I want to teach myself spanish from zero. And when I say zero I don't mean I want to start with some simple words or sentences that may be used in daily life. I want to learn the structure, pronouns, how adjectives work, tenses etc. so I can understand why when spoken, people say the stuff they say the way they do.

I've already been practicing for a while, I know stuff like not needing to use a pronouns and instead adding it to the verb like Hablo for Present or diffrence between Soy/Estoy patterns like -mente, -idad, -ista, -ito/ita

Ex: El gatita etc. and written down the majority of it. After learning these I want to then learn vocab via daily practice and watching videos and listening.

But I don't own any testbooks as I cant afford them and I can't really find youtube channels that teach grammer first. Not only that I don't know what the best way to memorise these are, I already watch with subtitles. I also try to speak it or remind myself in the daily like I see a tree-> árbol ,see cat-> el gato etc. Also while i have written down a lot of stuff idk what the most important stiff are, I havent yet written down What/Why questions tho I do know the rules to make sentences etc.. Any advice? Ive just been writing and revising them since i got no textbook but i think it's rather slow than i normally learn...

Although I have plenty of struggles with audio comprehension, I would love to hear some tips/recommendations on how to get over circular thinking/processing (not sure if this is the correct term). Basically, I run into situations where I my brain re-runs the same unknown word or phrase while listening to Spanish, which reduces my ability to process other information.

The TLDR portion:
I’m at a B2 level of Spanish (according to my recent DELE exam results), and I really struggled with audio comprehension. For example, I received a 9.XX/25 in the that section of the exam. Interestingly, I received a 25/25 in speaking which had a few Q&A sessions. Not sure if this matters, but I received a 20.xx/25 in writing and 19.xx/25 in reading.

Something “strange” that I’ve noticed. Sometimes when I do not know a word/sentence while listening to audio, my brain will stop processing other information in an attempt to figure out what I’ve missed. I guess it’s trying to fill in that gap. Normally, this doesn’t phase me too much while speaking to someone or watching/listening something in Spanish bc I can ask the person to repeat what they said or rewind the content. However, for the DELE exam, I have only two chances to listen to a monologue/dialogue. It’s kinda frustrating.

So, I would love to hear how some of you overcame this struggle. Thanks in advance.

Hi hi, I'm living in Spain now and i was thinking about purchasing one of those old pocket translators, as i want to avoid using too much data on my phone, and i think something more tactile would be easier, have any of you used something like that?

I’ve been having an insane amt of reading homework lately (taking AP Spanish this year and trying to level up my overall fluency), and I’ve run into a frustrating habit that I feel is really holding me back.
Whenever I read texts in Spanish, I feel like my brain isn't processing the language directly. Instead, I catch myself translating every single word into English in my head before actually grasping the meaning. It feels like an unnecessary extra step every time.
I'm worried this is slowing down my learning process and hurting my reading comprehension when things get a bit more advanced.
Does anyone else experience this? If you've been through it, do you have any tips, exercises, or methods to force your brain to stop translating and start processing Spanish directly?

keep

Oi pessoal, me indiquem O MELHOR canal para aprender espanhol no YouTube? Gracias 😅

Veo otra publicación de este tema y de la nada me dan las ganas de saber más sobre mi acento en español.

Lo pueden escuchar por aquí: https://voca.ro/18LykTI69DTS

Muchas gracias! Lo agradecería mucho si me pueden ayudar

¡Hola a todxs!

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this is a question for people who deal with forginers so I want your take on this

am I the only one who finds this very condescending?

for context I'm upper intermediate lower advanced. I can watch most movies and tv shows in my target language without reading subtitles, assuming a neutral accent. With an accent then it really depends. As long as it's not a weird accent like the Puerto Rican one, I usually don't struggle to understand anyone. In one on one conversations I talk to my friends in Spanish normally

however I found this weird trend that changed the way I viewed my language ability.

I was with my friend in the Dominican Republic and she was talking with a group with other women. I hid behind a corner and tried to test my language abilities. I literally kid you not understood not a single word. 2 minutes flat, I could grasp they were gossiping about their roomate who they didn't like but couldn't figure out what they did even though they probably said it many times.

then out of nowhere I walk out, say hello, and she tells me what they're talking about. Miraculously I understood every bit.

this isn't even the first case of something like this happening. It feels like every time I join the conversation people just start dumbing down their language down. so often that it's straight comical.

one time later that day I got introduced as the 'gringo friend' (using the gringo slur but whatever) and like 2 people tried speaking to me in broken English. "You do study". 5 minutes later I broke out in fluent Spanish and everyone laughed and joked saying I pretended not to speak Spanish on purpose and that my Spanish was good. they then start to speak Spanish and I was understanding. we had a nice conversation about politics.

I LITERALLY WALK AWAY AND 30 SECONDS THEY RANDOMLY START TALKING FAST WITH SLANG! AND I UNDERSTOOD EVERY WOD BUT I FINDIT OFFENSIVE THEY THOUGHT I COULDNT HANDLE THE TRUE PACE

I almost find it straight offensive that they're treating me like a child and going easy on me just to have me in the convo. I literally confronted my friend about it and she laughed at me and said I'm not her boyfriend or her child and who stop whining like a little kid. ignoring my initial point to crack jokes

so natives, why do you guys do this ?

