Learn Here How To Speak Spanish Fluently

As somebody who speaks Spanish fluently, I have often been asked which is the best way to learn a language, be it English, Spanish, or Japanese. The answer I give is based directly on my own experience as a dual language communicator and professional teacher.

"You don't learn a language, you have to live and breathe it."

When you think about it, it's perfectly logical. Children learn a language before they go to school. They do not learn the language from a teacher pedagogically teaching it to them with chalk and blackboard. They learn it by living it at home with Mum and Dad, and other family members, friends, and contacts.

Children learn a language by visual and sensory perception and association. Thus, it seems to me that the best way to learn a language is to replicate the child's experience. That means going to live among Spanish or Spanish-speaking people, in the same way that a child does on a daily basis.

Many years ago, when I lived in the country of my birth, England, I went to evening classes after a hard day's work and studied for GCSE exams. I passed the exam, with the lowest grade possible. However, it was only when I went to live in Spain that I really got to grips with the Spanish language.

At one point in England, I bought all sorts of learning materials, including books such as 'Spanish in three months.' Think about that for a moment. It does not say that you can learn Spanish in three months, but it most certainly implies it.

Well it was true, it was possible to work your way through the exercises in the book in three months. The problem was very little of it stuck. The reason it didn't stick was because something was missing, constant repetition all day long, every day of the week, month, and year.

Other things were missing from the book, such as accent, tone, and actual verbal pronunciation in general. Also missing were visual physical and facially expressive clues which help to promote understanding. It is more helpful than you realize to visually see the shapes the mouth is making when speaking is taking place.

Before I went to Spain, even with three years of part-time study, I could barely speak the language. When I went to live in Spain full-time, within a year I was fluent beyond my wildest dreams. There was an additional personal problem that also went a very long way towards my learning progress.

The main reason I went to live in Spain was because I was married to a Spanish woman, and that woman insisted on us living in her own country.

Sadly, the marriage did not last due to her unreasonable physically violent behavior and infidelity and I found myself cast asunder in a foreign land. To make matters worse it was an acrimonious separation and divorce.

Going back to England was not an option since I had foolishly burned all my bridges after I left England. Everything I had ever worked for was tied to that woman. I had to find a way to fight even for the right to see our very young son.

One day I went to the beach to escape all the nastiness. On the spur of the moment, I decided to learn how to sail a catamaran. I think secretly I had some sort of death wish and hoped I would drown. Anyway, my tutor was a lovely guy called Pablo, who was a champion of Spain for the class of boat I wanted to learn to sail.

At our initial interview, I told Pablo a little about my personal situation and he said… 

"In that case, I will only teach you to sail in Spanish. You need to learn very good Spanish very quickly, or she is going to destroy you. Don't forget, you are playing away from home." 

He was right, of course. I learned to sail in Spanish so well that I have not got a clue what all the parts of the boat are called, nor how to operate it, in English!

The more I thought about my situation, the more it seemed like my whole life depended on me making one very big change. I realized that I had to cut myself off from English-speaking ex-pats and only interact with the Spanish. In the process of doing that I discovered a wonderful Spanish act of serendipity. The Spanish love to help anybody, most especially somebody who is trying to learn their language. There is a very interesting reason for this, beyond a natural inclination to assist another human being in need of help.

A Spanish friend once told me… 

"You know why we love to help you to learn our language, Liam? All of our lives, from an early age, we have had it drummed into us that we must learn English. If we speak English, it is because we have been told we have to. You, on the other hand, want to learn Spanish for the love of our country and the Spanish language. Also, if we help you to learn Spanish, it saves us from having to learn English." He spoke that last sentence with his tongue very firmly wedged in his cheek.

Having cut myself off to the extent of not even watching English TV programs, listening to English radio, or reading English newspapers, the effects were astounding. In addition, every visit to a cafe or bar, every entrance into a shop, and every bus journey became a lesson in Spanish. It is called total immersion, and it works a treat.

One day, at the start of my journey to learn Spanish, I went into a butcher shop and looked around at all the meats they had for sale, I knew very little of what they were all called. The question was, how do I ask for what I want? Well, I could point, which usually worked, but I wanted to speak. Then suddenly I had a great idea.

I stood at the back of the queue observing the other customers. I listened very intently to what they were asking for and I watched like a hawk what the butcher gave them. This is learning by connecting verbal with visual stimuli. After that, I did the same in every single shop I went into.

"Dame media docena de allas de pollo, porfavor." 

The butcher gave the female customer six chicken wings. Sorted, that was going to be my evening meal.

A word of warning, there is another word very similar to pollo (chicken, phonetically pronounced 'Po-joe') and the word is 'polla' (Po-ja) which refers to a man's penis. I speak from experience, and yes it was hugely embarrassing. Mistakes can be a very funny and memorable way to learn.

One day, in a small local grocery shop, I asked for five kilos of new potatoes. "Cinco kilos de patatas nuevas, porfavor." The shop owner immediately started to fill a big plastic bag with fresh eggs. When it was full to bursting, she handed me the bag. I was dumbfounded. She thought I had asked for "Cinco kilos de huevos, porfavor." I think I had mispronounced the word 'nu-evas' and she heard 'hu-evos.' Behind me, I heard three local Spanish women laughing. In between the hysterical cackling, one woman exclaimed 

"Hija, quien quiere cinco kilos de huevos? Que pasa! Tu creer el senor esta preparando una tortilla para todo del mundo, o que?" - "Girl, what happened? Who on earth wants five kilos of eggs? Do you think the man is making an omelet for the whole world, or what?" I love the Spanish sense of humor.

