Getting Started 3: Speak to people in Spanish as much as humanly possible

Speak to people in Spanish as much as humanly possible. If you work in an area where you have a significantly Hispanic workforce attempt to talk to them in their language. They are going to be thrilled that you are making an attempt to learn to speak their native tongue, and although they may laugh at you when you make a mistake most of the time it will be in the spirit of good hearted fun, in the same way you would laugh at a friend who made a mistake without intending to be cruel. They are going to prove to be your most valuable allies in your quest to master the Spanish language, and will be able to not only tell you the proper names of the items around you but will be able to correct your mistakes as well.

Their assistance is especially valuable because, as we mentioned before, the easiest way to gain fluency quickly in a language is to master the vocabulary pertaining to the environment around you. If you are in an environment where you are constantly hearing Spanish, speaking of the objects that surround you on a day to day basis you are going to begin to master not only basic nouns, but basic phrases as well. For example, if you happen to work in a restaurant where the majority of the staff speaks Spanish you are going to quickly pick up on both food nouns and basic phrases, such as “I’m hungry”, “I’m thirsty”, and “Can I have…?”(Along with a host of less desirable phrases, but we won’t go into that right now-you’ll have plenty of opportunity to discover that on your own!)

The point of this was to illustrate the fact that when you hear Spanish every day you will grow more accustomed to it, and before long will find yourself answering your fellow employees in their native tongue and even tentatively beginning to have basic conversations with them. Again, understand that the language barrier is not going to simply vanish overnight-there are going to be many occasions where you are, quite simply, not going to have a clue what’s going on and you are going to feel everyone talking around you. Do not allow this to frustrate you or make you feel discouraged. Remember that although the people with whom you are speaking may speak Spanish fluently there is a very good chance that they are now attempting to learn to speak your language, and will therefore understand exactly how you feel.

Tip #3-Until you have a firm grasp of the language do not attempt to carry on a casual conversation in Spanish over the telephone. The absence of visual aids is going to result in you and whoever else you are speaking with having to spend hours scrabbling through your dictionaries to find the proper word or phrase, and will only serve to frustrate you both more.