5 Tips on What To Do When You Can’t Understand Spanish Speakers
¡Hola! It’s Brenda Romaniello, your Spanish teacher from Hola Spanish. today I’d like to talk about a very important topic that happens to many students. Have you ever been in a conversation with a native Spanish speaker or a group of people and you couldn’t understand absolutely anything o very little? It’s more common than you think!
That’s why today I’d like to share with you 5 tips that you can follow when you don’t understand Spanish native speakers
Tip 1: 5 to 10 minutes of NADA
When you start a conversation with one person or a group of Spanish speakers and you don’t understand anything, my recommendation is to give yourself permission to not understand anything for 5 to 10 minutes.
You might be thinking that 5 to 10 minutes is not much, but when you’re in a conversation it’s going to feel at the beginning like a really long time. You’ll feel stressful thinking that the other person is waiting for your response, however when you give yourself permission to not understand anything for a few minutes, when you allow yourself time to adjust to the person’s tonality, accent, voice, vocabulary, etc; your stress and anxiety levels will lower, you’ll get to relax and focus on the conversation. When you relax, you’ll see that you’ll start to pick up a few things because now you’re open and focusing on what you can understand instead of what you can’t.
Tip 2: Mention you’re learning Spanish and your Spanish isn’t very good
It will allow others to have more patience with you, speak slower, and understand that you cannot follow the whole conversation. Don’t be shy, do mention early in the conversation that you’re a either a beginner or that you can’t understand Spoken Spanish that well. You’d be surprise how friendly and kind Spanish speaker are!
Here is what you can say:
¡LO SIENTO! ESTOY ESTUDIANDO ESPAÑOL. YO NO ENTIENDO MUCHO
(I’m sorry, I’m learning Spanish. I don’t understand much)
¡LO SIENTO! SOY PRINCIPIANTE ¿PUEDES HABLAR MÁS DESPACIO, POR FAVOR?
(I’m sorry, I’m a beginner. Can you speak slower please?
With these useful phrases you can ask Spanish speakers to slow down, so you can understand what they’re saying and understand them better.
Tip 3: Practice Spanish conversation as much as you can
We know it’s very stressful to be in a Spanish conversation if you’re a beginner or don’t have much experience speaking Spanish but remember that practice makes perfect. So, the more you practice, the more you put yourself out there in that uncomfortable situation, and the better (and faster way) you’ll get at it.
Instead of trying to avoid talking to Spanish speakers, do the opposite and challenge yourself by exposing yourself to different accents and people so you get used to different Spanish varieties as well.
Tip 4: Speak Spanglish
This is particularly for those who have friends or who know people whose Spanish is their first language and English is not their mother tongue, BUT their English is better or even way better than their Spanish. This can be very frustrating because you feel like you don’t want to slow down the conversation or be embarrassed by making mistakes, and so, you decide to speak English.
My recommendation would be why don’t you try to speak Spanglish and use the words, verbs, structures and phrases you do know in Spanish and complement with English so that the conversation can move forward, and you get to practice at least what you do know.
Spanglish is a very controversial topic when it comes to learning Spanish. In my experience, students who started speaking Spanglish, eventually started using more Spanish than English and ended up switching to Spanish as they continue with theirs studies. So, give it a try and see if it works for you.
Tip 5: Know when to interrupt the speaker and let them know you don’t understand them.
You know that awkward moment when they keep going and you have no idea what the conversation is about? You want to interrupt them and let me them know you don’t understand, but the question is: ‘When do I interrupt them? What’s the perfect moment?’
I’d say it depends on the situation. If it’s a one on one conversation, then remember to first give yourself permission not to understand anything for a few minutes and then if you really can’t get a word, interrupt them and let them know. They’ll try and make an effort straight away to speak slower.
If you’re in a group and you’re part of a conversation, you have more of a chance to relax and let yourself not understand much because other people will do the talking. I’d say the best moment is half way, before the person finishes what they were trying to say.
You can use this phrase when you’d like to interrupt someone:
¡LO SIENTO! ¿PODRÍAS HABLAR MÁS DESPACIO, POR FAVOR?
(I’m sorry, could you speak a little slower please?)
Those are 5 tips of what to do when you don’t understand Spanish speakers. I hope you find them helpful. In the comments below I’d love to hear from you, which one of the tips did you find most helpful and which one could you implement straight away? Let me know in the comments below.
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¡Hasta la próxima clase!
I’ll see you next class!