“You can know every word in a sentence and still not understand”

That’s what the coordinator said to me when I was teaching English in Mexico to post graduate students.

You know what…

She was right, it can happen.

But she believed lack of comprehension was always about grammar and I believed it almost always about words.

You see, if you don’t understand a written sentence, it’s almost always because you don’t know a word. And if you know all the words in the sentence but you still don’t understand, 9 times out of 10 it’s still about the words.

More often than not, it’s not the grammar that stumps you, at least not the grammar that is usually taught.

Let me explain…

It’s the way words are combined to create different meanings that’s often the comprehension killer.

These are called collocations and they are one of the biggest stumbling blocks to comprehension, yet, they are almost never taught.

Let me show you what I mean.

Do you know the meanings of these words? mucho, bien, más, cuando, dar, quiere, cada, como, luz, decir, no, una, si, vez, caer, cuánto, tener, de, que

Most of the words look very familiar right?

How many do you know?

I expect you know at least 10-15 of those words, probably more.

What if we put the words together, do you know the meanings of these word combinations?

cuando mucho
cada cuánto?
dar a luz
tiene que
caer bien
como no
cómo si
de una vez
quiere decir
más bien

Here’s a tip: the meanings are very different from the individual words.

If you don’t know the combined meaning you’ll get confused about what people are saying to you.

Spanish will seem faster than it really is.

Here is an easy solution to building you mental database of collocations.

All you have to do is have someone point them out to you, then learn them as you would individual words.

If you learn them so well that you recognize instantly, you’ll make a big improvement to your ear for Spanish.

So, what did those combinations mean?

It may surprise you…

cuando mucho – at the most
cada cuánto? – how often?
dar a luz – to give birth to
tiene que – have to/has to (you should know this one)
caer bien – to be fond of/to like
cómo no – why not, of course
como si – as if
de una vez – once and for all
quiere decir – mean/means
más bien – rather/instead

Yikes,

Some combinations seem to have nothing to do with the individual words.

Could collocations be more important to understanding Spanish than they are given credit for?

Is it possible that this is more important than the usual grammar…

I believe so…

Let me tell you how I got a handle on the most important collocations.

When I was learning Spanish and kept seeing or hearing a collocation, I’d find its meaning and make a flashcard. I’d put the Spanish collocation on one side, the English meaning on the other. I also used to also make up a mnemonic to help me remember.

Then, next time I read or heard it again, it would spark my memory. I’d have a feeling of familiarity with the meaning. It only took me one or two times of hearing or reading it for it to sink in. After that, I would remember the meaning of many of the collocations forever, especially the more frequently used ones.

Here’s the bad news.

I used to make the cards with Rolodex cards. Then, I would carry some and store the rest in a plastic box.

You know where this is going right?

Yep.

Spring cleaning

“I guess I’m done with these cards? I know the meanings now”.

Oops.

How helpful they would have been to share with you

Not all is lost though. For the last year I have been busy cataloging collocations. Actively listening for the most universal (all regions) and the most commonly used ones to share with my students.

I’m going to put the most common ones into a PDF and share them with you, gratis of course.

It’ll help you build a solid database of the most common collocations and improve your understanding of Spanish.

Over the coming months, I’ll be sharing more extensive information on this and 6 other ways you can build your comprehension of Spanish.

If you signed up for my Spanish Ear Training information, look for emails about the reports. If not, you can join the update list for my here.

Also, I’ll be soon opening a Spanish Ear Training Coaching Program for just a few people. We’ll have even more details of these hidden secrets to comprehending more Spanish. Plus, members will have access to step by step methods to actively build their understanding of Spanish every month.

I’ll have more details on the program shortly.

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