Transcription
Do you understand my videos? Because if you understand my videos, that means your Spanish is quite high, at least your comprehension level, because I speak quite fast in my videos and in a very natural way. Probably your problem is speaking, fluency. Do you understand? But you can't speak. You lack, you lack fluency. When you start talking to someone, you don't remember, uh, the words, you're not sure if you have to use the imperfect or the preterite indefinido or the subjunctive. You have, you have the word on the tip of your tongue, uh, uh, on the tip of your tongue, but, but you don't, you don't remember it at that moment. Then you get nervous, you get blocked. Hm. You get blocked, you speak very slowly, because you always have to be thinking about what the correct word is, you lack fluency. And to speak more fluently, what you have to do is not learn more vocabulary, memorize grammar rules, do more exercises, no, man, no. Uh, doing grammar exercises will help you do grammar exercises better. Hm. Listening to podcasts or listening to the radio is very good, but that will fundamentally help you listen better, to develop, to develop your listening skill. The more you listen, the more you will understand. Reading. Reading is excellent. Reading is excellent in Spanish. That will help you improve your vocabulary and also, and also grammar. You will, you will, you will learn grammar in a more natural way, in context. Understanding grammar will also help you speak better, to correct errors. But even though all that helps, to really improve fluency, what you need is to speak. To learn to speak, you have to speak. You have to speak. Of course, of course. I know what you're thinking. I know, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking that you don't know anyone, that you don't have friends, that, that, that, that Spaniards or from Latin America, that teachers are very expensive, that it's very difficult to find someone to talk to regularly. You don't have to explain all that to me. I know it, I know it because I've spent many years, uh, trying to improve my English, I also speak French and Italian and I've been through all that. I've been through all that. And so I know it's very complicated. The best, the best would be to marry a Spaniard or someone from Latin America. Hm. To get married, to have a partner. To have a Spanish-speaking partner, that would solve all the problems. But of course, that's not always possible. It's not always possible because there are people who are very much in love with their Polish, German, Chinese, or Brazilian husband or wife. And so, of course, those people, well, of course, they think, well, I'm not going to get divorced now at this age, I'm not going to get divorced now to look for a Spanish woman or a guy from Colombia or Argentina. Uh, of course, I understand that, I understand it, I understand it, but there is another solution. There is another solution. Talking to yourself. Talking to yourself, man. You have to talk to yourself. You don't need anyone. You don't need a teacher, you don't need to find a Spanish speaker for a conversation exchange. You don't need to go to Spain or to Latin America. Speak, speak to yourself. That is, that is the best. Look, what you have to do is every day, every day, hm, every day, not once a year, no, no, no, no. Every day, 10, 15, 20 minutes. The time you can. The more time, the better. What you have to do is talk to yourself while you do other things, while you do the normal things you do every day. For example, look, where am I, where? Where do you think I am? I'm in the kitchen. This is my kitchen. This is the refrigerator. This is the stove. The sink for washing dishes. The faucet with cold and hot water. What is this called? What is this called? That is, you can name the things in the kitchen. Simply a, this is a, a frying pan. A pair of scissors. A pair of scissors for the kitchen, a fork, a knife. You can name the things that are around you and you can describe, you can describe what you see, right? For example, in the sink are the dishes, the dirty dishes. I have to wash the dishes. To wash the dishes I need, uh, this, uh, what is this called, uh, detergent, right? Detergent, right? No, detergent. Dish soap. Dish soap. Okay, I need dish soap. Yes. And I also need, this is a, a sponge. A, not a sponge, no. The sponge is for the shower, right? For the bathroom, for the shower. But for the dishes, for the dishes I need this. What? For the dishes, what is it called? One moment, one moment, one moment, one moment. Look, let's take a picture. We take a picture and, uh, I'll send it, I'll send it to Chat GPT or other similar applications, right? Hello, Chat GPT. Hm, how are you? Hello, Juan, I'm great. And how are you? Everything good there with your courses, your stories? Or maybe some new project you want to tell me about. Hm. No, look, uh, at the moment my