English to Spanish

[logicallefty]

With a Latina GF I have been with for 9 months now, I've been doing my best to learn Spanish. She speaks 110% perfect English but I want to learn Spanish mainly so I can be more social with her family and friends who do not.

Looking for input specifically from SS members who were English speakers first, and then learned Spanish second. My biggest issue right now is listening comprehension. The GF and her family/friends speak SO fast. The Spanish speakers at my work speak slower and I can actually have a decent convo with them. But the GF, it's like they are competing to see who can speak the fastest. It fries my brain!

Any insight?

 

[BackInTheGame78]

If you really want to learn then every time you are with your GF you only speak Spanish .. no English allowed. This will force you to learn it at a much more rapid pace by being thrown into the deep end so to speak.

 

[Kotaix]

Watch TV/youtubers, be specific to her home country. Comedians are especially useful since latinos like to horse around a lot, and they tend to be fast talkers.

I'm on the other side of your equation. I speak spanish and my gfs have tried to learn it, but the fast talking was a challenge for them as well.

I've been learning Russian for a long time now and my listening comprehension came via the brute force approach of watching TV. In my case I go with topics I'm interested in instead of just conversational shows like telenovelas. Not as directly applicable, but I don't have anyone to speak russian with on a regular basis.

 

[SW15]

I am a native English speaker with strong Spanish language abilities. Learned Spanish in school (Advanced Placement in high school). Have traveled in Latin America and done Spanish immersion.

Spanish is a faster paced language than English. You're going to need to pick up increased fluency in Spanish to keep up with the faster pace. Almost all English native language people struggle with that when learning Spanish. Immersion is the best thing you can do.

Best thing you can do to pick up the pace of comprehension is consume Spanish language media. Get used to hearing words at a faster pace.

 

[The Duke]

Tell them to lay off the tequila and hot sauce. They'll slow down.

 

[Millard Fillmore]

I watch Spanish language films and series with the subtitles on - in Spanish. If I really don't get something I go back and run it in English but this helps. There's no real hack other than exposing yourself to it every day. My problem has always been listening and holding a thought at the same time, lol.

 

[Ricky]

The telenovelas are good and have hot women. Watch Spanish language tv often

 

[Deep Dish]

Listening comprehension is the hardest skill and takes the most time to develop.

The one thing which can speed up your learning is by spending bigger chunks of time. Your ears need MASSIVE exposure to language. Three hours a day is good. To maximize time, there are even people who listen to content while they sleep, which surprisingly enough, has been scientifically demonstrated to improve intuitive associations between words, although whether it would be worth it for you would depend on the quality of sleep which you get at night, because wrecking your sleep would be counter-productive.