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Dont understand in spanish3/23/2023 Resist the temptation to go straight to the dictionary. To check your attempt, you can try using spellcheck, and asking a native to correct you (if you use, remember to include the link to the audio so that they can compare your attempt with the original version).Deciphering the meaningOnce you've identified the words in the sentence, it's time to dig deeper and decipher the meaning of the words you don't know. This exercise is effective because writing forces you to slow down, which enhances your ability to pick up on subtle differences between what you're hearing and what's on the page.If you want to go beyond this example, I encourage you to transcribe sentences from your favorite Spanish podcast. Pero si quieres que sigamos siendo amigos, no pidas nada que lleve cilantro. If you need help getting started, here's the sentence skeleton:Venir aquí fue idea tuya, así que me fío de lo que elijas. The sooner you embrace this reality, the better you'll get at teasing words apart.You can practice by listening to the audio multiple times and trying to write down what you hear. A Spanish speaker would almost always link the vowel sounds and pronounce the whole thing as a single word: Todoestoestaquí (To-does-toes-ta-quí).This is another factor that makes Spanish seem faster than English. inventoryYour main priority when trying to decode a fast sentence should be to figure out when one word ends and the next one begins.An English speaker would pronounce a sentence like Todo esto está aquí by breaking it up into four distinct sounds (All, this, is, here). However, if the previous sentence felt like an interesting challenge, skip this one until you've gone through the article (you can always come back to it later). What makes this challenging is mastering the subtle connections between each word, and training your brain to accept more complicated structures than the ones you're used to.Here are four key principles you can use to internalize challenging sentences and gain acceptance into the fast-paced native Spanish club.Taking inventoryDeciphering the meaningBuilding a mental scaffoldCollecting key sentencesWe'll use the following sentence to illustrate them: he entendido «cilantro».If that felt impossibly fast, here's a slower version (it's one second longer). Knowing a sentence backwards and forwards means that no amount of slurring or speed can prevent your brain from filling in the blanks.It might seem counterintuitive, but to get better at understanding fast Spanish, you should focus on internalizing slow Spanish. Speed is relative.The less familiar you are with the words in a sentence, the faster it seems.
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