My Spanish trip – the wandering

I share more about how I have been working on Spanish in the last few years and what helped me most. Spoiler: Duolingo made Nada for me.

Hi friends! How are you? I hope you have a wonderful morning. Yesterday we made a water park and a theme park, so today I have the feeling that it will be a little lower.

Now that we are heading for our fourth week in Spain, I have decided that I will make a little update on my Spanish trip and some of the things that helped me most. I think as an adult is so important to be * a beginner * in things; To challenge your brain in a new way and try the hobbies and activities you always wanted to do, even if you are not good at first. I know many of my friends there aim to learn a new language, so I hope this post is useful! I would also like to hear any strategies that worked for you.

My Spanish trip

A little background:

– Giving birth, my family’s country often spoke Spanish. Because of this, I have always been able to understand it, but I have never spoken it. I would do the thing where my family would ask me something in Spanish and would answer in English. When people would speak Spanish around me, I knew what was happening, but they did not contribute to the conversation.

– I took Spanish classes in elementary and secondary school (super main things) and minor at Spanish at collegeS I thought it would be my chance to feel fully confident and commanding Spanish. I wrote essays, read novels, analyzed poetry, but maybe I spent 5% of my time in my Spanish classes in college, actually speaking Spanish. So, once again, it just reinforced my understanding, gave me the ability to write and read in Spanish, but it didn’t really make me feel confident to speak.

– A few years ago, I decided that I would start training again and really get on things. We love to travel, I like to be able to communicate with people in different places, so it has become really important to me. Some of our close friends are Colombian and have friends who speak Spanish, so I wanted to be able to contribute and feel more comfortable with talking. I would also like to start working with IHP clients in Spanish, starting from the beginning of next year.

I tried a few different things to refresh my skills and feel more confident to speak.

Here’s what made a huge difference and here’s what made absolutely nothing.

Learning in Spanish as an adult

Applications:

I have not found an application that is useful for real -world situations. I tried both Duolingo and Babbel and I wasn’t impressed with both. I have the feeling that it is a very coincidence and a dictionary, but a little understanding behind the grammatical rules and how to use languages ​​in real life. Also, most of the time you don’t even remember what you are doing. Even if I use applications for a little while, I didn’t learn anything new.

Virtual and Personal Training:

It was the biggest gamer for me. I did a lot of research and came across Itaki And that was my Spanish guide. I have lessons at least once a week, but I also have homework throughout the week in reading, writing, mastering, speaking and listening. It took me a little time, but I found a teacher who pushes me (he is actually something, sometimes lol), but he takes me out of my comfort zone at the next level. (If you want his information please LMK and I will be glad to pass it on!)

Practicing Spanish in Spain:

Last year, when we came to Spain for about two weeks, I was like, « Here we are. This is my chance! » It was a nice little confidence booster to feel that I could do it. I could order food at restaurants, ask and answer questions, order cabins, it was really NBD. Last year, I felt that the locals had taken us a lot of English and I was surprised at how many people in Seville spoke English. It feels like the opposite experience this time because of my determination to speak only Spanish while we were here. I was surprised at how easy and naturally feeling and I was only in English. 😉

I also had the opportunity to work with a wonderful Spanish teacher twice a week while we were here!

Most of my conversations around the world were a superficial level: store interactions and restaurants. Boout my deepest conversations were with taxi drivers! In Barcelona, ​​we talked about a lot: the economy, the quality of life in the US, how many schools and groceries cost … I liked it. I am excited to continue training while we are here and to go home and maybe I finally speak Spanish with my many Spanish-speaking friends. 😉

So, tell me, friends: What are you a beginner these days?

Do you work on learning a new instrument or language? I would like to hear about it!

xoxo

Gina