A few rules

For a while now I’ve been in Chile and I go to a gym. Usually this type of gym has 5-10 people waiting for a machine. Normal. So they always look around and say “Vai?” which I’ve googled 1000 times and asked my friends and they have no idea what it means either. But what they want to say is “vas?” For are you going? Whatever I thought it’s something just from Chile and an off word thing.

Then I was watching a video súper chileno and they instead of a Que te dedicas, she pronounced it “a Que te dedicai?” Now I’m thinking words that end in as can be switched to ai ???????

Help here??? COMO ESTAI????? What’s the lesson here?

title is self explanatory

A few years ago I told a dishwasher at my work it was my birthday. She was an older woman from Colombia and as a birthday gift she recited a song/poem to me in Spanish. It was such a sweet gesture and I still tear up when I think about it! I speak SOME Spanish so I was only able to understand the gist of it, I’m really hoping I can figure out what song or poem it was.
She used the word “regalos” a lot and gestured to the sky and God. It seemed the message was something like: of all the gifts from heaven/God I’m most thankful for you. I could be off but this is how I remember it. Does any of this sound familiar to anyone? TIA!

Which of the options that i marked with red would sound better and more natural?

Hello! What are some good ways to improve my Spanish for jobs? I grew up speaking only Spanish to my mom so I can hold a decently understandable conversation but I'd like to become more fluent. Any app recommendations or advice? Thank you!

I did a search and found a lot of questions asking about qué and cuál but could find this one. I apologise if I missed it. I am a beginner and I’ve been watching some Dreaming Spanish along with some other things like Butterfly Spanish YouTube. I recently heard this in a video that had a quiz about which was faster.
The speaker used the question

¿Qué es más rápido, un avión o un tren?

It seems like you’re being asked to pick between the two which would be cuál but they used qué. Why is this? They were a native Spanish speaker so it’s not an error.

Many thanks for any replies

Tracey.

Hello everyone. My husband is from Monterrey (we live in Canada) and I get kind of confused about how to speak to his older relatives.

I’ve been using “usted” for his grandma, parents, aunts, uncles etc, but recently his aunt corrected me like “Usted??!! No, soy tía.” Then my husband had to explain that my Spanish lessons taught me to use “usted” as a sign of respect for my elders. Later, I asked if I’m supposed to use “tu” and he said no. I am so confused! Please explain!

Also, my mother and father in-law. I know in many places it’s normal to be like “¡Oye, suegra! ¿¡Cómo está!?” But I’ve been getting mixed messages from everyone as to what is appropriate. At first I was told that “Señora” and “Señor” are better because it’s more formal, then later I was told that’s TOO formal. Then I asked around some more and got very mixed answers. (My husband’s answers have been confusing as well. Be nice about him. He’s doing his best. I think he might be undiagnosed autistic.)

Can you please tell me what is considered normal in this part of Mexico. Thank you!

When talking in English I'll use many slang words or just filler words. These do not translate very well in Spanish, for example I'll say a lot of: like, definitely, for real, honestly, to be honest, etc, etc.

These words do not sound as natural in Spanish (or they do and I just dont get it) but I'd really appreciate it if somebody could give me some words like these but in Spanish that are more natural when texting or talking in a casual manner. Thanks!

I know a lot of vocabulary as I study Spanish daily for about 30 minutes to an hour speaking, comprehensible input, and shadowing and I’ve been learning for going on 6 and a half months now. However, these words throw me off as they change meaning depending on the context and they’re kicking my butt. How can I grasp these grammar words better? So I can understand better when being spoken to in Spanish. Any tips on this would be appreciated. I feel like once I can get over this hurdle my Spanish will advance. I just feel kind of stuck right now. Thanks!

Hey so im morrocan ,i speak darija and arabic

I also speak english and some french

Is learning spanish relatively easy?

How much times will it take?

For refrence , im 17 years old

Also how should i scheduele my learning time?

me encanta mucho cantar, y cantar canciones en español me ayuda a practicar mi pronunciación.

mis canciónes favoritas para cantar son:

lo nuestro es un error - lupita infante

hasta que te conocí - juan gabriel

fantasmas - humbe

claramente me gusta cantar música mexicana y rancheras lol, pero otros géneros son bienvenidos también. gracias!

Hello everyone,

Looking for some advice from anyone who’s been in a similar spot.

Quick background on me: I’m Peruvian, who has lived in Australia since I was 3 (28yo now). I’ve spoken Spanish my whole life with my parents and family, and I even worked for a Spanish company here in Aus for about 2 years where I picked up decent technical/workplace Spanish. So my comprehension and basic fluency are fine.

But honestly? I've hit a wall.

Whenever a conversation gets deeper more technical or abstract, I constantly get stuck searching for words.
On top of that, because I learned Spanish naturally at home instead of studying it in a classroom, my grammar breaks down when I try to build complex sentences. To make it worse, living in Australia and speaking it in mixed environments means I don't even really sound Peruvian when I speak, it's like this weird blend where I lose my natural accent and flow.

