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- Me then - Me NOW. My journey to becomin...
Me then - Me NOW. My journey to becoming bilingual in Spanish!
LikeIn 2007 I graduated from my Spanish degree, but I was nowhere close to fluent and, honestly, I was feeling at rock bottom.
Today, I can speak Spanish to anyone in any situation and I feel TOTALLY confident. I’m as close to native level as I think I can get.
> Despite living in Madrid, I was trapped in the TEFL (expat) bubble and hardly had any Spanish speaking friends…
> I was too bogged down with the English teaching job to concentrate on immersing myself in Spanish and improving…
> I couldn’t roll my “r”s and I sounded like a guiri/gringo (foreigner)...
> My confidence was at an all-time low and I felt completely unfulfilled.
> I wasn’t able to apply for many Spanish speaking jobs…
> I am married to my Colombian wife Paola, and we speak Spanish every single day…
> We regularly watch movies with our kids in Spanish and understand everything…
> I am now able to roll my “r”s…
> My confidence is sky-high (despite not knowing everything!)...
> I have used Spanish for the past 7 years in my previous SaaS jobs…
How can you kick-start your confidence in speaking Spanish?
It’s actually very simple.
Follow these steps:
1. Change your mindset.
The most likely reason you’re not a confident Spanish speaker is because you’re depending too much on English…
You need to be putting your best foot forward every single day, and that means steering away from English, bit by bit, day by day…
Learn Spanish in the same way a toddler learns its maternal tongue, and have trust in your instincts…
Don’t be scared, you will learn a lot quicker as a result.
2. Get out of your comfort zone.
To immerse yourself in Spanish is to be successful with it…
Have you ever listened to your own voice? Have you ever recorded yourself speaking Spanish?
Do you have your phone, computer, and Sat Nav settings in Spanish? If not, is that something you’re prepared to change?
Are you willing to watch an entire movie in Spanish with no subtitles?
3. Take consistent action
Everyone gets excited and motivated at the start…
But the people who win the most are the people that keep that going…
There'll be good days and bad days…
But there'll always be more days.
¡Ánimo!
It took me years to work it out, but this doesn’t need to be you.
Do you want to crack on with your Spanish?
If so, get in touch today!
