in other texts or sentences, to do so in private only helps the member, but not the rest of the forum, which is what this forum is all about, after all, we all want to LEARN.
I also appreciate corrections, just saying
I am the queen of typos, not just simply the queen, jeje, so if you see a typo ( I always pass a spell check, but ...) just edit, but if you see a mistake, please let me know, and in the OPEN
Why can't we attract more native speakers? I do not know the exact reason for this but we can learn from lessons of the past and
1 Make sure we continue to value and appreciate all the native speakers we already have like Heidi, Cogumela, Vicente Coffee and Raul. Thank them for their corrections to our posts on a regular basis! We can do this in the comments section below their corrections
I hope that I have not fiorgotten any ??? 
2 Offer corrections to their English so that they are given the same opportunity to learn as we are.
3 Take part in Skype chats either in a group session or offer to help on a 1:1 exchange basis with them
4 If we do not understand some correctuon/s they have made, respectfully ask them a question in the comments section below their correctuon/s requesting clarification. (Do Not PM/e-mail them privately!). Do not question their judgements! They know better than we do! 
This is not an exhaustive list but should provide a good starting point. This should hopefully enable us to keep the lovely native people we already have and greatly value!
First of all, I would like to say that this thread is really interesting so congratulations to everybody for taking part. It took me a lot of time to read it completely!
Regarding the question of why can't we attract more native Spanish speakers? I think the answer is easy and some of you have already pointed it out well.
To attract Spanish speakers the first condition is that they can read, learn, participate and mainly to have a good time here, regardless of the language. But there is a second condition that is connected with the first. Almost 90% of the threads are written in English, so the beginner students after reading for a couple of hours, run away and don't come back!! In the didactic subject I have to say that here there is a good dictionary with good repository, but I think most of people who are looking up a translation use WORDREFERENCE. That is probably one of the most visited websites in the world. Although I consider this another kind of web, (no to have a good time but dictionary exactly -- I don't know what you mean here Raul). On the other hand I have to say that the Word of the Day, for example, is a marvelous idea that I've never seen on other sites. That every day someone corrects your attempts without charge, to me is priceless!
In my case, as a English student, I appreciate this site a lot because everybody writes in a correct English. This seems obvious but It's is very difficult to find a website where people write correctly!! For example, I like F1 and sometimes I visit foreign pages like PLANET-F1 FORUM (british web) and noone writes 10 words consecutively with the correct spelling! Too much slang and words that I don't understand.
In short, everybody is a little guilty of this situation, sometimes we prefer to write in our native language because we do it in a minute and probably we explain more clearly and without any doubt. In fact, if I hadwritten this in Spanish, I would have done it in a jiffy and probably I could have expressed my thoughts with more accuracy. Sure!
Another thing is: Why do you want to attract more native speakers? More natives doesn't necessarily mean a higher level of Spanish. Here there are many people with excellent skills in Spanish! Sometimes they answer better than a native speaker would do, because they are from "the other side" and understand the questioner's doubt. (To sum up, I just expect this web doesn't change, if ever that gets better! ---- I'm not sure what you mean here Raul)
@Cogu - You have given me several private corrections for reasons you just mentioned. The information was so useful, I thought it was sad that it was not available for everyone to read. Maybe open a new thread for corrections are too complex for comments? - pesta
Why not open a post ...on the same thread?
Easier even, I always edit the posts, and BOLD my corrections, and just make a short comment in comments.
We all need to take advantage of the corrections .
However, the two cases mentioned were just an example, nothing personal.
if a Spanish speaker who is a beginner at English asks a question in Spanish, try to answer it in Spanish.
Great idea, for those whose Spanish is good enough. As a beginner myself I would worry that my answer would be even more difficult to understand in Spanish than it would in English.
I've had answers to my questions in Spanish and had to go off and use the dictionary and translator to understand the answer. That has actually added to the usefulness of the answer not detracted from it. Surely the same applies if I answer a Spanish speaker in English?
Easier even, I always edit the posts, and BOLD my corrections, and just make a short comment in comments.
We all need to take advantage of the corrections .
Heidita
When you are hosting a thread this is your prerogative. I totally accept that and can see the benefits for threads like your "Lets talk about". However, in other types of thread (eg word of the day) I would not like it to be done that way.
I like to look back on my previous sentences and the corrections, then see where I went wrong and learn from them. I often look back at sentences I wrote months ago. If I'm still making the same mistakes I ask myself 'why' lol.
This is much easier done if you can see these side by side rather than going through all the edited comments etc.
Also many people don't actually add the corrections correctly. For that reason I very rarely look at spanish sentences by non native speakers. I only look at their English.
When I first thought of using the web in learning Spanish, I typed at my search engine the word "learn spanish". If you try to do the same, you'll notice that SpanishDict appears at the second place, a very good one, don't you agree? I tried to think as a Spanish native wanting to learn English and I typed "aprender inglés". Do you know in what position SD appeared? I'm at the fourth page and I still haven't found the site. Please, keep in mind that I don't live in a Spanish speaking country and I did this "test" using my Safari browser, and things may be different in Spain and Latin America.
