Expat Community > Ecuador

Davidpdq
Joined 2009
Posts: 88

learning Spanish

13 years ago

I thought my input might be useful here since there has been quite a bit of discussion about it. In 1995 my Spanish consisted of maybe a half dozen words or so. Relative to my business, I was asked to build a manufacturing facility in Mexico, which I accepted. When I got there the challenge was more significant than I had originally imagined. It was out in the middle of nowhere, as they say, just a bare parcel of land. I lived with a legal pad in my hand to draw pictures and diagrams to describe what I wanted done and an electronic translator, which was almost useless; it didn’t work at the speed of conversation. What I found was that most of the companies I interviewed for contracting tasks spoke some English, and with that, I got started. I began immediately to learn words, usually nouns at first and I made it my goal to learn at least three words each day. After only three to four weeks I could identify the subject of what I wanted to communicate and then it became a challenge of listening. The easy part was to learn how to say something, however, understanding the response and reciprocating in conversation was the hard part. I was in the stage of translating each and every word into English then searching in my mind for the word in Spanish to make a response. This was very frustrating to me and I knew I had to get to the next level, and quickly. One of my new-found Mexican friends suggested that I do something as simple as learn the sounds of the Spanish alphabet. As he described, the sounds of the letters in Spanish, unlike English, sounds the same in the words………..so I started, as simple as it sounds, with the alphabet. The other really important thing that he taught me was to not be afraid to speak Spanish. Don’t worry he said, whoever you are talking to will understand what you are trying to say and will also help you with it. I decided to do just what he suggested. What I found was that everyone respectfully and caringly helped me (no one laughed) and it gave me the chance to help them with English. At that point, just like a baby learning how to talk, with no fear I blurted out my Spanish phrases and they understood to the point that we could communicate.
I continue to work as a consultant from time to time in Mexico, fluent in Spanish, and it is one of my favorite places in the world to work. My three points of advise to anyone with the desire to speak Spanish would be to first learn the sounds of the alphabet and practice saying words according to those sounds………….not the English sound but the Spanish sound and start with something as simple as taco or por favor; say it correctly even if it sounds strange to you. The second point of advice is to not be afraid to use the Spanish you are learning (just like a baby speaks, says it and if it is not right, you will get help). The third point of advice is to listen intently and ask the person to speak slowly (habla despacio por favor, no tango mucho Español), they won’t mind……….they will help you. I hope this helps someone. Davidpdq

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