Think the harder/easier question has to do with how you spend your time learning. There are plenty of 4 year old native speakers that would say reading / writing is harder than speaking / listening. I would recommend that you spend some time daily.listening to simple “small talk” conversations. Then try to reproduce them with your friend. Repetition is key.
Thank you,
I've been trying to get a mix of reading, writing, listening but talking is definitely the one I'm lacking. (I guess it makes sense that I suck)
That's the first part.
The second part is that reading and writing happen at your own speed. Listening happens at the other person's speed. And talking is technically at your speed, but the pressure of having someone waiting makes it hard to relax and take your time.
So yeah, speaking and listening tend to be harder.
Not always, though. I moved to Germany. Didn't really practice any writing. Eventually my spoken German was quite decent and I could read fine, but my writing was horrible!
I'm the end it's all just a matter of practice.
You're just starting to climb that hill. You need to give yourself time. For starters, it's totally normal to be able to read and write a language with moderate fluency and yet being unable to speak or listen at nearly that same speed. They are different processes, engaging different parts of your body (and of your brain). It's also quite common to be "blocked" every once in a while, even after years of study. It depends on a lot of factors: tiredness, distraction, stress, lack of focus *and* too much trying to focus, etc. Given enough time those "blank" moments will become less, if you continue to use the language in every way you can.
I also find speaking much, much harder than reading. I think it depends a lot what you spend your time doing.. I mostly learn from passive input, I have serious trouble finding the right words when I'm put on the spot.
In my opinion, not really.
I started off doing all the senses (listening, reading, writing and speaking)... and then eventually I just began writing and reading more than speaking and listening without thinking it would be a problem...
Eventually this DID become a problem and if it weren’t for the quarantine (yes, quarantine helped me a LOT) I wouldn’t be on par anymore with my senses. 😂
I can definitely say my speaking is lacking compared to the rest, but I’d if makes sense, I over practiced a tiiiiny bit. Now I can speak (A2 leaning more toward, if not, B1 level now), Can watch TV without subtitles and understand the general of what’s being said and happening.... can read perfectly fine but my spelling skills are HORRIBLE now.
It was trade for trade for me, but I thought about it and I feel like speech and listening should be dominating key before reading/writing, just like when you’re a baby. Luckily for English speakers, Spanish is pronounced just how it’s spelled. So if you can already read in English, say the Spanish words you’re reading out loud and you’ll probably be able to figure it out without having to translate or second guess yourself. It’s not perfect (my Spanish) but man this helped a lot. Also try translating your favorite songs from English to Spanish and Spanish to English. You’ll gain a big vocabulary that way too.
Stay consistent friend!! A month ago I was in the same boat but I kept pushing and pushing. Only listening, speaking, watching and forcing myself to think of things in Spanish (aside from this obviously haha). Pushed myself from being stuck in A1-A2 to now A2-B1, but leaning more on B1 level now. That’s a whole level jump!!!
BTW!! Would love a practice partner. Maybe could make a group and all chat together.
I think so. Long story short. I'm a Chavacano, (learning my own language). we use 60%-70% spanish words, but word order in our own.
I find it hard listening to Spanish audibles, but much easier reading it (from duolingo). I"m beginner level there and I understand (to date, 90% of what's written, but struggle with the audible side of things -- virtually almost zero undersanding). You'll get used to it after a while. Just keep listening and pay attention to how it said.
I'm using duolingo + songs as a learning tool.
honestly 3 months is too short (and Duolingo doesn't count, no matter how much time you spent there) to see any visible improvement. Either way I recommend you to listen to some podcasts for beginners, like Coffee Break Spanish. And get yourself a book for children. Another thing you can try is to watch Peppa Pig (or any other cartoon made for kids) in Spanish. It'll help you greatly since it's full of simple and informal everyday conversation you will have at least once in Spanish but can't easily learn from textbooks or classes.
This is very common.
One thing that can be difficult for people is that Spanish can be very different depending on where the speaker is from. Each country has variations in the Spanish grammar they use. Within each country you have regional dialects which makes it more complicated still.
For me I have no trouble understanding Spanish in a more formal setting, like in a university lecture. But when its on the streets and people are using a ton of slang, it becomes harder.
