r/Spanish

Hey everyone! I’m about to start learning Spanish using Language Transfer (the complete Spanish course). Before I dive in, I wanted to get advice from people who’ve already used it.

A few questions:

**•**	Should I go through the audio lessons in one sitting per day, or spread them out?  
**•**	Do you recommend pausing to write things down, or just listening and repeating out loud?  
**•**	How did you combine Language Transfer with other resources (Anki, HelloTalk, shadowing, etc.) once you finished the course?  
**•**	Any common mistakes beginners make when using this method?  
**•**	Roughly how long did it take you to notice real progress?

My goal is to reach a solid B2 level, so I want to build the right habits from day one instead of having to fix bad ones later. Would love to hear what worked (or didn’t) for you!

I’m curious if it’s realistically possible to learn Spanish using only free resources like YouTube and language-learning apps. If you’ve done it, what resources did you use, and how was your experience?

So I was just stood up by someone I’ve been kind of seeing. Not the end of the world, but also pretty disrespectful on his part.

i would like to know how to express different flavors of “he’s kind of flaky” in Mexican Spanish. Like, to his friends, acknowledging that we realize that he’s not reliable, but also to my friends, expressing that he’s basically worthless/has totally disrespected me.

Are there different ways of putting this idea across with those nuances?

Thank you to the r/Spanish community for your guidance in how to vent my annoyance at all of the right levels.

Last night I went out with some friends to a Peruvian restaurant. One of my friends is a native speaker, and another one is a learner like me. Our waitress started speaking to us in Spanish, but when I answered in Spanish, she immediately switched to English to ask any other questions. I don't understand why this keeps happening to me. I think I've got a pretty good level of Spanish. I would say that my non-native friend and I have around the same level. I try to speak Spanish with people, but I'm often met with "it's okay, we can speak English." It's kind of discouraging because this doesn't happen to my friend, and they're able to have full conversations with Spanish speakers.

So I'm told that "Con permiso" or even just "permiso" is an appropriate substitute for "excuse me" in English when trying to move past someone in your way. I'm at a Spanish music festival atm - this phrase is useful!

Is it also appropriate to use when I want to pick up and look at an object at a market stall. In English, I might point and say "may I...?". It feels like "permiso?" carries a similar meaning but I'd like this confirmed. Thanks!

Throwaway account

so im a teenager - my parents are sending me to spain TOMORROW to some school to better my spanish. fine. im excited.

except tomorrow I have to do everything in spanish, like be at the airport and navigate and converse etc etc. pretty standard but im rlly nervous.

also im a really socially awkward person, so doing so in English scares me - so I cant even imagine how bad spanish would be

I suck at speaking and am even worse at listening

does anyone have any tips?

My Spanish isn’t the best, but my husband and I want our kid to grow up speaking Spanish primarily. I often ask our child if he wants to cuddle on the couch, but I’m looking to say it in Spanish.

From searching online, I found acurrucarse, but I don’t know if that’s the best/most common word.

Something more common in Mexico would be preferred.

I work retail in a tourist town in NY, and I speak very rough Spanish. Not fluent at all, but I have the vocabulary to (in theory) communicate enough with native Spanish speakers to explain prices and discounts of items. My question is basically would it be disrespectful or seen as patronizing to try and do this without really being able to carry a conversation? In my experience with French speakers, they really do not like it when you try to do this. I see this not only as an opportunity to learn something but also to help people feel more at home in my store, but I would really appreciate input before I make a fool out of myself or someone else accidentally.

Edit: I should have mentioned I’m not trying to strike up conversations in Spanish, it’s more of me helping to find middle ground for customers who have trouble communicating in English.

Grammatical I know that it makes it a command rather than a wish. But in daily conversations do people find it awkward without the Que, or do they understand what you mean?

I’ve been learning for quite a while and still can’t pronounce words where one syllable ends in an r and the next begins with a t, d, or l. For example, tarde, probarte, perderlo. I always end up kind of slurring the syllable after the one that ends with an r or sounding like I have a lisp.

I don’t seem to have as much of an issue with the reverse (when one of those letters is followed by an r). For example, I can pronounce otro or padre.

Any advice on how to improve this? I’ve tried breaking the words down and repeating in parts slowly but haven’t had any success.

