At times Spanish just seems to fly by so fast.
The average is 4 words per second and sometimes it seems like some people speak even faster than that.
rat at tat tat
A machine gun volley of Spanish words flying at you so fast you start to feel lost.
What can we do?
Can anything be done?
Yes, there is a lot that you can do. The most important factor is the approach you take to learning.
Just like any skill, it’s how you learn that makes all the difference.
Let me explain…
I almost pulled my daughter out of her ballet class after watching her teacher chastise her and her little friends.
He’s Ukrainian, has lived in Mexico for 10 years, speaks great Spanish and English and perhaps more languages, he is a professional dancer in San Diego and looks like a ballet god.
so he has some gifts.
But teaching isn’t one of them…
Like many teachers, he blames the student for not learning.
I have taught language to students of all ages, social levels and education background, from factory workers to directors of big companies to PHD university students. While some people just don’t want to learn, most do want to get the thrill and reward of the result of learning how to do something… and its a shame when they aren’t able to learn because of a flawed approach.
Instead of complaining about the students as many teachers do, fixing the system, the approach or the method would be a better use of time and energy.
The ballet teacher’s approach may seem like it has nothing to do with learning Spanish, but it actually has everything to do with learning Spanish.
Here’s his approach to a problem, which is unfortunately quite common
1) chastise 3 and 4 year old girls with comments like;
pobre piso (poor floor)
bailen como elefantes
muy mal, niñas
2) Instead of fixing what they were doing wrong, go onto the next part of the lesson (because we have to do all the things in the lesson list in the allotted time).
I could have taught them better myself… There’s an image for you, me teaching ballet.
I could have taught them to improve what he was complaining about in a few minutes. Here’s what I would have done
1) I would have got them to slow down the movements
2) I would have broken the movements into pieces.
lift knee
step forward with same knee
lift other knee
step forward with same leg
3) Then all the parts in one movement, slowly.
4) Then speed it up.
Do you think that may have worked better than doing it full speed every time?
Instead of looking like they had some kind of muscular disorder, I guarantee within five minutes they would have made plenty of improvement and his pobre piso, wouldn’t have had to suffer las niñas elefantes anymore.
Why the long story, and what’s it got to do with understanding Spanish spoken quickly.
I hope you can see the parallel, learning any new skill, dancing, music, martial arts, driving a car… it doesn’t matter what it is…you need to first start slowly.
You didn’t learn to drive in the Indy 500 or the Monaco Formula One.
You learned to drive first, slowly, one gear at a time and without distractions (other cars).
To develop your ear for Spanish you need to do the same.
Break it into smaller pieces.
Slow it down
Learn in steps.
Clarify the confusing parts.
Then when you are comfortable with the theme, put it together in longer combinations
Speed it up
and get involved
Well what do you know… That blur of words is not such a blur anymore. You can actually start to make sense of it all.
I am very close to finishing the first installment of my new Spanish ear training audio newsletter, which will help you develop your ear for Spanish in an easy to follow systematic approach.
If you think your ear could do with a tune up, and you’d like to be able to keep up with people when they speak quickly, you can get on the audio newsletter list by adding your name and email below.
I’m very excited about this project, as it is something that has never been done before. This bottleneck that gets in so many people’s way and stops them advancing their Spanish has never been addressed until now.
I look forward to helping you advance in your Spanish in ways that significantly improve your ability to interact in the real world with real native Spanish speakers, which is the point of learning Spanish in the first place, isn’t it?
I’d be delighted to hear your comments. If you have any thoughts, please leave a comment below.
My wife is taking your course and has shown remarkable improvement in her Spanish. I learned Spanish and English at the same time, so would be considered a native speaker. Part of my job is to teach classes(not language classes)in both English and Spanish. but I shy away from teaching my wife in order to maintain peace in the home. I find your teaching methods to be excellent. I do have a question, in your translation of pobre piso (poor floor)would it be better to say bad step? because he is criticizing the action of the dancer, not the surface the dancer is practicing on.
Respectfully, Mitch
A dance step would be “paso” rather than “piso”, no?
holla carino, por favour hablar mas despacio
Can’t quite keep pace with the speed !