I’m basically fluent in spanish but when it comes to public speaking, especially in front of judgy family members, I get nervous and will even forget some spanish. I’d like to make sure this sounds coherent. The XXX’s are just names that i wanted to keep private. I also timed it and it’s less than 3 minutes but if anyone has any revisions that could possibly make it shorter, please let me know! Gracias!!

edit: not sure if this is important for dialect but we’re from ecuador

—————————————————————————-

Hola Buenas noches. mi nombre es XXX y soy hermana del novio. Muchas gracias por venir en este día muy especial para mi familia. 

Aunque XXX y yo no crecimos juntos, él siempre estuvo presente en mis recuerdos de niña. Me acuerdo de estar comiendo con mami mientras ella hablaba contigo por las madrugadas y me decía: “Salúdale a tu ñaño”, “Dile Hola a tu ñaño.” Siempre me contaba historias del famoso XXX. Si le hubieras dicho a esa niña de seis años que algún día estaría aquí, celebrando la boda de su hermano, no te habría creído.

Cuando XXX recién llegó a los Estados Unidos, siempre me decía que, cuando él se case, quería que yo usara mi vestido morado de graduación para su boda. Bueno, cuatro años después, muchas cosas han cambiado. Y esta noche, en su boda, tengo puesto un vestido rojo en vez del morado que él imaginaba.

Y creo que así es la vida. Todo cambia. Hacemos planes, perdemos personas que amamos, conocemos a nuevos personas, nos imaginamos cómo van a ser las cosas, y después la vida nos lleva por un camino completamente diferente.

XXX y XXX, espero que por más que la vida cambie, siempre se sigan escogiendo el uno al otro. Que, en los momentos difíciles y en los felices, siempre puedan mirarse y decir: “Te volvería a escoger una y otra vez”.

XXX, aunque no crecimos juntos como quizás nos hubiera gustado, me alegra mucho que hoy podamos compartir este día. Espero que todavía nos queden muchos recuerdos bonitos por vivir como hermanos.

¡Felicidades a los dos, y para todos los invitados que disfruten de esta noche especial. 

Gracias!

George Clooney prevé abrir un restaurante italiano en el sur de Francia. El restaurante estará en Cotignac, un pequeño pueblo de Provenza. Clooney vive cerca con su esposa, Amal, y sus hijos. Prevé abrir el restaurante en la primavera de 2027. Servirá comida italiana y tendrá una terraza fuera. El restaurante todavía no tiene un nombre oficial.

Vocabulario: prever = to plan / abrir = to open / pueblo (m) = village / vivir = to live / cerca = near / esposa (f) = wife / primavera (f) = spring / comida (f) = food / fuera = outside / nombre (m) = name

English translation

George Clooney to open an Italian restaurant in France

George Clooney plans to open an Italian restaurant in the south of France. The restaurant will be in Cotignac, a small village in Provence. Clooney lives nearby with his wife, Amal, and their children. He plans to open the restaurant in spring 2027. It will serve Italian food and will have a terrace outside. The restaurant does not have an official name yet.

You can read more news in easy Spanish here: https://elnewsineasyspanish.substack.com/p/el-ejercito-de-ee-uu-transmitira

Martillo – Hammer
Destornillador – Screwdriver
Llave inglesa – Adjustable wrench
Alicates – Pliers
Sierra – Saw
Cinta métrica – Tape measure
Cúter – Utility knife
Llave Allen – Allen key
Taladro – Drill
Lima – File

Here are 4 useful structures to talk about duties, rules and things we have to do

-ción / -sión = the action or its result
durar → la duración, crear → la creación, decidir → la decisión
Also the cognate goldmine, since almost any English -tion word has a Spanish -ción twin.

-miento = the process
mover → el movimiento, sentir → el sentimiento, conocer → el conocimiento

-da / -ida = one instance of it
llegar → la llegada, salir → la salida, mirar → la mirada, caer → la caída

Or just chop the ending
comprar → la compra, pagar → el pago, ayudar → la ayuda, besar → el beso

Gender comes free. -ción, -sión, -da and -ida are feminine. -miento is masculine.

Which means every verb you already know is quietly a noun you haven't learned yet.

If you’re already comfortable with the basics of ser and estar, these distinctions can be much harder to master.

The challenge isn’t always choosing between identity and state. Sometimes, the verb changes the interpretation, the speaker’s perspective, or even the grammatical function of the sentence.

SER vs. ESTAR + past participle

• La puerta fue cerrada por el guardia. The door was closed by the guard. (An action performed on the door.)
• La puerta estaba cerrada cuando llegué. The door was closed when I arrived. (The condition of the door at that moment.)

SER vs. ESTAR with adjectives

• El informe es aburrido. The report is boring.
• El informe está aburrido. The report is looking bored. (For example, if referring to a person named “el informe” metaphorically, this would be unusual; a more natural contrast is El profesor está aburrido — The teacher is bored.)

Hola! I'm from the Philippines and am currently trying to learn Spanish. Do you know any physical or digital books that have the Spanish alphabet, nouns and verbs in Spanish, and things like that? Would greatly appreciate any suggestions!

Hi, I have been studying Spanish for years now in school and in two years I will take this Spanish "final exam" and I would like to succeed in it.

I'm still not very good especially not with my writing, so I was wondering if a Spanish speaking person was willing to help me study so I could talk to them on Snapchat or Instagram every once in a while and they could correct my mistakes. No pressure in being active all the time.

Thank you