Well, August seems to be heading into a month of much learning advice.
But, hey, it’s intended to be of help for you as a committed language learner!
Today I want to share with you an idea that may seem far-fetched upon first reading it, but it’s something that can help you a great deal in your Spanish learning.
It has to do with acting your words. Just as actors immerse themselves in their roles to effectively convey emotions and intentions, as language learners you can benefit from adopting a similar mindset.
Let me state my case.
Feel what you’re saying
The standard at which we calibrate our foreign language speaking persona has a huge impact on how we sound in terms of fluency. If you don’t feel comfortable using your target language, it’ll be in the air, so to speak.
Obviously, before you feel what you’re saying it’s essential that you understand what you’re saying, but very frequently a student knows the words and forgets to attach an intention to them or underestimates its overall importance.
Every day interactions leaving out all type of interjections in conversation automatically lose their authenticity. You’d never have a conversation in your L1 that flat.
Speaking of that, the Argentinian Spanish Phrasebook can be a really helpful guy in your quest:
Sign up to the newsletter and download your FREE Argentinian Spanish Phrasebook! CLICK HERE
Stage fright
Next, there’s the question of stage fright. Of course, stage fright is just as real when you’re a language learner. The fear of making mistakes and the anxiety of being right or misunderstood can put unnecessary spanners in the works.
Acknowledging that making mistakes is an inevitable aspect of the learning journey enables you to shed your self-consciousness and focus on the joy of connecting with others through your target language.
Some time ago I recommended cold practice as a way to deal with this as well as possible.
Enjoy the ride, my friend!
Accent and pronunciation
Learning a language, but specially picking up an accent is an imitation game. You may or may not have heard about SHADOWING, but in case you haven’t let me tell you this: shadowing has to do with impersonating the speaker you’re listening to. Following their exact pronunciation, rhythm, intonation and word stress. I also discussed this in my article on Learning Spanish with podcasts.
In order to do a good shadowing practice, you need to get in the skin of your language model. Otherwise you’ll miserably fail at it.
This side of any foreign language is far more relevant if you have an intermediate or advanced level in your L2. When you’re a beginner it’s much more important to focus on what’s been said above in this article and leave this for later.
Never forget you’re crafting your Spanish speaking self.
Connecting your words to the emotions involved is your most natural way of being in your native language, so why shouldn’t it in your target language? We can all embody it.
Hope this helps,
Good luck in your Spanish learning!
You might also want to read these articles:
- An interesting take on VOSEOTake a look at this voseo map that represents where in the American content VOS carries a social meaning.
- Bienvenido, BienvenidaWhat is a blog if not a humble space of communion? Come in, my sister, my brother.
- Lessons learned from “I taught an octopus play piano”The internet is beautiful. Some people take crazy ideas to action… and surprise everyone else with the outcome.
- Learn Argentinian Spanish like you shouldIf you really want to master Argentinian Spanish, let me set up your learning path for success.
- Malas PalabrasAn overview of how AI handled the transcript of one of my YouTube videos.
- Bancar and AguantarDo you know the difference between these two verbs? Then you’d better read this post!