Regress to Progress Speaking Spanish: Learn like a Child 

This is such great advice! ❤

This is such excellent advice. I catch myself wanting to express myself in Spanish the way I do in English. I can’t do it yet, because I’m just beginning. It’s not about being perfect, it’s about communicating effectively. Your English is terrific, and you are a wonderful teacher.

Muchas gracias mi amiga😊 Me gusta su información!

Gracias por este video. Este es muy informativo.

OMG I LOVE YOU!!! Well, yes you and those curls are very easy to look at, but what I really mean is that you hit the nail right on the head with this philosophy!! I have several college degrees and every time I speak Spanish I want to sound like I have an education. I always try to translate these complicated English sentences into Spanish--unsuccessfully. My ego keeps me from breaking down my English thoughts and trying to speak like a child in Spanish. But YOU, fair lady, have made me re-think that entire process and realize a new goal--Just get the message across or as we say in English, K.I.S.S.! (Keep it simple, stupid!). The process is like riding a motorcycle, you never want to outride your skills, meaning that you shouldn't ride faster than you can control the bike. What you said here that got my attention is that one should not try to outthink your Spanish skills, meaning that you shouldn't try to speak faster or smarter than your skills allow. As you learn to navigate better, then you can go faster...On the motorcycle AND with your Spanish!!! Thank you!

This was so helpful. When you said “broken English” to get a point across. It makes sense. I will think in that way now because that’s what happens in any language. when learning a language even a native language children do it all the time this makes total sense.

You deserve that subscribe from me smart lady. The language I'm learning is danish. I'm definitely going to use this tip

Me acabo de suscribir a tu canal. Ojalá pueda aprender más español.

Spanish is such an incredible language. I have been learning it through Immersive translate and the app is really great for foreign languages

This is such a great video and totally resonates. I am doing this nearly every time I speak Spanish and have yet to come across a video that makes sense of it like this one does. I constantly try to say things in Spanish how I would say them in English, and that just overcomplicates the thought process and leads to freezing and sounding even worse. Great examples with the student and child as well. These are so helpful because they're real life examples, and are a good reminder it's normal to struggle with this. Well done!

Thanks

Hola Gabriela, can you please show us examples how to compose sentences using these five methods below. Gracias! 1. personal pronoun + verb conjunction + complement 2. noun + verb conjunction + complement 3. question word + verb conjunction + personal pronoun + complement 4. question word + verb conjunction + noun + complement 5. verb conjunction + personal pronoun / noun + complement

I SO agree! We should "acquire" language, not study it!!

Me encantan tus consejo y canal. Estoy aprendiendo español mas rápido que inglés mi idioma nativo. Porque después 2 años puedo leer, escribir y hablar en español. Tenía 5 años antes yo pude escribir mi nombre o leer en inglés. Mi gente….No sea tan duro en tú mismo. 🙏🏾

This really helped me. Este video realmente me ayuda.

It's a long story but up until I was 6, I could speak fluent Spanish. Granted it was with the vocabulary of a 6 year old. We lived overseas since my father was in the military but when we came to the states, we spent time in a rural part of the South and were made fun of. So we stopped. Now, I'm essentially starting over. There are phrases that stuck with me because my mother still uses them. But learning again is a challenge. People, even Spanish speakers have said the ability is still there so it will come back. But it's difficult. Especially the usage of pronouns. Learning like a child is helpful especially when I'm asked a question. I can keep it simple. It's just that when I want to convey a thought, the vocabulary isn't there. I have to learn more words. It helps to have a Spanish speaking mother, una novia que habla español, and several people at the grad school where I work. Así que puedo practicar.

¡Que lindo este niño!

Omg this is sooo helpful. I just rely on Spanglish lol but this isn’t helpful when speaking to people who speak very little to no English. I’ve been speaking some Spanish for most of my life, since I was a kid so I’m super comfortable saying the stuff that I know but the minute it takes me an extra amount of effort to think of what I want to say, that’s when I fall back on English. I feel like people are going to get frustrated with me if I take too long to come up with a thought so in order to keep the conversation at a natural, fast pace, I only say what comes to my mind immediately in Spanish and will go back & forth between Spanish and English throughout the conversation but I think this is a much better method that will help me to further develop my Spanish. I had a Spanish tutor on italki tell me the same thing. He said my Spanish was great and near native like when I’m in the zone and saying things that I’m well versed in but he said I need to push myself to not rely on English for what I’m not so well versed in and to take the extra time to stutter or look for my next words in Spanish. But you broke it down even better by saying that it’s ok to just get the main points across like baby talk or cave man talk lol.

Hola Gabriela, me encanta este video. Estoy buscando mejor mis conversaciones en general con otras personas, gente o nativos que hablan espanol. Esto mensaje de tu video es interesante porque puedo escribir y escuchar en espanol mejor tan cuando estoy hablando. A veces, siento miedo y nervioso porque quiero hablar perfectamente en todas las conversaciones. Sera tratando a hablar tan un nino. Espero que ayudame con mis confidancia recuerdo mas palabras, verbos y oraciones en conversacion. Voy a ver mas videos de tu en el futuro. Gracias.