Patch said:
How do we attract more native speakers of Spanish to the forum? I think this would require a complete overhaul of the site to provide more resources for learning English. I can't see this happening.
I completely agree with you. Resources for English learners are very few and I think they are addressed to beginners and intermediate learners. On the contrary, as an advanced learner, I find it very helpful to read native's texts on different topics, and I must admit some of them (such as Izanoni's, Sean's, etc) are excellent vocabulary resources. But apart from that, the resources offered by the site are very limited.
Guys, I fully appreciate that making corrections is a valuable and much needed contribution. But don't you think we could actually do other things too? In my opinion we need to think a little deeper than just making grammatical corrections. I think the website and our forum community could do more! Our American friends will love this jejeje ---- we need to "think outside the box"
Nice thread Billy; I've been thinking about this too. Let me be frank - without the native Spanish speakers here (we all know their names) this forum would be pretty useless. An example - a few days ago I provided an answer that had come directly from a textbook - surely no problem there then, right? Cogu said that, although it was correct, it sounded old-fashioned and better not to use it. Native speakers instinctively know these things.
How do we attract more native speakers of Spanish to the forum? I think this would require a complete overhaul of the site to provide more resources for learning English. I can't see this happening. Maybe they take one look and think "everyone here speaks English and I only know a few words - I don't want to embarrass myself so I think I'll look somewhere else"
How do we keep those that we already have? By giving them a warm fuzzy glowing feeling that makes them want to stay! We are already probably the friendliest site on the web - dozens of us welcome, encourage and support Spanish-speaking newbies - but could we do more?
Of course, people don't just come here to feel the love - they come here to learn...
Heidita says...
So I can only repeat, over and over, we are here to learn, we ALL want to be corrected and nobody feels embarrassed when they get corrections.
Sometimes it's easy to point out a typo or a minor "slip-up" in the comment box. It's also a great place to give encouragement (as many of us do) but what about when we need more space?
I think that people give corrections in private not to save embarrassment but because we can't do it in the comment box and don't want to hijack the thread and start a possible debate when the person who asked the original question still hasn't received an answer yet
Billygoat says...
...focussed on learning English nuances, expressions, those tiny little changes that completely change the meaning/feel/mood of a statement
Right! Let's provide some insight into the language and help our native-Spanish friends to be more confident with their skills.
Still the best language site on the web.
Cheers
Every native speaker I meet, I try to convince to come and join us here. I have had a few come and join, but they don't necessarily want to become correctors. It is a lot of work and it takes a special sort of person to do that every day. I am going to keep trying to get new people here. I'm sure that we will get more as time goes by. We have a lot to offer here and I see many people joining everyday.
Okay since this thread has been somewhat highjacked into a discussion of correction of the typed words whether in english or spanish I would like to say that I think there is too much concentration on "perfect" grammar amd spelling. I think it benefits the beginning and intermediate speaker (I know it helped me) to feel free to communicate an idea or thought. And if that thought is understandable but is missing an accent mark or is slightly misspelled we shouldn't jump all over them.
The goal should be to encourage people to try not discourage their efforts. And as adults most of our communication is verbal not written. I know that by virtue of the medium here everything must be written but must it be perfect? I lived in Mexico four years, speaking virtually 100% spanish and didn't write more than a hundred sentences that whole time. So, yes, my spelling in spanish is terrible and I use the dictionary alot. And I expect to simple mistakes and have them corrected. But many here don't yet have the confidence in their second language skills to not get discouraged by constant correction.
So for me it is better to concentrate of whether what is said or asked is understandable and communicates what the writer intended to communicate. It has been suggested that some indication of native language and level in second language be displayed with the name on all posts. I think this would be fantastic. Gringojrf USA Native Eng. Adv. Span. or something to that effect. And answering those questions in the profile should be mandatory as should country of origin.
By the way. I took on of the tests of proficiency recently and scored only intermdiate, not advanced. Yet I can live and prosper in a spanish only environment. So are the test faulty? Is an academic label more important than practical application.
Quite a rant. Enough said. For now anyway.
PS> Please correct my english and spanish. I take everything with a grain of salt.
Almost 90% of the threads are written in English, so the beginner (spanish speaking english-added for clarification) students after reading for a couple of hours, run away and don't come back!!
Here is a crazy idea that probably would not work but maybe someone can modify it to make it workable. Have two Q&A sections. Learning Spanish and Learning English. In Learning English spanish speakers could post in spanish and anyone could answer but the answers must be in spanish with english translations. In Learning Spanish english speakers post in english and all answers must be in english with spanish translations. I know that is not real clear so an example. We often post a sentence in both languages and then proceed to explain in english. On the Learning English Q&A explanations must be in Spanish and vice versa.
Of course everyone is free to explore both Q&As;.
Excellent post Patch. I agree with you. However, would it really take a major overhaul of the system to add more learn material for English learners? I'm not so sure it would. Surely there is a commercial case for doing this? This site is funded via advertising. Surely if more hits were being received from Spanish speaking countries there would be other advertising opportunities?
Billy, good point, please send the whole idea to feedback, they have often talked about why does this site not attract more Hispanics.
