Get corrected in Spanish to reach perfect Spanish
Actor 1
Hoy quiero comer tamalis.
(Today, I want to have _______.)
Actor 2
TamalES.
(TamalES.)
Actor 1
Eso, salsa verde tamales.
(That, green salsa tamales.)
Actor 2
De hecho, no se dice “salsa verde tamales”, sino “tamales de salsa verde”.
(Actually, it’s not _____________, but “tamales de salsa verde.”)
Actor 1
Digo todo mal. ¡Ya no quiero hablar español!
(I say everything wrong. I don’t want to speak Spanish anymore!)
In order to really progress in Spanish, you need to speak the language and then you also need to get corrected. But done wrong, you can get as frustrated as our friend just now.
Welcome to Spring Spanish, soy Paulísima. Today, you’re learning the right way to get corrected in Spanish.
1. Pide ayuda (Ask for help)
It’s impossible to learn how to speak without actually practicing speaking. However, if you just speak and never get corrected, you will make mistakes and these will fossilize and then it will be much harder to get rid of them. First of all, you have to know that you can get your Spanish corrected at the Spring Spanish Inner Circle, check it out!
✔️ Cheat Sheet with 54 essential Spanish Chunks you’ll hear and use yourself in ANY Spanish conversation (and example sentences). Taken from our YouTube Teacher’s most popular videos!
✔️ 2 Bonus Cheat Sheets with Travel Chunks and Dating/Relationship Chunks
✔️ A Spanish Chunking Tutorial showing you the 1 technique that’ll help you make 100% of the Spanish from our videos roll off the tongue in just 5 minutes a day (you’re probably only using 50% of our lessons’ potential right now…)
Why do the mistakes we make become fossilized? Because if you repeat a mistake over and over again, at some point it’s going to “sound right”, because you’ve heard it and said it many times. Even if you only heard yourself.
The thing is, correcting is a skill. I’m a teacher and I have received special training for correcting my students, it’s not something that one can do just because one is a native speaker.
So... If you are fortunate enough to have a Spanish-speaking friend, ask them to correct you, but that they do it this way.
2. Primero los errores grandes (The big mistakes first)
Once you start speaking, you will make a ton of mistakes. However, it doesn’t make sense to correct every single mistake because you won’t be able to say much if you get interrupted every three seconds. That’s why at the beginning, mistakes should only be corrected every once in a while, maybe 1-2 mistakes every minute.
Actor 1
Amiga, por favor, necesito que me ayudes con mi español.
(Girlfriend, please, I need you to help me with my Spanish.)
Actor 2
Claro que sí. ¿Cómo quieres que te ayude?
(Of course. How do you want me to help you?)
Actor 1
Corrigiéndome.
(Correcting me.)
Actor 2
Ok, no es corriHiendome, es corriGíndome.
(Ok, it’s not “corriHiendome,” it’s “corriGíendome”.)
Actor 1
Ok, ok, pero mira, podrías corregirme así: primero los errores grandes. Por ejemplo, si no uso bien ser o estar.
(Ok, ok, but look, could you correct me like this: the big mistakes first. For example, if I don’t use “ser” or “estar” properly.)
Actor 2
Ok, ok. Por ejemplo cuando dices: “Soy aburrida” en vez de “estoy aburrida”.
(Ok, ok. For example when you say: “I am boring” instead of “I am bored”.)
Actor 1
Exacto. Y también cuando cambio completamente el sentido y el significado de lo que realmente quiero decir.
(Exactly. And also when I completely change the sense and meaning of what I really mean.)
Actor 2
Ok, como cuando dices: “Estoy excitada” en vez de decir “estoy emocionada”.
(Ok, like when you say: “I’m turned on” instead of saying “I’m excited”.)
Actor 1
Exactamente, exactamente.
(Exactly, exactly.)
Actor 2
Ok, entonces no te voy a corregir tan seguido. A mí, mi maestro de inglés me corrige errores grandes como una o dos veces por minuto. Más o menos.
(Ok, then I won’t correct you so often. For me, my English teacher corrects me about 1 or 2 big mistakes per minute. More or less.)
Actor 1
Sí, algo así sería muy bueno también.
(Yes, something like that would be very good too.)
Actor 2
Ok. El chiste es que no te interrumpa cada tres segundos, sino que por ahora nos concentremos en los errores grandes, ¿está bien? ¿Es eso lo que necesitas?
(Ok. The idea is not to interrupt you every 3 seconds, but to focus only on the big mistakes for now, is that okay? Is that what you need?)
Actor 1
Sí, amiga.
(Yes, friend.)
3. Continúa con los errores pequeños (Continue with the small mistakes)
Once you get better, smaller errors can start getting corrected: The frequency of about 1-2 corrected mistakes per minute can remain, but now with fewer big mistakes to correct, finer mistakes can start getting corrected.
Actor 1
Estoy muy emociona por el avanza que he tenido en mi español. Gracias por toda tu ayuda, amiga.
(I’m so excited for the progress that I’ve had in Spanish. Thank you for all your help, girlfriend.)
Actor 2
De nada.
(You’re welcome.)
