speak fluent spanish

Got back from Spain last week, disappointed to say I didn’t try out much Spanish. I managed to go to the chemist and buy some sore throat sweets for my friend but only by reciting phrases learned in class. I was hoping the pharmacist wasn’t going to start responding in a different way to how the class role-play went! Ha ha!

A man came into my work the other day, all the way from Mexico! He just strolled in “Hola, buenos días” and just starting talking in Spanish – and I understood what he was saying and was able to help him out! The only thing was; I think all I said to him was “Sí” and “Gracias” Oh and I was able to tell him how much it cost. WHY CAN’T I SPEAK MORE!!! It’s so annoying! It’s like I get a block, I understand the words when I hear them but I can’t for the life of me remember them when I want to say them! Is this normal?

I’m going to Spain tomorrow! Hooray! But of all the regions in Spain, my friend had to have a villa in Catalonia. I’m learnig Castillian Spanish and there they speak Catalán! I’ve heard that they can be really arrogant about the language and pretend that they don’t understand anything but Catalán. I’m already nervous about trying it out so if they just look blankly at me or just say they don’t know what I’m saying, I’m never going to try it again!

I’ve completed night school Spanish levels one and two and enrolled for GCSE Spanish, which starts next month. The problem is I feel I am OK with reading and writing, not too bad at listening, but speaking it I am rubbish! I find it hard to think about what to say and to form sentences. The lessons I’ve had really only cover the grammar etc and not enough conversation. Hopefully GCSE will be good. I guess I need to go to Spain and chuck myself in at the deep end!