Learning Cuban Spanish

Question

Hey-

My goal is to be fluent Spanish and I know the best way is to learn is immersion. My family is of Cuban decent and the older people in my family speak Spanish fluently.

I still have family in Cuba but due to my job I am not able to take a couple months to stay and learn the language. The most I could do is a week.

The spanish that I know so far was what i was taught from my grandmother. I can understand better then I can speak, it used to be the opposite. With my grandmother I dont see her everyday and when we do speak in spanish it always ends to english

Where I live the cuban population is non existent. But there is a big mexican population. All of my spanish speaking friends are american born and usually only speak spanish with their parents. So trying to learn though them is not an option because they all tell me their spanish is bad.

As for classes im not trying to learn through a workbook, I need conversation. I feel like i am to shy to practice through strangers

I am just trying to see what my options are

You might try a more friendly and courteous greeting, like "hello" or Spanish "hola" - Daniela2041, Oct 20, 2016

Welcome to spanishdict. We ask that all new members complete their profiles with their native language, and what level of Spanish you feel you are, like, beginner, intermediate, etc. as well as gender. - ray76, Oct 21, 2016

Answer 1

Hi friend,

I'm learning Spanish in New Zealand right now and trust me, there is NO active Spanish speaking community here. So I was in your situation myself. I too felt shy about speaking to strangers and I finally booked a Spanish speaking tutor. It has been well worth it; without a doubt speaking is the best way to fluency. So I recommend just take the plunge and get a native speaker to tutor or meet with.

Hola amigo/a

Estoy aprendiendo español in Nueva Zelanda ahora, y crèeme no hay ninguna comunidad de hablantes españoles aquí. Por eso estaba en la misma situación, Yo tambien estaba demasiado timido para hablar con los extraños, hasta por fin contraté un tutor español. Definitivamente lo merece la pena. Sin duda hablar es la major manera de actualizar la fluidez. Así yo recomendo a hacerlo.

Buena seurte!

(please correct if any mistakes!)

Answer 2

There are no on-line courses in Cuban Spanish that I am aware of. About the best you can get without an instructor either in a class or private lessons is a computer immersion course such as Rosetta Stone. or the great audio course called the Pimsleur Approach.

Both of these teach standard proper Spanish with a sort of neutral accent--mainly Ecuadorian or Colombian which are quite easy to understand.

However the local regional expressions and slang always have to be learned through association with speakers who use them or seeing if there is a dictionary which has them.

There are many dictionaries out there which give thousands of idiomatic expressions, but finding the ones peculiar to a country are hard. There are several books of Mexican slang and expressions on the market, but none for "cubanismos."

So about the best you can do is learn standard Spanish, and spend some time in Cuba with a notebook or some recording device. If you do take a university class, you might get lucky and get a class with a Cuban professor.

Buena suerte.

You are too kind my friend . If I knew the members language level I could correct his English for him , assuming he wants us too, with out that profile we are castrati. - ray76, Oct 21, 2016

Answer 3

There actually is a Cuban Spanish course that comes with a phrasebook. Check out Cuban Spanish 101

101 does some good things. I found the Cuban accent took some getting used to. - Mardle, Oct 14, 2017

Conozco mejol :) el acento cubano. - DonBigoteDeLaLancha, Oct 14, 2017

Answer 4

¡Qué cosa má grande! Este hilo e' de hace más de un año y no recuerdo haberlo visto antes de hoy cuando el mensaje de Tamara lo reactivó.

Me encanta el español cubano, especialmente lo de Oriente.