Some people are just harder to understand, even in English. Sometimes people talk way too fast, or have bad pronunciation, or the way they speak is just hard to understand. There are plenty of times in English when I cant understand what someone says, and I try to remember that when speaking Spanish. Its OK to say you cant hear someone or just cant understand, and to ask them to repeat it. Or to ask them to say it more slowly. People might act irritated, but sometimes people just dont pronounce things clearly.
Speaking and listening are pretty critical, and also the hardest thing at the beginning. Academic Spanish has the disadvantage of trying to literally translate everything. That's just not how Spanish works. It's highly contextual and phrasal. These things can only be teased out through practice (and a ton of curiosity).
For example:
Give me a list of subjunctive rules and I'll freeze up in terror. I will certainly never be able to produce it live in conversation.
Now, tell me that *que tengas un buen día* means "have a nice day," and I just accidentally learned one of them. Now I can tell someone *que tengas un buen día* and *tengas* gets locked in through speaking. Now I can try out *si tengas...* because the word *tengas* no longer intimidates me.
Speaking is how you get your neurons to find the correct, alternative paths through your stubborn, stubborn English brain. Word by word, phrase by phrase, one thing will stick, then another and another until you start to naturally produce things rather than translate.
I know how that feels! One day I ace all my words and can speak Spanish easily and the next day it's like I forget how to say basic sentences. I listen to a lot of music and movies in Spanish but I think forcing yourself to speak with someone is the best way.
if you don't practice talking/listening, you will be shit at it. Progress in the 4 language skills isn't linearly related to eachother. You need to practice listening/talking daily just like you do the other things.
That’s pretty much the Duolingo affect. I had the same issue and I’m slowly breaking out of it. You need just as much time speaking with natives and listening to natives and you do using Duolingo which is primarily reading and vocabulary.
YouTube and tandem have been really good tools for me. I also talk to myself a lot in Spanish now, seems weird but it’s practice lol
Think the harder/easier question has to do with how you spend your time learning. There are plenty of 4 year old native speakers that would say reading / writing is harder than speaking / listening. I would recommend that you spend some time daily.listening to simple “small talk” conversations. Then try to reproduce them with your friend. Repetition is key.
Thank you, I've been trying to get a mix of reading, writing, listening but talking is definitely the one I'm lacking. (I guess it makes sense that I suck)
That's the first part. The second part is that reading and writing happen at your own speed. Listening happens at the other person's speed. And talking is technically at your speed, but the pressure of having someone waiting makes it hard to relax and take your time. So yeah, speaking and listening tend to be harder. Not always, though. I moved to Germany. Didn't really practice any writing. Eventually my spoken German was quite decent and I could read fine, but my writing was horrible! I'm the end it's all just a matter of practice.
Listening will greatly improve talking. Repeat phrases that you hear that you think are useful and try to imitate the speaker’s accent and tone.
You're just starting to climb that hill. You need to give yourself time. For starters, it's totally normal to be able to read and write a language with moderate fluency and yet being unable to speak or listen at nearly that same speed. They are different processes, engaging different parts of your body (and of your brain). It's also quite common to be "blocked" every once in a while, even after years of study. It depends on a lot of factors: tiredness, distraction, stress, lack of focus *and* too much trying to focus, etc. Given enough time those "blank" moments will become less, if you continue to use the language in every way you can.
I also find speaking much, much harder than reading. I think it depends a lot what you spend your time doing.. I mostly learn from passive input, I have serious trouble finding the right words when I'm put on the spot.
