Mónica Bernabé Pérez

Years of classes, good grades… and you still can’t hold a conversation in Spanish. Why “ready” never comes, and how to start speaking now. A teacher’s story.

You build the sentence in English, translate it, check the grammar… and the conversation is gone. 6 ways to stop translating and start thinking in Spanish.

Understand Spanish but nothing comes out? 7 ways to practice speaking Spanish alone, out loud, in 10 minutes a day. A Madrid teacher’s method, with phrases.

Quick answer: you can understand Spanish but not speak it because understanding and speaking are two different skills. Listening and reading train recognition: you see or hear a word and know it. Speaking needs retrieval: finding that word in a second, with no clues, while someone is waiting. Add the fear of making mistakes and

Quick answer: your first week in Madrid is all about cita previa (appointments), the padrón (registering your address at the town hall), finding a piso (flat) and dealing with your casero (landlord). Key phrases: “Quería pedir cita previa”, “Vengo a empadronarme” and “¿Me lo puede repetir más despacio?” Moving to Madrid is exciting. Then you

Quick answer: Spain and Mexico speak the same language, but many everyday words change: a car is coche in Spain and carro in Mexico, a phone is móvil vs celular, juice is zumo vs jugo. And a few innocent words in Spain, like coger, are vulgar in Mexico. It’s the classic story every Spaniard in

Quick answer: Narcos is full of Colombian slang from Medellín (paisa Spanish). Parce / parcero means buddy, gonorrea is a terrible person, hijueputa is “son of a b****” (sometimes even friendly), sapo is a snitch and plata o plomo means “silver or lead”: take the bribe or take a bullet. Millions of people learned their

Quick answer: the Madrid slang you’ll hear first is mola (it’s cool), flipar (to be amazed), tío/tía (dude), guay (cool), currar (to work), pasta (money), quedar (to meet up) and ni de coña (no way). You studied Spanish for years. Then two madrileños start talking at the next table and you understand… “tío”. That’s it.

Quick answer: vale means “OK” in Spain. Spaniards use it to agree (“Vale, nos vemos a las 8”), to check you understood (“¿Vale?”), and to end a conversation (“Venga, vale”). It comes from the verb valer (to be worth), which also gives “¿Cuánto vale?” (How much is it?). Spend one day in Madrid and count

Quick answer: the main coffees in Spain are café solo (espresso), cortado (espresso with a dash of milk) and café con leche (half coffee, half hot milk). To order, say “¿Me pones un café con leche?” In summer, ask for a café con hielo and you’ll get your coffee plus a glass of ice. Ask