“Why can’t I understand the words?” That’s a common question. Notice that the question wasn’t “why don’t I understand what they’re saying?”. It’s about the words. ”Why can’t I understand the words?” Big difference. It’s not that you don’t understand what the words mean, because if you could only see the words, you might understand what they mean. It’s that you don’t even know what the words ARE.
Well, there are several reasons that you don’t hear all the words. One is called elision. That’s the omission of sounds as words are run together by the speaker. It’s common in English. Fugidaboudit. There was even a song in the 20s or 30s called Mareseatoats. Mareseatoats and doeseatoats and littlelambseativy. (Mares eat oats and does eat oats, etc). Well, it’s even more common in Spanish. The Spanish word for it is almost the same: elisión, accent over the o.
Of course some words are automatically put together in Spanish. De el comes to mind. And a el. But with others, they’re just run together as they’re spoken. And there’s nothing you can do about it. Nada. That’s just the way it is the world over. And that’s one reason spoken Spanish is so much more difficult to pick up than written Spanish.
Another reason is speed. Or rather, the lack of speed. And that has to do with translating. Most language scientists today agree that the best way to learn a language is with total immersion – with no English being spoken at all. And no translating.
Languages don’t translate exactly. Those of you who are a little further along have experienced this. You might know every word in a sentence — every single word. And it’s fairly clear what it means — except that it means something entirely different. Never tell someone that you are “caliente”, for example. Yes, agua can be caliente, but you my friend are “color”. (That is unless you are actually “caliente”. But here we’re talking about your being out in the broiling sun). So learning Spanish is best done without the translating.
And it’s that translating that also keeps you from hearing the words. You’re doing two things at once (and doing neither well). You’re listening and you’re translating. And the earlier you are in your studies, the slower you’re going to be at both of those activities. So for a beginner, you hear the first word, translate it and pick up listening to the speaker somewhere in the third or fourth sentence. Oops.
So how can you get better at this? Well… immersion of course. Listen as much as you can. Eavesdrop at the Mexican restaurant (go to real ones if you can). Listen to Spanish soap operas and Spanish news channels. Tune your ear.
And here’s a really good way to hear better — Music. Most music is slower than speech. Things are repeated (like the chorus, for instance) and you can play it over and over without getting tired of it so quickly. It’s measured, more rythmic and you can sing along with it.
Start with slow songs. Learn them. Then gradually work your way up to the faster songs. Eventually you’re going to know a dozen or more songs in Spanish, and won’t that be fun? And just as a bonus, it will help build your vocabulary. You’ll even be able to figure out some words just based on what the song is about (a broken heart, most likely).
Go to the Learn Spanish page (use the navigation bar above) and look for “Listening and Comprehension” for more input on this subject.
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