Hola chic@s,

After speaking to hundreds of Spanish learners over the years, I’ve realised something.

Almost everyone believes the same lie.

“I’ll start speaking Spanish once I know enough.”

Even after all these years of practice, I still freeze up in conversation.

The difference is I no longer expect the uncomfortable feelings to disappear.

I’ve learned to work with them, rather than fight against them.



Becoming comfortable looking silly

We often tell ourselves ‘I should be better at speaking than this.’

The obsession with ‘fluency’ in our culture is often the thing that blocks us from getting out there and making as many mistakes as possible in the wild.

You actually have to embrace being a fool and not fight against it.

Lean into the uncomfortable feeling and try and find some humour in it.

Fighting the feelings of shame and embarrassment only makes it worse.

The other beautiful thing about this is once you fully expect this to happen, you can let go of the opinions of others and not give a f*** about what they think of you.

True freedom.



What to do in the moment itself

Someone just asks you a question, your mind goes blank and your heart starts racing.

Here are two little gems 💎 that have helped me over the years.

They won’t teach you this in the textbooks.



Gem #1 💎

We want to buy you a bit of time to relax in the heat of the moment.

My absolute go to (still to this day), is to use these little things called filler words.

Pues = Well
🗣️ PWEHS

Bueno = Well
🗣️ BWENOH

So whenever someone asks you a question in Spanish you can start by saying either ‘pues’ or ‘bueno’ to buy yourself a bit of time while you think of a response.

Someone asks:

¿Cómo estás?

Instead of panicking…

Say:

Pues… Estoy bien (Well, I’m good)

That tiny ‘pues’ buys your brain a couple of extra seconds.

It sounds natural and it slows the conversation down.

Suddenly you’re back in control.

Ridiculously effective.



Gem #2 💎

This one came from an old mentor of mine.

It sounds almost too simple and it shouldn’t work, but it does.

Press your thumb and forefinger together with your dominant hand.

Now notice your feet on the ground and take one slow breath.

That’s it.

You’re reminding your nervous system that you’re safe.

I use this technique whenever I feel a bit of panic creeping in during conversation.

People don’t even notice.

(Keep this one to yourself 😉)



There we go chic@s.

The opposite of freezing isn’t perfect Spanish.

It’s self-control.

So the next time you freeze, don’t take it as proof that your Spanish isn’t good enough.

Take it as proof that you’re exactly where growth happens.

Smile, say ‘pues’, touch your thumb and finger together and keep talking.


Un abrazo,
Harrison

Spanish for living, not just learning


P.S - I’ve created a free guide on Spanish Filler Words, with plenty of example scenarios. Grab it here.