Conversational Spanish vs. Mature Spanish: Tips for Improving Advanced Vocabulary

Conversational Spanish vs. Mature Spanish

My girlfriend and I were discussing our language abilities and we stumbled upon something interesting.

Here's the context: my girlfriend can speak Spanish fluently and English fluently, while I can speak Spanish fluently and English fluently. However, her English is fluent, but not mature, and my Spanish is fluent, but not mature. By "mature," we mean advanced active vocabulary. She understands that her English advanced vocabulary is not as deep as her Spanish advanced vocabulary. We both understand that our second language levels are not up to par with our native language levels, which is normal. This is something that we often hear people discussing - how to make the "next jump" from upper intermediate to advanced. If you dropped me in the middle of Bogota, Colombia, and told me to get back home, I would have no problem communicating my way back. However, if you asked me to give a presentation using slick language and clever puns, I would stumble a bit. Why? Because I don't have as much experience with the language. My girlfriend also doesn't have as much experience with English. That's why we say we don't have mature vocabulary banks.

We often run into this issue while casually talking and one of us gets stuck - we know what we want to say, but we realize we've never used the word before. For example, I was telling my girlfriend about how I dislocated my ankle over the weekend while playing basketball. When I got to the word "dislocate," I realized I'd never used it before in Spanish. Even though I've lived in Colombia and speak Spanish at home, I had never used the word "dislocate" in my entire time learning Spanish. It happens all the time - you don't realize you don't know a word until you have to use it.

So, how do you become better at recognizing and using these unknown words?

1. You have to converse to open up these holes: Find someone to have a conversation with in Spanish so you can realize the words you don't know. Speak just like you would in English. Don't try to dumb down your language to make it more fluid - take that uncertainty head on and try to figure out the word you were going to use in English, and use and learn it in Spanish.

2. Actively try to use the advanced vocab you know in English: In middle school English, we all learned to say "I'm doing stupendous" instead of "I'm doing fine." It's the same in Spanish - don't be a coward and use basic words. Broaden your vocabulary. You're an adult now, so congrats!

3. Never, never, never be afraid to make mistakes: This is advice you'll always hear in every language learning app, website, YouTube video, etc. It's repeated so often because it's true. Even if you're afraid to make mistakes, make them with fear, but learn from them. That's the important part. Be afraid, be timid, be shy, be nervous, be whatever. The important part is that you make the mistake and learn from them.

4. Look for the pattern: There is a pattern with conjugating verbs, guessing words from English to Spanish, and even the subjunctive. Once you find the pattern in the language, it generally holds true. You just have to find it.