Need help speaking spanish

Question

Can anyone help me with my oral composition? I am in Spanish 102 and am having trouble with pronunciation and forming sentences.

Answer 1

Just trying to help here and hope people get it!

Ask yourself the following:

When speaking off your hat in English you don't have much troubles, right?

Now, start reading out loud, in English, a long paragraph from a book, and tell me if you stop from time to time to correct yourself because you didn't use the correct intonation etc...

Now, do the same thing and this time record yourself. Once you are done, listen to yourself and let me know if you were satisfied the first time around, that you could send that recording anywhere, without fearing of being criticized.

:-D

how does that help with her spanish? - actorgirl, Apr 17, 2014

Good question, but you haven't answered what happens to you with the situations I posed. In English my friend, just in English, forget Spanish for the moment. :-D - chileno, Apr 18, 2014

To answer your question, it just depends. Sometimes I have trouble...not with pronunciation or that, but with getting the right words to come out, or to even think of what to say. I am sorry, but I am really confused here. - actorgirl, Apr 21, 2014

But you are talking about Spanish right? I am talking about English. Re-read what I wrote in this reply and answer. If you want to take this to PM, we can continue there. Up to you. - chileno, Apr 22, 2014

I am still confused. It's up to you whether or not you want to try and un-confuse me. :) it really doesn't matter to me. - actorgirl, Apr 24, 2014

Ok, no problem - chileno, Apr 24, 2014

Answer 2

I recommend that you work with someone by Skype or Hangouts.

It is best if you can find a native speaker. If you go to Verbling, you can find groups for practicing Spanish.

Good luck!

Answer 3

Welcome to the forum! We would appreciate it if you would take the time to fill in your profile. What exactly do you mean by your oral composition? Like a presentation you have to give, or speaking in Spanish generally? Can be you a little more specific?

To start you out, here are a few links that might be helpful with pronunciation.

False cognates

Spanish alphabet and pronunciation

Spanish vowels

Spanish syllables

Word stress

Written accents (tildes)

Spanish punctuation

¡Buena suerte!

This is wonderful!!! - jessicamccall117, Apr 18, 2014

Thanks for all your links and suggestions! - mejestra, Apr 20, 2014

sure! Glad to help. :) - actorgirl, Apr 21, 2014

Answer 4

Mejestra ,, there aint any quick fix to acquiring the right accent in any language .. you will need a lot of practice to achieve that and that comes only with time ... there is only one thing you need to focus on right now and that is pronundiation which is the "syllable stress" .. every word that ends in a vowel needs to have the stress on the second syllable from last and every word that ends in a consonant (except s and n which follow the vowel rule as stated before) needs to have the stress on the last syllable ... all spanish words follow this pronunciation rule except for the ones that have written accent marks ,, for example el demócrata ,, now these are the kind that break the general rule and u need to stress the sylkable which has the written accent mark.. as long as you follow the correct accentuation (syllable stress) u shud be understood fine I hope .. and as far as the matter or the content of your presentation is concerned ,, you can post it here and we can proof read it for u and suggest corrections if any.

And you can post your voice here too and we can hear and give our feedback .. if u dont know how to post your voice file here, you may seek advice from actorgirl as I dont know it either.

Best of luck

thanks for all your help Jimmy1978 - mejestra, Apr 20, 2014

Answer 5

You can also find native teachers through Spanish Skype.org I am taking Spanish lessons once again with a native teacher from Spain. Here is their website: enter link description here

She is very patient and kind with a good sense of humour and I am sure I will continue to make progress with her support!

Ideally the best way to learn a language is, of course, to live in a Spanish speaking country but we do not all have the opportunity to do that so the next best way is to take lessons with a native teacher to help you to learn their language!

I hope this helps

Ps I will add the link to their website!

I agree ,, one can never learn it totally unless one stays in a spanish speaking country .. in my country no one speaks spanish and I have a zero native exposure .. very hard for me. - 00b055e0, Apr 18, 2014

I never realized that Jimmy, well done! :) It is also good that you are so well motivated to learn Spanish considering your lack of exposure to the language! - FELIZ77, Apr 18, 2014

hmm ., thanks - 00b055e0, Apr 19, 2014

thanks for your help! - mejestra, Apr 20, 2014

Answer 6

This is for a presentation on a general subject given by the instructor. I will be speaking for 5 minutes in spanish on the topic given. Topic example: Habla de cómo pass tu tiempo libre. ¿ Qué hades los fines de semana?

and what specifically do you need help with on it? Someone to make sure that it is written properly? - actorgirl, Apr 17, 2014

Both written and pronunciation. Need to practice speaking to someone that knows spanish. - mejestra, Apr 17, 2014

Okay, here is my suggestion. post your written report in small chunks in this post, and have people look at it. Also search in the questions for speaking in Spanish and see what you come up with. - actorgirl, Apr 17, 2014