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⚠️ NOTE: This email is part of our email series for our New Year’s 2021 enrollment of the Become a Spanish Speaker workshop. Enrollment will be open between Wednesday Jan 6 through 11:59pm Sunday Jan 10 EST.
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When should you start trying to actually speak Spanish?
Most people RUSH into speaking Spanish too soon without knowing it…
And they destroy their chances at ever being able to sound authentic when they speak.
I’ll explain why this happens in a second…
But first, you should know what I mean by “speaking”…
I mean actually conversing with other people.
Talking to yourself doesn’t count as rushing to speak.
But trying to chat with other people too early can really hinder your progress.
If that has ever happened to you, it’s most likely not your fault.
I remember being in Spanish 1 during middle school…
And the teacher had us trying to talk to each other and with her in Spanish from day one.
She didn’t realize (like most teachers and students) that trying to speak Spanish too early with others—before you are comfortable—negatively affects your confidence.
And as I’ll show you tomorrow…
Research has confirmed that 3 things lead to higher success in acquiring Spanish…
#1 – Motivation…
#2 – Self-confidence…
#3 – Low anxiety…
You see, being forced to speak Spanish with others too soon will lead to a decrease in motivation, self-confidence, and an increase in anxiety…
And when those things happen, it has been proven that you will fall back on your first language rules…
This is probably why you can’t shed that “gringo-ish” accent.
Long story short, speaking Spanish too soon leads to the complete opposite effect of what you need to become fluent and is a massive recipe for disaster.
But don’t get discouraged… because this problem is easy to solve.
Here’s how:
Silence.
Seriously…
Don’t be afraid of the “silent period.”
This is a phenomenon that is most noticeable when a child is learning a language.
For example, I have a godson that is 3 years old and has finally started speaking.
He spent almost a year understanding what we were saying but not saying a word.
We didn’t rush him to speak.
But instead, we allowed him to go at his own pace.
What was he doing?
He was consuming more and more comprehensible input until the point where he felt comfortable speaking.
Now we can’t shut him up…
And he’s definitely not afraid of making mistakes.
Oh, and guess what…
We haven’t taught him a single grammar rule…
In fact, if we were to ask him how to conjugate a verb…
He’d probably look at us clueless.
But guess what?
He can put together sentences almost perfectly.
Now I know what you’re thinking…
Kids learn differently than adults.
While that may be true… we don’t ACQUIRE languages differently.
So in our Become a Spanish Speaker workshop, I won’t force you to speak Spanish with others.
To be honest, most people aren’t even at that stage yet.
But this is nothing to be ashamed of.
In fact, by delaying your speaking, you will speed up your results.
Go figure.
Anyway, just wanted to drop that little nugget on you.
This is something I’ll be covering much more in our workshop.
I know it will change your life as I plan to pour everything I have into it.
Whether you enroll in this first live cohort or the next one we hold (not sure if there will be another one this year or not), you’re in for a treat.
If this resonates with you, join us on this journey live.
Click here to enroll in the Become a Spanish Speaker Workshop.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask them in our comments section.
Rocky
P.S. Reminder — enrollment for the Become a Spanish Speaker Workshop will close at midnight EST Sunday, Jan 10.
I do plan to have another workshop sometime in the future. But not sure when it will be.