problem is that I don't remember what this object is called that I sent you in the photo, in the photograph. What is it called in Spanish? Ah, of course, in the photo you have a kitchen sponge, those that have a softer side and a rougher side for scrubbing. So now you know, kitchen sponge. Kitchen sponge. But this, this must be, this must be in some Latin American country, because in Spain I think another word is used, right? Totally. In Spain, the most common thing is to call it estropajo or estropajo de cocina. Sometimes valleta is also used for other cleaning things, but for the sponge for washing dishes, in Spain it's definitely more common to say estropajo. Ah, okay, I understand, I understand. Uh, very good. Hey, Chat GPT, you speak Spanish very well. You have an accent, I think you have a Colombian accent, perhaps, I don't know. No, thank you, Juan. My accent tends to sound neutral, but I understand that it reminds you of Colombian because it's quite clear. The important thing is that I adapt to what you need and I'm glad it sounds good to you. I'm here for whatever you need. I love it, I love it. Well, I'm going to wash the dishes because I have all the dirty dishes and I need an estropajo and I also need, well, detergent, but I'm not sure. No, it's not called detergent for dishes, right? What is it called? Exactly. For dishes, we don't usually say detergent. The most common is to call it dish soap or dish soap. So with your estropajo and a little dish soap, those dishes will be sparkling. Perfect. Very good. Thank you. Thank you, chat. Well, did you see? This is an example, huh? This is an example of many more things you can do to practice Spanish. You can speak Spanish all over the house by yourself. While I go down the stairs, I'm also going down the stairs. I want to go to the lower floor. I'm entering the bathroom. I need, I need to go to the bathroom. Here I am. I'm in the bathroom. And the same thing we did before in the kitchen, we can also do it here in the bathroom, anywhere in the house or on the street. You can do this in the supermarket, you can do it in the park, you can do it at the cinema, you can do it while you're walking your dog, you can do it in a cafe, the only thing you need is a little imagination. Now I'm going up, I'm going up the stairs to go back to the kitchen. Do you realize? Do you realize? You just need a little imagination, nothing more. If you practice every day, if you speak every day by yourself, without anyone, your Spanish can improve a lot. Naturally, you have to adapt these activities to your Spanish level. If you are starting to speak Spanish, if you have a very basic level, then you can simply name things. This is a plant, that is a flower. If you have a slightly higher level, then you can say, "This is a watering can." A watering can for watering. Hm. For watering. I'm going to water the plant, huh? I'm going to water the plant. I'm watering, I'm watering the plant with the watering can. Simply adapt your vocabulary and the phrases you say to your Spanish level. I like, I really like having plants at home, but, uh, I'm not good with plants. I'm not good with plants. I'm not good with plants because, uh, often, often, often I forget to water them. Mm, water them, but, but I like them a lot. I really like plants. You already know a lot of Spanish. You already know a lot of Spanish, but your vocabulary is passive. It's hard for you, it's hard for you to use it, it's hard for you to activate it. To activate your vocabulary, what you have to do is use it, speak, speak. And your home, your city, the things you do every day are the best opportunity to improve your fluency, to activate that passive vocabulary. To finish, let me tell you two very important things. You have to do this every day regularly, a little bit each day, depending on the time you have, but at least 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes. While you walk your dog in the park, while you're showering, while you're washing the dishes, while you're vacuuming, whatever you do, do it in Spanish. Speak in Spanish and very importantly, you also have to speak out loud. When I say speak, I mean speak out loud, not think. It's not enough to think. It's not enough to mentally think how things are said. No, you have to articulate it, you have to pronounce it, you have to say it out loud. I assure you that if you do all this regularly, your Spanish will improve. Your spoken Spanish will improve a lot. You will thank me. You will thank me at the end, at the end of this year. That's all for today. I'm going out. Look, look what a fantastic day it is. Well, more or less, more or less it's already getting cloudy. Before, before it was better, now it's, in short, it's getting cloudy. But anyway, I'm going out for a walk. that you speak, that you speak Spanish out loud and every day or well, almost every day, huh, almost every day. See you later.