But, what does “fluent” even mean?

According to the dictionary, FLUENCY is about expressing oneself easily, articulately and effortlessly in Spanish.

And yet, being fluent in Spanish means something different for each person depending on their needs. So, shifting from being fluent to being in a state of flow in Spanish is an interesting move.

Being in flow in Spanish translates into not being hesitant in using your words and expressing your message confidently in Spanish. The key here is confidently, for the relationship between flow and confidence is close. One can’t be in a state of flow if your confidence is low. And on the contrary, when one is in flow your confidence will be boosted.

La confianza

If you have been studying Spanish for a while, you are probably able to have a conversation and communicate your message across. The challenge is not using words as it is to use them in a way that reveals our personality (I’ve had students with a great senses of humour in their mother language whose wittiness would never be shown when having conversations in Spanish) and to express your true self by using the words you would use in your mother language or conveying the quirks that make your speech unique in your mother language when speaking in Spanish.

This ability has nothing to do with the amount of vocabulary you can understand when reading a text or listening to the radio. It has nothing to do with how well you can do when asked to do grammar exercises and given time to think about the answers. 

Showing who you really are in Spanish is not about imitating or repeating like a parrot, it’s about finding your personality and quirks in the target language, and to confidently express them without feeling unnatural or rehearsed.

It’s not about putting the “Spanish mask” on but showing yourself through Spanish.

In order to achieve this we need to work on three fronts:

▴ T H E  target language ▴

▴ Your  C O N F I D E N C E ▴

▴ Y O U R  target language (finding who you are in the target language) ▴

You are probably focusing mostly in number one. Spending your time with lessons or learning materials and apps. And yes, knowing the language is at the base of the process but is only the first stage. Without working on your confidence and on building your own personal language / speech, you will never reach the level of fluency in which your own personality transpires with every sentence.

“I don’t have the right words”, “I struggle to find the right tense”, “I make so many mistakes”, “people ask me to repeat because my pronunciation is not clear”, “I have to think and then translate in my head first, and that slows the conversation”, “my accuracy diminishes when I am in a conversation”, “all my grammar knowledge doesn’t show when I speak”…

If any of these sentences has crossed your mind, then there is a block around self – efficacy (your belief in your ability to succeed or accomplish a goal) and / or a disconnect between your brain and your heart.

Going from being able to speak in Spanish to actually being able to show your real character as well as being accurate and able to express nuances in Spanish is another level. A level that many students get stuck on.

What can you do to bridge that gap?

First of all it is important to understand why this bridge exists. The reason behind it is that the knowledge is not internalised or assimilated so it only lives in your brain. The gap between the brain knowledge and the knowledge that lives in your body (the knowledge you express without thinking) at a cellular level. This is where the magic happens.

3 thing you can do to bridge the gap between the Spanish you know and the Spanish you Speak

✔︎ Create immersion day in Spanish. How? You need to prepare a bit in advance but creating an immersion day is easier than you think.

· Set a date in the diary.

· Research radio or TV shows in Spanish, podcast and books. All Spanish!

· Start your day with some Spanish radio maybe, or a morning meditation in Spanish.

· Self-talk is a must! Prepare your breakfast, lunch, dinner while chatting to yourself in Spanish.

· Commuting to work? Perfect! Time to continue listening to Spanish podcasts, music (Spanish playlist in Spotify), radio…

· Social media in Spanish. Follow your Spanish inspo profiles.

· Maybe you could schedule some conversations with other Spanish learners or your Spanish teacher? If there is a Spanish conversation Meetup in town, syncy your Spanish immersion day with their meeting!

· Any Spanish restaurant or tapas bar in your city? Go there for dinner!

· At the end of the day, you can watch a movie in Spanish, spend some time reading in Spanish (newspapers, books…)

· Maybe end the day with journaling, in Spanish, claro.

✔︎ Get introspective. Journaling in Spanish is a great practise to get to know yourself in the target language so that you can express that with more ease.

✔︎ Connect your hobbies with Spanish. For example, you like to do yoga, can you find yoga videos in Spanish and do yoga in Spanish? You like singing, can you practise in Spanish? You like dancing, can you find dancing lessons in Spanish?