Hi. My name’s Elizabeth and I’d like to tell you how I got the idea for Real Spanish.
When I came to live in Barcelona a few years ago, I had already taken quite a few Spanish courses. I had quite a good vocabulary and an intermediate-advanced level of grammar… although I have to confess that my pronunciation was terrible, and still leaves a lot to be desired.
Anyway, I was very disappointed when it came to talking with native speakers. They spoke so fast, and used so many expressions that I didn’t know! And I lacked confidence and fluency.
But one day I caught an episode of a TV series, and I was hooked. The series was really funny and used loads of colloquial language. I began to choose interesting scenes to analyse and study in depth. I watched each scene several times. This really helped with my listening comprehension. Then, with the help of an online dictionary (I recommend it), I made a list of new words and phrases. I learned so many colloquial expressions! I also learned a lot about the history and culture of Spain.
I realised that the same approach could be used to develop online Spanish courses to help other people who, like me, wanted to improve their listening comprehension and their ability to use everyday, colloquial language. And that’s how Real Spanish began.