I’m not sure I’m ready for this yet?
I am learning with more confidence than ever before. I have made other efforts but let them fall by the way side. Your method keeps me encouraged. I use an mp3 player for the audio. Marcus, I am a little overwhelmed by your emails. I don’t want to miss anything but I am not exactly sure what or when to start on another of your offers. I originally signed up for Senergy Spanish and am only on lesson 6. I did buy Short cut to Spanish also but now when do I do it? When I recommend your course where should I suggust people start?
I have pretty much the same problem as everyone else. I have learned to speak well, however i understand very little. A friend who does not speak any english tells me she cant understand why i can speak almsot perfect spanish, but not understand her. any chance on a synergy ingles course for her as well. (Smile)
To Dafna Dafna RONN-OXLEY.
Hello, Dafna. Are you the Dafna of Virtus Institute ? Please email me at [email protected]
Patiently waiting on the ear training program. Hurry!!
It would be nice not to feel intimidated every time a spsnish speaker reply to your greeting.Sometimes a word here and there is enough to understand the essence of what is being said but not enough to engage in conversation. Can’t wait
A word here and there. I have convinced my Spanish family to write it down on paper. This way I see a picture and I am able to easily undertand their spoken phrases. I still need to work on thinking Spanish.
For sure, you are an inspiration.
Roberto Aug 2007
I have pretty good verbal and reading skill for spanish but like you said Rat a tat tat and it sounds like double dutch so cant wait for ear training
I could’nt bring up the last page also…Please sign me up…
Your method is great for someone with one elementary Spanish class like me. It clarified some rules seen too quickly in class like the word para versus por and many other things. But please, try to put on a chat room. Practice is a must. It would be nice to have some real Spanish people in there. Just an idea. Bye!
Louise.
Could’nt bring up the last page–but ‘m interested… Sign me up!!!!!!!
THIS SOUNDS LIKE A GREAT IDEA. LOOKING FORWARD TO THE AUDIO.
I would like to improve my spanish hearing.
I listen to the spanish radio, 93.1 Amor every day. I also listen to spanishes phrases from a cd I purchased over and over again. Then I try to see if I can hear the phrases and understand them when they speak on the radio. I find that learning words and then phrases helps tremendously with the speed. Don’t give up! Keep at it!
An excellent idea, I have always become disheartened, when I think I am progressing, and then I end up with the often too used phrase ‘ Mas despachio’. Hopefully this will help eliminate the need for this. Keep it up.
listening to all the audio that you are giving me i learn a lot that a friend of mine really got surprise when i send him a spanish e-mail
Well, first of all i would like to say muchas gracias a ti, i find spanish to be very nice, but tricky and rapido. But i do my very best to understand it. I love the time u take to help out. May GOD continue to bless u. Adios
Sorry, I don’t know what the url is. I would like to be on your list for “ear training”. I have many spanish friends, and am learning spanish, but it’s still hard to follow the spoken conversations. Thanks for your help!
hurry up . it seem like i`ve been waiting for ever,thanks for everything you have done up to know.maggs
I love the spanish course of yours I’m doing at the moment, its the best I’ve done and you teach the way its best for me to learn. So I’m very interested to hear anything you have to say re this subject. My biggest problem is hearing when people speak fast, so much easier to read than listen to Spanish! Thanks so much for this.
I could not enter the info needed on your blog. Thanks for the email permitting access. Ear training is EXACTLY what I need…how did you know? (grin) Thank you. You’re the first to do something about this common complaint. Can’t thank you enough.
This is what I am encountering now. It is not only the speed of speech but also the pitch, tone, inflection, volume, and accentuation that affect my listening clearly to what a native speaker. My dream is to not only hear everything clearly but to speak like they do in every aspect. Thank you for including me in your newsletter.
For some reason spanish just seems to hard to learn
great idea,I`m sure it will help me a lot
You´re a professional teacher,u´ve got the psychology of impacting the teaching of Spanish to Learners like me.What i gained from this bulletin is that one has to start slowly and gradually become fast,thumbs up for you
Marcus, I look forward to this.
perdonne!
