Is learning to speak other languages the only way to successfully communicate with people from other countries?? Of course it helps.. but no matter how well you prepare yourself, there will always be another language that you do not know or situation that you have not prepared for. What to do??
Letting go of the assumption that language is the only way to communicate is a start! Forget feeling shy and just start to act out what you are trying to say. You'll be surprised how quickly people will pick up on what you are saying if you add some charades.
Another thing to consider is looking for cognates when others are speaking. "Cogna"-whats?? Cognates are words that are the same in several languages and are a huge help to fill the gaps when trying to speak to people of other languages. Many of our words in English are derived from Latin which is where Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese all came from. The tricky part is pronunciation will sometimes throw you off but if you see the language in print you can quickly see words you recognize. Most of the time the words will mean the same as they do in English so if you take the chance and assume, you will be increasing your vocabulary in no time.
Remember, start small when trying to create conversation in another language! Don't try to put together long complicated sentences when you you are not ready for it. It's better to build some confidence with smaller successes and slowly increase your skills. Most people will be grateful that you are even trying!!
Check out the cognate list and see how many words you already know in Spanish!
Common English-Spanish Cognates
Letting go of the assumption that language is the only way to communicate is a start! Forget feeling shy and just start to act out what you are trying to say. You'll be surprised how quickly people will pick up on what you are saying if you add some charades.
Another thing to consider is looking for cognates when others are speaking. "Cogna"-whats?? Cognates are words that are the same in several languages and are a huge help to fill the gaps when trying to speak to people of other languages. Many of our words in English are derived from Latin which is where Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese all came from. The tricky part is pronunciation will sometimes throw you off but if you see the language in print you can quickly see words you recognize. Most of the time the words will mean the same as they do in English so if you take the chance and assume, you will be increasing your vocabulary in no time.
Remember, start small when trying to create conversation in another language! Don't try to put together long complicated sentences when you you are not ready for it. It's better to build some confidence with smaller successes and slowly increase your skills. Most people will be grateful that you are even trying!!
Check out the cognate list and see how many words you already know in Spanish!
Common English-Spanish Cognates