How to improve my speaking skills

Question

Hola chicos !

I've come to realize that speaking is a very important part of learning a new language.

I study real hard, my grammar and vocabulary are fairly good for my level but I am struggling when it comes to speaking. I know it is normal, but I wish I could improve my communication in Spanish.

So I would love to hear your suggestions. How do you practice/ develop your skills?

Here are a few ideas:

1)Finding a friend to talk to in Spanish on a regular basis (this one is almost impossible in my case)

2) Reading out loud a lot, listening to Audio in Spanish and repeating afterwards

3) Talking to myself-this one has proven to be very helpful. For instance, I tell my daily routine in Spanish, I try to call different objects with the Spanish words etc. Sometimes I throw in some Spanish words while I talk in my native language to people It is basically about seizing every opportunity to use my new language.

Still, I would love to hear your ideas. I would love to participate in discussions in Spanish.

Hasta luego !

For my point of view, the best way of improving your speaking skills is having a native tutor who corrects your mistakes and teach you. For this reason I recommend the online academy www.lingua-online.com. They offer a trial lesson free - Rachelien, Sep 26, 2016

Answer 1

Before I studied abroad, I had the same issue. I could write essays, read books, take grammar tests, but I felt like I sounded like a toddler when I tried to orally communicate with people in Spanish.

Regarding your first bullet, I believe there are online Spanish/English chatrooms that you can use for this.

Your third bullet is what my friend used to do. She´d walk around the house telling people that she was "washing the dishes" and "putting the plates in the dishwasher" and "going to her room." It was pretty funny.

I think you are definitely on the right track. I usually recommend the things you say you are doing already.

I would add to your list "watching Spanish-language TV or movies," because part of the battle of speaking the language is hearing what a person has to say. I would recommend seeing movies from various Latin American countries so you can get a better feel for accents and vocabulary from around the world.

If there is ever a word you think is interesting or you want to try pronouncing, you can always pause the program and try saying it aloud a few times. But hearing people speak it amongst themselves (like characters on a show) is fun because you get to hear where they stress words in natural conversational flow.

And, of course, if you have the opportunity to study abroad, I would highly recommend it!

Answer 2

Studying abroad would be my first choice either ! It could be too expensive, though, so I figured I can take an internship program in a Spanish speaking country (currently working on that)

Movies and TV series-check. They help big time !

The bottom line is practice, practice and more practice ! Anyway, anytime. At some point it all comes together. And you know, connecting to helpful people like you, makes it even easier and highly motivating.

Thanks for you response.

I have a fairly large excel with vocabulary and stuff, so if anyone is interested I can send it across to them.

Cheers , guys

Missy8888, this was supposed to go in the comment field of your answer ! sorry, I'm a newbie :) - diana8victoria, Mar 2, 2012

Glad you found me helpful. You should definitely look at scholarships and things, because studying abroad isn´t as expensive as you´d think. My semester in Spain was cheaper abroad than in my home country! And I am a newbie too! Don´t worry about it! - missy8888, Mar 2, 2012

ah, thanks ! I'll definitely look at that ! We can exchange e-mails at some stage, so that we can have a chat in Spanish :) - diana8victoria, Mar 2, 2012