When learning Spanish in South America, practicing with native speakers is key. After all, why bother traveling to a foreign country if you’re not going to interact with the locals?
One major hurdle to get past is the fear of getting lost during the conversation. A native speaker doesn’t have access to a copy of your vocab list, and they will definitely use words that you’ve never heard before. Don’t panic! Here are some tips for getting through a conversation peppered with brand new vocab and phrases.
1. Use context. For example, if you’re talking to someone about plátanos at the market and they suddenly start spouting off a whole bunch of words you’ve never heard before while pointing around the rest of their stall, you can be pretty sure they’re naming more fruits.
2.Look for non-verbal clues. Carefully observing people’s facial expressions, body language, and gestures while speaking can help you get a sense of what kind of message they want to convey and how they feel about it.
3. Ask for clarification, but only for IMPORTANT words. As you practice this, you’ll develop a sense for which words are vital to the meaning of the conversation and which can be glossed over. You probably do this in your native language all the time, like when you’re on the phone with a bad connection and you miss a word here and there. If you ask the meaning of every word, the person you’re speaking with will probably get annoyed.
This article from Benny the Irish Polyglot does a great job of describing the process of getting through a conversation with basic language skills and small vocabulary. In his case, it was a conversation with an Egyptian-American after just 2 months of Arabic study!