Idiomatic Spanish - best resources?

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Cavesa
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Re: Idiomatic Spanish - best resources?

Postby Cavesa » Thu Apr 27, 2017 9:24 am

eastallegheny wrote:I'm at a stage in my Spanish where, armed with a dictionary and the knowledge of grammar I have, I can get my point across (even if it isn't exactly pretty). What I'd really love to do is start learning some Spanish idioms, those phrases and sayings that don't translate word for word. Often I find that the English version of what I want to say is idiomatic, and that makes me think that translating it literally wouldn't exactly work.

A prime example is "don't get me started". I'd love to be able to say that in Spanish, but I just know that a literal translation would be clunky and wrong in Spanish... right?

I have googled, but honestly, I take those sorts of search results with a pinch of salt. I'd rather hear the answer from a native speaker or someone who has actually spent enough time in a Spanish speaking country to know for sure :)

Thanks in advance!
eastallegheny


Welcome to the forum!

You seem to be ready (and need!) huge amounts of natural input. Look at our Super Challenge for inspiration. Basically, tons of books, tv series, movies, websites, podcasts, and other stuff should help you. Both by immersion, and by noting down such expressions (if you find this more efficient for you).

The key is sticking to 3 main points. Just like in fairy tales. Three conditions.
1.The amount. You don't need to dissect the input "just" being immersed works. But you need to spend hundreds and hours on it. Hundreds and Hundreds.
2.Have fun. That is the only way to stick to it for long enough. And brain tends to defend itself much less against fun than against studying :-)
3.Choose appropriate stuff. The level (dubbed series tend to be easier for start, light genres are usually easier than serious drama), content (for your purpose, classics may not be the wisest choice), and your personal interests.

Some examples: translated books like Harry Potter or the Sookie Stackhouse novels contain lots of colloquial speech you hear the natives use and are very intermediate friendly (I have read both in Spanish and can recommend them, unlike some other translations). Tv series like Cuentame como paso are awesome too, vast majority of this series are normal people talking to each other.

How to look for various expressions:
-It is tricky to ask "How do I say ..... in Spanish?", it really depends on your source. Some results you get out of google are great, some are not. Sure, you can ask natives on various forums, but that is a bit more time consuming.
-It is easier to first find it in Spanish and look up the meaning (as the English is more likely to be wrong in this direction and you already know it well enough to tell). It is often better to not know there is a better colloquial way to say something, than to invent new and wrong stuff.
-You can use colloquialism dictionaries too, Emk mentioned some. But I would like to warn against blindly learning colloquialism from such a dictionary, or from internet lists like "10 things to say, if you want to sound native". However, such dictionaries are great, if you are reading or watching something, catch a nice phrase, cannot write it down, and later just look it up based on one word and context. It saves time.

!Do not trust Google translate!!!! It is good for looking up individual words (but there are better dictionaries), the neanderthelian translations can serve in some situations and some language combinations, but asking it how to say stuff nicely and naturally and correctly is not the best course of action.

However, I'd say the first thing I suggested will serve you much more in the long run. You are quite likely to encounter all the usual combinations, if you put in enough time with the right sources. I find this much more efficient than just making up stuff to ask people about, or to ask native "teach me a few colloquialisms, please". This last way is actually quite popular, but the native in question is likely to give you a very incomplete chaos of stuff, or simply ridiculous stuff they consider to be interesting or funny, not necessarily useful.
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