Fast conversation in Spanish: How to speak fast and understand the speakers?

Guacamayos, without a doubt, having real conversations is the activity that tests our Spanish level. Spanish is the second fastest language in the world – second only to Japanese. – and that is a challenge both in understanding a fast Spanish conversation and in speaking. Today we will look at tips for mastering both comprehension and expression and have a practice exercise.

REAL conversation in Spanish between two native speakers:

I want to share with you a video of a real conversation in Spanish that Prof. Monica and I had, in which we talked about New Year’s omens. Pay attention to the conversation and evaluate how much of what is being said you understand. In this conversation, Prof. Monica and I are speaking in a real Spanish rhythm, at the normal speed we speak, but we pronounce clearly.

How much did you understand in this real conversation in Spanish?

Answer the questions below to make a Spanish listening comprehension diagnosis.

Before speaking in Spanish, the most important thing is to be able to understand what people are saying. For me, understanding is divided into 2 moments: first, to understand what words people are talking about. Second, getting the message across.

Tips for understanding the words they say in a fast spanish conversation:

1. Sensitize your ear: you can do it with songs, following the lyrics, doing dictations in Spanish and repeating in your mind each word you hear. You can train with these exercises.
2. Practice Spanish listening to different accents: Spanish is spoken in more than 20 countries, and each country has its own accent (or accents, because in different regions there are special peculiarities). Some accents omit letters in words. It is important to get your ear used to filling in the gaps of the letters that some speakers do not pronounce or the words they join together. –Study Spanish accents here.
3. The trick of joining words together: in Spanish we join words together and that is why they sound like one word. For example, it is not so common to hear Mi – abuela but miabuela.

How to understand the message in a Spanish conversation?

If it has happened to you that you understand the words, but you don’t understand the message, it is because you need to practice not only in the sound but also in the processing of the information in Spanish. Some of the reasons you don’t get the message are:

• You lack vocabulary in Spanish: you keep thinking about a word you didn’t know and stop listening to the rest.
• You lack attention: you will be surprised how poorly we listen, even in our mother tongue.
• You focus too much on the details of the other’s pronunciation: this is important when we are sensitizing the ear, but to communicate it is more important not to focus so much on the details but on the message in general. It’s like looking at a photo with too much zoom, you lose the whole image.
• You lack context: in a conversation you need context, it is very difficult to understand what you are talking about if you don’t know this first.

Speak fast in Spanish and be understood.

The second challenge with the speed of Spanish, after understanding it, is to be able to speak fast and pronounce it correctly. The pace of Spanish is fast, a person who speaks very slowly can bore the listener.

Why is it difficult to speak fast in Spanish?

• Lack of vocabulary: being left with a blank mind because we don’t have the word we need is the main reason why you lack fluency when speaking.
• Doubts in conjugation: you lack not only vocabulary but also practice in conjugation. Spanish verbs are very rich words, you have to take into account the grammatical person, the verb tense, the verb mood and even the accompanying pronouns. Conjugating is challenging and hesitating to conjugate makes you pause unnecessarily and feel insecure. – Master the Spanish conjugation with this training.
• You split syllables where you shouldn’t: that can make it sound unnatural when you speak.
• You stress the wrong syllables: this makes it difficult to be understood when you speak.
• You speak like a robot: in Spanish we connect words, that is, we put words together and they sound as if they were one. You saw that this is one of the reasons why it is sometimes difficult to understand native speakers when they speak fast in Spanish. Well, you should also start to feel comfortable putting words together.

When do we put words together in Spanish?

• When a word ends with an open vowel and the following word begins with a closed vowel or with H and a closed vowel, for example: Tráeme esehielo.
• If the word begins with a closed vowel and the following word begins with an open vowel (or H and open vowel): Me llevo muy bien con mihermano.
• When a word ends in L and the following word begins with a vowel: Eres elamor de mi vida.

Learn techniques to sound more natural when speaking Spanish in my Spanish pronunciation course.

Finally, I can only recommend that you take advantage of every moment to have real conversations in Spanish. Here is a guide for casual conversations. If you can talk to a neighbor, in a restaurant, with bank customer service… take advantage of every situation. And if you don’t have anyone to practice with or want to practice more, I’ll be waiting for you in the chat rooms.