Im learning and trying to teach my 1 yr old daughter Spanish simultaneously. Yesterday I heard someone tell a child in Spanish “say hello”. But I couldn’t tell if she said “dice” or “dije”. When I use Google Translate from english, it says to use “di” but I don’t think that’s correct or used (don’t think I’ve heard anyone use it). I also tried looking it up in Spanish “dice hola” and “dije hola” and “dice” translates to “he/she says” while “dije” translates to “he/she said”. So, what would be the correct way to tell your child things like “say hi” “say please” “say thank you” etc.

Gracias para ayuda!

Grabación: https://voca.ro/1hOhnkNqVOiA

Hola a todos.

Estoy aprendiendo español y me gustaría recibir una evaluación lo más honesta posible sobre mi pronunciación al cantar.

1. ¿Sueno como un hablante nativo de español?
2. Si tuvieras que poner un porcentaje de "naturalidad" o "nivel nativo", ¿qué porcentaje me darías?
3. ¿Qué palabras, sonidos o aspectos de mi pronunciación hacen evidente que soy extranjero?
4. ¿Qué debería mejorar específicamente en cuanto a pronunciación, entonación, ritmo o acento?
5. Si tuvieras que adivinar, ¿de qué país crees que soy?

Por favor, sean completamente sinceros. No me ofenderé. Busco una crítica constructiva y detallada para poder mejorar.

This was way back of course, but she told us you don't need to use the accent for the word "él" if it's the beginning of a sentence- as in, capitalized. I did that for the whole year.

Anyway, a decade later and I'm a spanish minor now. So I know that's just... not true? I've never heard anyone say anything even similar to that. Is there somewhere this came from that she maybe misinterpreted? I just don't know where this came from and I've always been curious why she told us this. I genuinely believed this until like freshman year high school when I got marked off for it.

She wasn't referring to the word "the," by the way, she specifically was talking about "Él" as in "he."

[Also, I don't need anyone to comment just to tell me this isn't true. I am very well-aware, as stated.]

So before I started, I already knew quite a bit when I was high school aged. But the years of not practicing or even consuming any Spanish media, so I wasn't going in with a complete empty cup

So I'm in Puerto Rico for a couple weeks with my family and they're all learning Spanish through standard means like Duolingo, which probably have their place but I felt wasn't gonna work on me.

My plan was to get REALLY FUCKING GOOD at the same 100-150 sentences you have in 90% of interactions. Just drill the accent and pronunciation and learn the in between as I go.

And everyone we've talked to so far has said that mine sounds much more natural than the rest of my family who seem to just be trying to directly translate and using their standard American accent into Spanish.

Idk if this would work for everyone, BUT if I ever have to learn a different language, this is the same one I would opt for.

Are they always pronounced the same or are there situations where V sound is actually different from B?

When we are together we speak constantly and it's extremely helpful, but I'm really struggling with speaking and listening over the phone.

I have an issue where I struggle to understand people in restaurants, over the phone, in songs, anything with background noise or mumbling. I often have to wait 3-5 seconds to piece together what I just heard.

Has anybody else struggled with learning a language because of this? I am extremely motivated but I struggle to process audio in my own language, let alone one I'm not fluent in.

How can I practice my speaking and listening? There aren't any in person Spanish groups around me and I feel like people have to repeat themselves 3-6 times online.

False cognates that actually tripped you up in real life — share your "constipado" moments

We all know the classic false cognates list: embarazada, constipado, sensible, éxito... but reading about them in a textbook is completely different from making the mistake out loud in front of a native speaker.

This came to mind because I recently told someone I was "embarazado" when I meant I was embarrassed about something. The look on their face said everything.

What I find interesting is that these words don't just trap learners going from English to Spanish. Native Spanish speakers learning English hit the same wall going the other direction. A Spanishspeaking friend of mine once told someone in English she was "constipated" when she meant she had a cold. Neither of them recovered from that conversation quickly.

So which false cognate actually got you in a real situation, not just a practice exercise? And do you think some of these are more dangerous in certain dialects or regions? I've heard that some words carry heavier connotations in Latin America versus Spain, for instance.

Also curious whether anyone has found a genuinely useful trick for remembering these beyond brute memorization. Context sentences help me personally, but I know everyone learns differently.

Alt titles: Which false cognate actually fooled you in a real conversation? | Beyond "embarazada" — what false cognate caught you off guard? | Real life false cognate mistakes — what is your story?