Voted Best Answer
Mar 06, 2011 - 02:07 PM
The bad news is that it won't naturally just happen. It's simple in theory but difficult to execute. To speak fluently in any language you, well, need to speak the language. Some ideas for you that have helped me....
Make it personal and say it out loud. Pretend that I just asked you ¿Qué vas hacer? You would probably answer me with Sonia's favorite phrase, Yo voy a.....la tienda, la escuela, comer, etc. Hey, I want more information. ¿Dónde? ¿Cuándo? ¿Quien /quienes? ¿Qué? Hoy, yo voy a la tienda comprar la leche y el pan por mi familia. Every day the sentences will become more fluid and rhythmic. You are speaking about your life.
Read lots of Spanish out loud. See my previous tip. It really does pay huge dividends as you speak more and more in Spanish. Over time you will effortlessly be able duplicate the rhythmic sounds of Spanish.
Make a friend, join a group, hire a good tutor. Any opportunity that you can find to speak Spanish is a godsend. But, you need to seek out those opportunities and be prepared to be uncomfortable. I volunteer at a food bank in a Spanish speaking area of Milwaukee. I can't carry on a fluid conversation with them, but I do have some canned phrases down pat and I pretty much know the Spanish word for every food that comes in a package and I teach them the English word for the food.
Leverage the exercises in Fluenz. Add another step to write the phrase you read exercises. Say the phrase you read, out loud, until you can say it as one fluid unit of sound, now write what you just said. Don't change it. Hit enter. Not right? Do it over. I have found that working out what I want to say on paper first to be a crutch. Now I go in cold when I Skype with my Spanish teacher. It's painful, at times embarrassing, frustrating, but I'm starting to think like a
Spaniard.
I hope you can find something useful in this post. It's difficult to explain just how that fluency thing comes about. It works a bit differently for everyone. I like to compare it to running a marathon. You educate yourself on all the training programs, research the best shoes, heart rate monitors, clothes, etc. Now it's up to you to get your butt out there and practice (train). Your initial goal is to just finish, run, walk, doesn't matter, just finish. Wow that was fun but now I want to actually run 24.6 miles...no stopping....no walking. Well, now you have to spend even more time training, perhaps get a coach or join a running club or befriend an experienced marathoner. The question is....how bad do you want it?