I am a recent graduate of the Spanish Power course and I cannot say enough great things about this program and the opportunities that I have had to make friends and strengthen relationships by using my Spanish.  I would like to share some of my learning experiences with the community here at speakspanish.com.  

I have had many great conversations in Spanish with Spanish-speaking people who have been part of my life for many years.  Following Ricardo’s advice, I did not start speaking Spanish right away after beginning the Spanish Power course.  I secretly completed my lessons and worked with my certified tutor / coach twice a week until I reached a level of proficiency that would allow me to have enough structure and vocabulary to speak decently.  You should know that prior to starting Spanish Power I knew some vocabulary (not much), but I did not know anything about structure or how to conjugate the verbs.  My personality type falls a little on the shy side, so I really had to be careful about throwing myself out in front of the world and using my recently acquired skills.  I knew that my shyness could also be a big hurdle in my journey towards speaking Spanish well, so I simply had to remind myself that perfection is not the goal and I will live if I make mistakes.

I had to remind myself of all of my Spanish-speaking friends that were learning English.  I understood them without any problems, and I did not mind at all if they made errors with subject verb agreement, prepositional phrases or pronunciation.  The point is that I understood them and they understood me, and I had a high level of respect for the effort they made to learn a second language.

Since finishing the Spanish Power course I have started talking more and more with my contractors, friends and random people in Spanish.  The people that I have known for years are blown away that I can speak Spanish “so well” as they say.  I had one native Spanish speaker comment on “how well I conjugate the verbs”.  I have learned so much since I began the Spanish Power course and it feels great!  It is fun to watch the faces of my Spanish-speaking friends after we move beyond the typical phrases of ¡Buenos días!  or ¿Cómo está usted?.  I start telling them in Spanish what I am doing later on in the day or I ask them about their weekend and tell them everything that I did over the past weekend.  I tried hard not to let any errors slow me down.  If I could not recall a word, I would incorporate my challenge into the conversation and use my Spanish to ask for assistance or to describe what I was saying in a different way.    

It is interesting to note that my confidence really soared when I talked to the same person a second or third time.  After "breaking the ice" with any particular person, I found that I was focusing on the joy of conversation and not worrying about showing off my skills or slipping up and making a mistake.  That person already knew my capabilities and I was no longer trying to prove anything.  My relaxation really allowed the words to flow and all of the speed developed by working with the paced reading started to show.    

It is very exciting to use my Spanish in a live conversational environment.  All of the information that I have learned in the Spanish Power curriculum is exactly what I need in order to speak Spanish well and not sound overly formal or like a text book.   I went to Spain to visit “mis cuñados” my brother in law and sister in law, and I talked for hours at a conversational rate of speed.  I have not found many activities that allow me to feel a sense of accomplishment like I feel after an exchange of ideas with a native Spanish speaker using my Spanish.  Another example is when we had a temporary employee in our office that knew very little English, and people were having a hard time communicating with her.  You can only imagine how happy she was when I started speaking with her in Spanish.  I quickly became the “office interpreter” and would translate messages from others to her in Spanish.  We talked about many topics that included when I was most busy during the year, when I put together budgets for my properties, where we lived and what we did in our spare time, and we talked about how it can be tough to start working on Monday mornings.  All of the conversations were 100% in Spanish!

I am still making progress and fine tuning (a.k.a polishing) my Spanish, but I know that I speak Spanish very well. The last year and a half of learning Spanish with Spanish Power and the Advanced Conversation (post graduate phase) with my certified tutor (Yvette Flores) were a couple of the best investments (time and money) that I have ever made. 

My advice is to push through the sticking points that you will come across from time to time and you will find that your efforts are rewarded once it all comes together.  Stay in the learning process and once you are at a certain level within the course do not be afraid to get out and talk with other people.  I can say that the most effective component to developing confidence for me was working with my tutor in a “live conversation” environment. The more I talk with other people the less anxious I become at “breaking the ice”.  The frequent conversations allow my self confidence to catch up with all of the Spanish words and Spanish structure that I know like the back of my hand. 

If you follow the directions that Ricardo and your tutor provide, you will know the words and structure extremely well.  It is only a matter of relaxing and letting the words and structure come together.  This has been my personal Spanish learning experience.  

Gracias,   

Dan