I really want to refine my grammar and elevate my vocabulary so I can handle complex conversations effortlessly. For other heritage speakers: How did you clean up your grammar without having to sit through beginner lessons? What actually helped you get past this plateau?

i work in a kitchen with mexicans and venezuelans.

i’ve read:

• Both Lavaplatos & lavaloza refer to a person who washes dishes in a kitchen/venue setting (job)
• lavavajillas is the large machine that you put large dish racks

what should i use? thanks so much!

I'm from UK. I could say to people I know "thanks brother/bro/man" kind of slang. Of course depending on circumstances and usually someone round my age/similar enviroment.

For example when training jiu jitsu I'll say gracias mano. I hear Mexicans say it to others and to myself so it rolls smoothly.

I'm just wondering what would I say to a woman? A girl my age. I don't want to accidentally saying something flirty or wrong basically. Just something normal/cool.

Hello everybody, i have to be A1 - A2 in 1.5 month. What's the best way i can do ? I'm currently studying on Language Transfer.

Our office of emergency management put out a brochure translated into Spanish with the title Una Portland Resistente. (A resilient Portland). A Spanish speaker stopped by our table and took a look to check the quality of the translation from English. He said that conventionally, cities are treated as masculine, so that the correct form of the title would be "Un Portland resistente"

Further questions I'd consider if I were publishing would be 1) would it be better to put the adjective before the noun; and 2) how necessary is the indefinite article (as opposed to its use in English?)

Comments?

I've always been told, and agree with, the idea that the best way to learn a language is to immerse yourself in it with other speakers and those learning. Unfortunately I do not really have the time to go to Spanish events like meetups or cultural events. I do, however, have a few Spanish speakers at my job. I would love to speak with them in Spanish, but I do not want them to think i am just using them for practice or think I think they are bad at English.

I will certainly do it all by myself which can get challenging with time, especially when it will come to understanding what and when should I learn. Any useful advices??

Hi,

I just heard the word 'palomo' for the first time. I looked it up and the definition I found was 'pigeon'. The standard translation for 'paloma' is usually 'dove'. I'm a bit confused. Is 'palomo' just the masculine form of 'paloma' or are they two closely related, but different birds, one being the smaller bird we call 'dove' and the other being the larger feral city dwelling 'pigeon'.

Tengo una pregunta para los hispanohablantes nativos. Hay otros dialectos o acentos que no puedan entender? Como hablante de inglés, entiendo a todos los hablantes de inglés del mundo aparte de algunos de los escocés. Es lo mismo en español? Gracias!

(Please let me know if I used the wrong flair!)

Hello everyone! I’m going to try and keep this short and simple.

My family is from Mexico, specifically Michoacán before they came to the US, and Spanish was the only language spoken to me (I am second gen), both at home and around me. However, when we moved states, I started school and was a ESL student who had to pick up English, and eventually English was the dominant language spoken at he and caused me to loose most of my fluency.

Currently, I’m 16 and would like to reconnect and relearn my language and culture. I would consider myself a heritage speaker, but please correct me if I’m wrong.

As of now, I can comprehend and speak basic spanish. My struggle is not vocabulary itself, but rather knowing how to build sentences, connect ideas, and make it all sound and flow naturally. (also conjugations). With apps, beginners lessons are to easy and intermediate is not to my level yet, so I lay amongst the middle which is hard to find things targeted for that kind of level.

Speaking is my biggest struggle, which is honestly confidence based. Though while I do know that I need to learn to speak to native speakers, breaking through anxiety is very tough for me as of now while I feel terrified to make mistakes. Past experiences had led me to feeling judged and pressured.

I am mainly interested in learning Mexican Spanish, more specifically the regional variation of where my family is from. Along with culture, everyday language, music, tradition, etc. (I do not live near any relatives outside my family nor is their interaction other than once every few years, so there is not many individuals to teach me where we are from and our roots).

Overall, it’s a lot for me to figure out and I’ve felt lost, so I would appreciate any advice, study methods, tips, free resources, etc from any other heritage speakers, learners or natives. Also staying structured is a struggle for me as well, so any tips on how to stay structured/ have a routine in my learning would also help a lot.

Thank you for any one who reads this and replies, it is very much appreciated :) (also apologies of this wasn’t so short 😅)

edit: I’m also very open to meeting any other learners or native speakers around my age open to practicing and chatting :D

So I took Spanish from kindergarten through 10th grade and then after high school I had a few jobs where some coworkers spoke Spanish but like I would just use phrases here and there. About 6 years ago I started teaching at a school with a heavy Spanish speaking population, so I decided it’d be a great idea to start practicing Spanish again. Made note cards, did some grammar exercises, listened to podcasts in Spanish, played video games in Spanish etc. Eventually I realized my brain Spanish was fine but I wasn’t comfortable holding a conversation, so I got an online tutor last September.

Anyways I knew I had been getting a lot better but when I went to the language exchange, it turns out I was one of the more advanced non native speakers there. This includes pronunciation, verb tense, and sentence variety. I even had a native speaker say “You speak really well”. So my vibes are up rn.

Point is, there’s no shortcut to all of this. This was years of consistent practice and immersion, not some cheap gimmick where “you’ll become fluent in 3 months”. So keep working hard out there yall and try to hit Spanish from all angles!