Mrcus, Thanks so much for your concern in helping me with my Spanish.
I am still struggling and I think most of my struggling is my fault. due to the lack of time,I have not given my spanish as much attention as I should. And you are correct the biggest problem for me is trying to understand what the spanish speaking population is saying when they are talking to me. Many of them speak a mile a minute and with different dialect as well as some with the use of slang and/or poor grammar. The conjugation of verbs as you mentioned in your newsletter is also killing me. However, I am able to understand most of what I read as oppose to what I verbally hear.
Great idea can not wait for your Spanish ear training
My other problem is the spanish Alphabet. Things like “y” “ce” “ca” “ci” “ga” “ge” etc. Do you do a Addio Lesson of the sounds of the Alphabet.
John
I have been learning Spanish for 18 months. My teacher is fantastic and on paper i am a whiz, but when it comes to speaking i freeze up and can barely utter the gretings. This sounds like what i need. ¡Muchas gracias!
Hola Marcus:
Soy español, más concretamente canario. Estoy asombrado con su método de aprendizaje del español. Buscando por la red un método de aprendizaje del inglés, encontré su método de aprendizaje del idioma español el cual adquirí. Y, bueno, mi pregunta es: ¿tiene ud. previsto un curso para aprender inglés?.
Muchas gracias,
Jerónimo
Marcus: Thanks once again for your gift and love of teaching spanish for all people in simplicity and ingenuity.
Roosevelt,
Please hurry. I hope this will help. In the meantime, I watch Spanish television and with the benefit of DVR (or TiVo) I play segments over and over until I finally get the gist of the statements.
Hallo Marcus
I listen to the Spanish radio, sermons in church, people at the next table etc. and think I can recognise most of the words. It’s just that I haven’t a clue what they are saying! By the time I have worked out who they are talking about (he, she or you)and waited for the subject to come at the end of the sentence (es rapido el coche)they are way ahead and I am lost. Help- I am losing confidence and feel foolish in front of my friends who think I have been studying long enough to be fluent.
Best wishes
Hi Marcus, I’m enjoying learning Spanish and being able to communicate with my work colleges but it will be even more enjoyable when I can understand what they are saying to me, I look forward to the eartraining audios Thanks Marcus
I have been learning Spanish a few months now and live in Barcelona. I have two one hour lessons with a person professora. I never remember anything and never find the time to do any additional studies, however my knowledge of the grammer and verbs and adjectives are improving nice and slowly.
I have been a coach, a teacher and an instructor which gives me a good idea how to teach and which methods work better on the different skills. Dancing or any physical skill has to be brocken down into three steps to generate memory in both the mind and in the muscles. In a few hours its possible to teach a complete beginner how to paddle a canoe and master several strokes. With windsurfing it takes a little longer but this is due to the extremes of balance and the unpredictabe nature of the wind.
Language I find is easier if you break the rules apart and explain all of the regular methods then ove they make sense and the language is complete and mapped in the mind you can then go about memorising the irregular execptions and faults of the language.
Adao
Looking forward to the ear training.
I have finished synergyspanish and found it very useful, and look forward to the ear training lessons. I also could not type in my details but you have them here.
definitely looking forward to help in tuning my ear to the language!
Yes please send me your newsletter.
I was unable to enter my name and e-mail address in The Ear Training Box but would like to know more about it especially as I live in Spain. Thank you
Marcus, I know it’s not about exams but I am sure I wouldn’t have achieved my GCSE (at the age of 68 in a class of 17-20 year olds. I was even able to pass on some of your tips. Look forward to your audio.
Hola Marcus,
you’re doing a great job, I’m learning a lot. Keep up the good work.
I am interested to know your program of spanish listening.Thank you.
enjoy your course and i too have problems understanding spoken spanish. I live in Israel and only in my class once a week do I hear Spanish but that too is not enough. Please help us out. Thanks
I need all the help I can get. Looking forward to your newsletter.
Interested. Like others are mentioning, I was unable to submit my email address in the alloted space to receive more info.