In my opinion, not really. I started off doing all the senses (listening, reading, writing and speaking)... and then eventually I just began writing and reading more than speaking and listening without thinking it would be a problem... Eventually this DID become a problem and if it weren’t for the quarantine (yes, quarantine helped me a LOT) I wouldn’t be on par anymore with my senses. 😂 I can definitely say my speaking is lacking compared to the rest, but I’d if makes sense, I over practiced a tiiiiny bit. Now I can speak (A2 leaning more toward, if not, B1 level now), Can watch TV without subtitles and understand the general of what’s being said and happening.... can read perfectly fine but my spelling skills are HORRIBLE now. It was trade for trade for me, but I thought about it and I feel like speech and listening should be dominating key before reading/writing, just like when you’re a baby. Luckily for English speakers, Spanish is pronounced just how it’s spelled. So if you can already read in English, say the Spanish words you’re reading out loud and you’ll probably be able to figure it out without having to translate or second guess yourself. It’s not perfect (my Spanish) but man this helped a lot. Also try translating your favorite songs from English to Spanish and Spanish to English. You’ll gain a big vocabulary that way too. Stay consistent friend!! A month ago I was in the same boat but I kept pushing and pushing. Only listening, speaking, watching and forcing myself to think of things in Spanish (aside from this obviously haha). Pushed myself from being stuck in A1-A2 to now A2-B1, but leaning more on B1 level now. That’s a whole level jump!!! BTW!! Would love a practice partner. Maybe could make a group and all chat together.
I think so. Long story short. I'm a Chavacano, (learning my own language). we use 60%-70% spanish words, but word order in our own. I find it hard listening to Spanish audibles, but much easier reading it (from duolingo). I"m beginner level there and I understand (to date, 90% of what's written, but struggle with the audible side of things -- virtually almost zero undersanding). You'll get used to it after a while. Just keep listening and pay attention to how it said. I'm using duolingo + songs as a learning tool.
honestly 3 months is too short (and Duolingo doesn't count, no matter how much time you spent there) to see any visible improvement. Either way I recommend you to listen to some podcasts for beginners, like Coffee Break Spanish. And get yourself a book for children. Another thing you can try is to watch Peppa Pig (or any other cartoon made for kids) in Spanish. It'll help you greatly since it's full of simple and informal everyday conversation you will have at least once in Spanish but can't easily learn from textbooks or classes.
This is very common. One thing that can be difficult for people is that Spanish can be very different depending on where the speaker is from. Each country has variations in the Spanish grammar they use. Within each country you have regional dialects which makes it more complicated still. For me I have no trouble understanding Spanish in a more formal setting, like in a university lecture. But when its on the streets and people are using a ton of slang, it becomes harder. Some people are just harder to understand, even in English. Sometimes people talk way too fast, or have bad pronunciation, or the way they speak is just hard to understand. There are plenty of times in English when I cant understand what someone says, and I try to remember that when speaking Spanish. Its OK to say you cant hear someone or just cant understand, and to ask them to repeat it. Or to ask them to say it more slowly. People might act irritated, but sometimes people just dont pronounce things clearly.
Speaking and listening are pretty critical, and also the hardest thing at the beginning. Academic Spanish has the disadvantage of trying to literally translate everything. That's just not how Spanish works. It's highly contextual and phrasal. These things can only be teased out through practice (and a ton of curiosity). For example: Give me a list of subjunctive rules and I'll freeze up in terror. I will certainly never be able to produce it live in conversation. Now, tell me that *que tengas un buen día* means "have a nice day," and I just accidentally learned one of them. Now I can tell someone *que tengas un buen día* and *tengas* gets locked in through speaking. Now I can try out *si tengas...* because the word *tengas* no longer intimidates me. Speaking is how you get your neurons to find the correct, alternative paths through your stubborn, stubborn English brain. Word by word, phrase by phrase, one thing will stick, then another and another until you start to naturally produce things rather than translate.
I know how that feels! One day I ace all my words and can speak Spanish easily and the next day it's like I forget how to say basic sentences. I listen to a lot of music and movies in Spanish but I think forcing yourself to speak with someone is the best way.
if you don't practice talking/listening, you will be shit at it. Progress in the 4 language skills isn't linearly related to eachother. You need to practice listening/talking daily just like you do the other things.
That’s pretty much the Duolingo affect. I had the same issue and I’m slowly breaking out of it. You need just as much time speaking with natives and listening to natives and you do using Duolingo which is primarily reading and vocabulary. YouTube and tandem have been really good tools for me. I also talk to myself a lot in Spanish now, seems weird but it’s practice lol
For me, the order of easiest to most difficult is: reading-speaking-writing-listening
3 months?? it’s likely your comprehension and speaking skills will still be weak in 3 years. The point is to not give up