Let's face it. most of us here in the non-Spanish-speaking countries ( England, Nepal, Brazil etc) aren't going to meet a whole lot of Spanish speakers on our daily walk to somewhere and back. But there are things you can do to help yourself ... in essence, you need to find lots of ways whereby you speak Spanish ..... not reading it, not thinking it, not colouring it in, but actually talking with that mouthy thing in the lower centre of your face. It's the bit with all the teeth, a long twisty tongue and lots of other things further on down.
This is going to be a big theme for me here .... identifying the component problems, and offering ways to sort them out. Eventually. In the fullness of time. Sooner or later.
Here is the first startling idea ... my idea ( as far as I know). It's simple really.
If you trundle along the street talking to yourself, people, other people, will think you are mad. Even if it's in whatever level of Spanish you can cobble together. It's true, it's unfortunate and probably unfair, but that's how it goes. How, readers, how do we get round this quirk of human nature?
Simples ... we talk into our mobile phone, that's what we do.
You can talk till the cows come home with a mobile held up to your ear and nobody will mind at all. In fact they will be highly impressed that you are such a powerful and influential hub-type person.
It doesn't even need to be on. Bonus.
Seriously, I have done this a lot ... what's more, you can do it entirely at your own level. If all you know is stuff like no sé , ¡ Zas !, ¿ que no ?, quitá ... that's fine. And if you are pretty good, you can prattle away happily for ages. If you are really lucky, an actual Spanish speaker might overhear you and then you can talk Spanish even more. Even luckier, you might hit it off, get married etc and that will be a real boost to your chances of eventually speaking a bit of Spanish now and then.
Here's the smashing Vetusta Morla with Al Respirar ...
Te he dejado en el sillón
las pinturas y una historia en blanco.
No hay principio ni final,
sólo lo que quieras ir contando.
Y al respirar intenta ser quien ponga el aire,
que al inhalar te traiga el mundo de esta parte.
Te he dejado en el sillón
las pinturas y una historia en blanco.
Yo me marcho a otro lugar,
puede que el viaje sea largo.
La burbuja en que crecí nos vendió comodidad
y un nudo entre las manos.
Yo escogí la ambigüedad, tú el fantasma y lo real,
todo en el mismo barco.
Y al respirar propongo ser quien ponga el aire,
que al inhalar me traiga el mundo de esta parte.
Y respirar tan fuerte que se rompa el aire,
aunque esta vez si no respiro es por no ahogarme.
Intenta no respirar ...
Intenta no respirar ...
Y al respirar propongo ser quien ponga el aire,
que al inhalar me traiga el mundo de esta parte.
Y respirar tan fuerte que se rompa el aire,
aunque esta vez quizá será mejor marcharse.
Intenta no respirar ...
Intenta no respirar ...
Fuente: musica.com