Why making mistakes is the best thing that can happen to your Spanish
Making mistakes. It’s something that many of us learning a second language hate to do. We don’t want to sound stupid, or worse, seem stupid. For many of us, we grow up receiving a mixed message from our parents, our teachers and basically our society, and that message is: Making mistakes are a fact of life but we should avoid making them at all costs.
Most of us can’t help it. We want to be perfect. When speaking Spanish, we want to speak it as fluently as we speak English (or French, German, Dutch, Japanese) or whatever our first language is. But the truth is is that we’ll never get to that level of fluency until we risk something and that means looking and sounding like an idiot from time to time.
Once at a party in Madrid, I was talking to a new mom about her baby and I kept saying pañuelos when I should’ve been saying pañales. Finally the mom, unable to take it anymore, said to me in Spanish, “Quieres decir pañales.” ¡Qué vergueñza! (How embarrassing!) But that one experience cemented in my brain the two words and I know I will never use them incorrectly again.
Don’t beat yourself up if you don’t have the precise vocabulary to express what you’re thinking. Talk around it or talk through it and use the vocabulary you already have. Let’s say you’re telling a Spanish-speaking friend about your job. In the middle of recounting the story, you suddenly realize you forget how to say the word “boss” in Spanish. Instead of freezing, keep going and talk your way through it. Although you may not know or remember the exact word for boss (jefe), you probably know how to say “la persona para quien trabajo.” Hey, it’s not concise but it gets the job done!
So the next time you feel the urge to zip it when you’re not 100% sure how to say something in Spanish, déjate llevar (go with the flow), and go ahead and say what’s on the tip of your tongue. It may be that you’re not as far off base as you think. And in the worst case scenario you make a mistake, but you will definitely learn from the experience, even if it is something as simple as the difference between a scarf (pañuelo) and a diaper (pañal). 
Have you ever made a whopper of a mistake in Spanish? What was it? Do you get uptight about making mistakes when speaking Spanish? What helps you get past that anxiety? Tell us your story in the comments section below.
-by Eleena de Lisser
Eleena also writes about the Spanish language at her bilingual blog “Voices en Español.”
Tags: becoming fluent in spanish, how to learn a foreign language, learn spanish, making mistakes in spanish
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I began sending email a LONG time before I was brave enough to think about speaking. But then, I had such a horrible mistake happen that I thought, “what could be worse than that?” I was corresponding with a musician in Madrid who was kind enough to agree to help me. I am a very “visual” writer so while sending him a message about a subject that I was meeting with a little dread, I used the word “gemido” to signify a groan. I’m sure it was after he stopped laughing 2 days later that he corrected my use of the word with an explanation that assured him that I would not be using it again!
Hey Dawn,
Don’t leave us hanging like that…what exactly was wrong with using the word “gemido” in the context? Because “gemido” does mean a groan or a whine in Spanish, so I’m not clear on where the problem is. From your message, I’m reading between the lines and I think I know where the misunderstanding was but can you elaborate on what the Spanish guy’s explanation was? Enquiring minds want to know.
Sorry, wasn’t wanting to offend anyone but didn’t realize that I was being mysterious! He told me that it was a sound used during sex so, in the context of an email, it could be interpreted differently.
Dawn,
I thought it might be something related to sex but wasn’t sure. Thanks for elaborating!
No offense taken.
Oh. Sometimes I cannot even talk around. My vocabulary is so insufficient.
Ziv,
I’ve been there. Any of us who weren’t born into a Spanish-speaking environment had to start from zero. And it’s tough. Really tough. I used to get so tongue tied just buying a newspaper or a bottle of water from the newstand!
I know it sounds like a cliché but just take your Spanish learning process one step at a time.
What are your interests? What do you like to talk about in English (or whatever your native language may be)? What foods do you like to eat? What’s a typical day like for you?
Start building your Spanish vocabulary in areas that you enjoy talking about in English (or your native language). Work first on remembering (and using) simple words and phrases and build from there. Don’t worry about not having a big vocabulary. If you know a few basic verbs and some general nouns, you can carry on a basic everyday conversation with almost anyone.
In a future entry I will talk more about ways to build one’s vocabulary, but this will give you some ideas to start with.
Hang in there!