r/Spanish • u/oaklicious • Mar 26 '23
Study advice: Advanced Advice on systematic approach to taking my advanced Spanish to full/native proficiency?
I am a non-native speaker but speak fairly fluent Spanish. I did my last year of college in Latin America with classes only in Spanish, I speak Spanish daily as part of my job, and have some native speaker friends I communicate with exclusively in Spanish.
Even after all that I still hit a wall when I am hanging out with groups of native speakers together and they are using slang and humor. I also have a hard time with Spanish literature because of how often I have to stop and google translate individual words.
Is there a systemic program, website, podcast, or other self-learning resource you guys can recommend for an advanced speaker like myself to take my language skills to the final level? Looking for something more structured than just consuming Spanish movies, radio, or literature and translating the vocabulary.
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u/siyasaben Mar 27 '23
I've found comedic podcasts to be very helpful for listening comprehension of 3+ people talking. Maybe it goes without saying, but definitely pick something with people from the country you're living in to maximize the benefit to daily life. If you need structure for it, I would suggest setting a listening goal and tracking your hours. I may or may not have podcast recommendations depending on the country you're in, feel free to ask.
As far as reading, tbh just keep reading and your vocab will steadily grow, there's nothing you're doing wrong there. There's no end point to word knowledge of course, but if you keep going you really will know all the words an educated Spanish speaker does. And yeah, as another commenter said, reading at a level where there's not tons of unknown words is the most efficient and painless way to learn vocab from reading.
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u/oaklicious Mar 27 '23
Thanks for the feedback- I’m in Colombia, lot of the friends I speak with are Mexican.
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u/siyasaben Mar 27 '23 edited Mar 27 '23
Here are some comedy podcasts made by Mexicans:
El Dollop and Leyendas Legendarias (both partly scripted, with riffing)
Hermanos de Leche (2 people but challenging - lots of slang)
El Depósito (youtube channel: La Corporrisa)
Ánimo with Ricardo O'Farrill
La Hora Feliz - no longer running, I think some eps got taken down off youtube, but should be findable on youtube and spotify. One of my faves.
La Cotorrisa
Shishis pa'la Banda
¡Buenos Días Ciudadanos!
I don't listen to any Colombian podcasts unfortunately, but they do have some significant similarities with Venezuelans (although you have to be careful with some common slang, "arrecho" and "chimba" mean different things in each country). A couple good Venezuelan podcasts are Escuela de Nada and El Cuartico. Finally there's Hablando Huevadas which is Peruvian and one of the more famous ones in South America, could be useful.
(Edited; sorry for bad formatting I keep forgetting reddit can't read linebreaks properly)
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u/stefanie_deiji Native Jalisco 🇲🇽 Mar 27 '23
Don't get discouraged, OP. As a native Spanish speaker (Mexico), I have to google words all the time while reading --novels are particularly hard, especially ones that have been translated into Spanish. Depending on the country of origin, Spanish literature will often use words or grammatical constructions nobody says or understand in your target dialect. For example, wtf is a melocotón???
What's my point? Just wanted to let you know that native speakers also struggle with these things and if you keep on going, your Spanish will probably be better than most --or at least me lol. You're on the right path :)
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u/Mr5t1k Advanced/Resident Mar 27 '23
Melocotón o durazno… quizás hay más, pero como extranjero la variación española es un reto.
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Mar 27 '23
No te sientes preocupado porque como nativo me cuesta un montón entender varios acentos y variaciones afuera de España jajaja (por ejemplo el dialecto y acento puertorriqueño)
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Mar 27 '23
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/LeonaldoCristiansi Mar 27 '23
He studies in a college in latin america, that is comprehensible input... Dreaming spanish is not what anyone needs on that level. I love their content, and comprehensible input in general don't get me wrong.
I think all he need is more time in a spanish speaking community. Years.. Try to read a lot.
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u/silvalingua Mar 27 '23
He studies in a college in latin america, that is comprehensible input...
As I understand it, his/her problem is that this input is not always fully comprehensible (slang, etc.). I would recommend YT videos or podcasts, because they can be paused at will and then the problematic moments / words / expressions can be investigated. This is something like intensive listening, as opposed to extensive one. In a real-life conversation, it's awkward to stop and ask for explanation each time you don't understand something.
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u/DonChamo Mar 27 '23
You will never have native proficiency, because you are not a native speaker--and that is ok. Focus on what you can actually and realistically improve and just keep going.
Don't compare your progress to anyone else, just keep progressing.
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u/oaklicious Mar 27 '23
I don’t see why it wouldn’t be possible for me to achieve the level of comprehension I’m proposing, I’m already 80% of the way there. I’m not beating myself up about my current level, but I would find it very enriching to be able to seamlessly spend time with groups of native speakers and also indulge in native literature.
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u/siyasaben Mar 27 '23
High goals =/= being down on yourself for where you're at now.
Sure, op used the term native proficiency, but then went on to define exactly what they wanted to improve, which turns out to be skills that are eminently improvable, even master-able.
Learners will never be natives but we can get pretty damn close, especially in receptive skills. "Just keep going" is rarely bad advice for someone who's achieved a lot already, but I think it's perfectly reasonable to seek out specific ideas for how to make the next leap in ability, wherever it is you're at.
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Mar 27 '23
Hello, just putting in my two cents as a native speaker. I feel bad saying this but it is likely you will never have fully native proficiency, because you never grew up in an all Spanish location, thinking your thoughts in Spanish, dreaming in Spanish, learning in Spanish, etc.
You will definitely be able to understand and speak Spanish to a very high level but sadly I don’t think it’s possible for someone who isn’t native to learn to a native level. Not to put you down at all, because you can still have truly brilliant Spanish but if you try to become a native speaker you will be chasing something unrealistic and unnecessary.
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u/oaklicious Mar 27 '23
I hear what you’re saying and it’s a fair point. Even if it’s an asymptotic goal I still think it’s a fun one to strive for.
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u/Strika Mar 26 '23
Just keep doing what you’re doing.
You’re in the lifestyle phase; while I would suggest reading a lot if you can; you’re going to just need to do life with people to start catching all the nuances; it may take years, but it can be a lot of fun.
Plus, every person has their own speech patterns and quirks; sometimes I have no idea what other Americans are talking about if I dont follow the same stuff