Actor 1
Ahora que no cometo errores muy grandes, ¿me podrías ayudar corrigiendo mis errores pequeños? Si no es mucha molestia.
(Now that I don’t make huge mistakes, would you help me correct small mistakes? If it’s not too much to ask.)
Actor 2
¿Molestia? Para nada, al contrario, me encanta ayudarte.
(Too much to ask? Not at all, on the contrary, I love helping you.)
Actor 1
Sería igual, me dejas hablar, pero ahora me corriges los errores más pequeños, como uno o dos correcciones por minuto, mas o menos.
(It would be the same, you let me speak, but now you correct the small mistakes, like 1 or 2 corrections per minute, more or less.)
Actor 2
Muy bien. Mira, justo ahora, dijiste “unO o dos correcciones” pero en realidad se dice: “unA o dos correcciones…” te entiendo, pero aun así…
(Very well. Look, just now you said: “uno (masc.) o dos correcciones”, but it really should be: “una (fem.) o dos correcciones…” I understand, but still…
Actor 1
¡Claro! Porque “correcciones” es femenino, entonces es UNA corrección, una o dos correcciones…
(Of course! That’s because “corrections” is feminine, so it’s UNA correction, 1 correction, 2 corrections…)
Actor 2
¡Exacto!
(Exactly!)
4. Intenta correcciones sin interrupciones (Try uninterrupted corrections)
Actor 1
Hoy quiero comer tamalis.
(Today I want to have “tamalis”.)
Actor 2
Es TamalEs, no tamalis.
(It’s TamalEs, not tamalis.)
Actor 1
Eso, salsa verde tamales.
(That’s right, green salsa tamales.)
Actor 2
De hecho, no es “salsa verde tamales”, sino “tamales de salsa verde”.
(Actually, it’s not “salsa green tamales”, but “tamales of green salsa”.)
When you speak to a native and they correct you, that’s interruptive. This kind of correcting makes it hard to keep up with conversations. How do we fix this? Before I tell you… Have you subscribed to the channel and told all friends about Spring Spanish?
a) Written corrections! This technique can be used in person or in videochat. If you practice through video calls, ask your conversation partner to write down your mistakes but in the chat, not live while you speak. If you’re meeting in person, you can ask them to write it down while you speak.
b) Another good way to not interrupt is if your conversation partner “parrots” what you said in the correct way, but it’s actually built in naturally into their speech. Best if I show you what I mean:
Actor 1
Hoy quiero comer tamalis.
(Today I want to have “tamalis”.)
Actor 2
¡Ay, sí tamales! ¡Qué rico!
(Oh, yes tamales! How yummy!)
Actor 1
Sí, ¿verdad? Con este frío, unos salsa verde tamales.
(Right? With this cold weather, some green salsa tamales.)
Actor 2
Sí, a mí también se me antojan unos tamales de salsa verde. También de mole… ¿pedimos?
(Yes, I’m also craving tamales of green salsa. Also mole… should we order them? )
Actor 1
¡Sí! A mi pídeme dos tamales de salsa verde y uno de mole también
(Yes! Get me 2 tamales of green salsa and 1 of mole as well.)
5. Pide un resumen (Ask for a summary)
Once you end your conversation, your conversation partner can make a summary of typical mistakes that you’re making.
Actor 1
Amiga, ¿te puedo pedir un favor enorme?
(Girlfriend, can I ask you for a huge favor?)
Actor 2
Claro que sí.
(Of course.)
Actor 1
¿Será que… puedas anotar los errores que hago? Y ya que terminemos de hablar, ¿me mandas la lista de los errores que hice?
(Would it be possible… that you write down the mistakes I make? And then when we finish talking, send me the list of the mistakes I made?)
Actor 2
¿De todos? No es mala onda, ¡pero son muchos, amiga!
(All of them? I don’t mean to be rude, but it’s a lot of them, girlfriend!)
Actor 1
No, no de todos. Solo de los errores que te des cuenta que hago siempre.
(No, not all of them. Only the mistakes that you notice that I make all the time.)
Actor 2
¡Ah, ok! Por ejemplo, el que acabas de cometer. Siempre dices “hacer un error”. Entiendo lo que quieres decir, pero se dice: “cometer un error”.
(Oh, ok! For example, the one you just made. You always say: “do a mistake”, I understand what you are trying to say, but it’s: “make a mistake”.)
Actor 1
Ok, entonces, como te estaba diciendo, al final de la conversación, me mandas una lista con los errores que más cometí, los que cometo más sistemáticamente.
(Ok, so, as I was saying, at the end of the conversation, send me a list with the mistakes I made, the ones I make most systematically.)
Actor 2
Dale, más claro ni el agua.
(Got it, crystal clear. (lit. clearer than water.))
6. Bonus tip: get corrected in Spanish with ChatGPT
¿Qué tal si no tienes nadie con quien practicar? (What if you don’t have anyone to practice with?) You can use AI to get corrected!
Have you heard of Chat GPT?
¡Puedes chatear con ChatGPT gratis! (You can chat with ChatGPT for free!)
Ask ChatGPT to have a conversation with you about a topic that you like and then ask it to correct you, it’s really good! In the next lesson Maura explains it all.