Not only did I learn the vocabulary, I learned an authentic Spanish accent. Back in England,I had learned Spanish using the much easier-to-understand Castilian accent. In the south of Spain where I lived in Andalucia, there is a tendency to cut words short.

For example 'Un cafe manchado' (a soft milky coffee) is pronounced in Madrid Castilian (or Castellano Correcto, which is like Queen's or Oxford English or RP, Received Pronunciation) as 'Man-cha-do'. In the south they say 'Man-chow.' English people also need to be aware that if you ask for a cup of tea with milk, you will be given a cup of tea with milk only, no water. So first you have to ask for a cup of tea "Un tazo de te, porfavor." Then, after the cup of tea has been out on the countertop, you can ask "Dame un poco de leche, porfavor," and they will give you a small silver jug of milk to add to the cup of tea.

One point of clarity is needed here; 'Dame' or 'Da-Me' with a short 'e' literally means 'Give me'. In English, we say "Can I have…" or "May I have…"

"Give me" can sound somewhat brusque and impolite to the English ear. However, it is not meant to be rude. What we often have to do is translate the meaning of the word or phrase rather than translate the actual words into the literal equivalent. So 'Dame' means 'Can I have...? not 'Give me.'

***

Within a year I opened my very own English academy in collaboration with an amazing Spanish woman, Maria, who spoke excellent English. The academy was hugely successful in being contracted with several local state schools to give after-school classes, with a team of half a dozen English teachers under me. What was more, I organized a three-week homestay summer school in England.

What I learned from my teaching experience was that every English lesson I gave, was a Spanish lesson for me. The twenty children in the class had one English teacher, in them, I had twenty Spanish teachers! In fact, I had 200,000 Spanish teachers, the entire city taught me how to speak Spanish fluently!

At this point allow me to clarify that fluent does not mean bi-lingual, it means I can speak Spanish with a very high degree of fluidity. Bi-lingual means the same level in two languages. In my case, although my Spanish is excellent, there are still gaps and a lot more to learn.

After that first year, I also became a fixed feature of the local culture scene as an English and Spanish-speaking actor, piano bar owner and operator (I was my own house pianist) live performing singer-songwriter, and music producer. One of the biggest challenges I set myself was to write a song in Spanish. After many failed attempts, I finally came up with a song part English, part Spanish, more the latter than the former, which is on my third album, out now on Bandcamp.

One final thing that helped me to learn to speak Spanish fluently was being dragged through the courts by my crazy ex, with all manner of false and trivial accusations in an attempt to get me sent to jail. I won every single case over a fifteen-year vendetta. However, she did make sure that I lost my academy, piano bar, and ultimately all contact with my young son.

In court, due to the fact that there is a great deal of legal jargon to contend with, I always exercised my right to have a free translator. This had the effect of angering one judge in particular who complained "Esta senor habla Espanol mejor que yo!" - "This man speaks better Spanish than me!" I suppose I should take that as a compliment.

***

"Okay…I hear you, Liam. I want to learn to speak Spanish fluently but I cannot go to live in Spain. Now what?"

Let me introduce you to the Cervantes Institute. Here is a quote about who, what, and where they are.

About the Cervantes Institute

The Cervantes Institute, a Spanish public institution, was created in 1991 to further the teaching of Spanish and Spain's vernacular languages and enhance the visibility of Spanish and Latin American culture. It is present in 90 cities in 43 countries on six continents.

It has two headquarters in Spain, the head office in Madrid and the Alcalá de Henares HQ. Its multimedia platform features an internet portal on language and culture in Spanish-speaking countries, the Cervantes Virtual Center.

Objectives and responsibilities

Organize general and special language courses in Spanish and all of Spain's vernacular languages

To issue Diplomas in Spanish as a Foreign Language (Spanish initials, DELE) on behalf of the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport and organize the respective exams

To update teaching methods and teacher training

To support the work of Hispanists

To participate in programs designed to enhance the visibility of the Spanish language

To conduct cultural activities in conjunction with other Spanish and Latin American organizations and institutions in host countries

To provide the general public with libraries fitted with the most advanced technologies.

You are invited to visit the home page of the Cervantes Institute's website at:http://www.cervantes.es/.

The Cervantes Institute is no substitute for the way in which I learned to speak Spanish, but it is the next best thing. Since they are in 43 countries and six continents, there is sure to be one in your country.

One other way to learn Spanish is to get married to a Spaniard. Pillow talk can be a very effective educational experience. Remember, despite my own experience with one bad apple, Spain is full of amazingly good women with hearts of gold.

One final thing. You may ask yourself is it worth it to speak Spanish? Absolutely. Spanish is the second most widely spoken language in the world, after English.

548 million people in the world speak Spanish! Yes, more people speak Chinese, but mainly in China, and only because there is such a big population. Of course, it would be great to learn Chinese too, but I have my hands full learning Japanese where I now live in Japan.

Imagine the wonderful extra opportunities for all manner of experiences you would have by speaking not just the first most widely spoken language in the world, but also the second!

Suerte.