What's the difference between a social butterfly and a person that doesn't get noticed?When it comes to Spanish learners, it's finding every possible way to practice Spanish conversation skills. The reason is simple. Like learning how to shoot a basketball, one must not only practice, but they must find new and creative ways to mix it up. Perhaps it's shooting with one hand or shooting a 3-pointer versus a close-up.The same rule applies for weight lifting. When you work out using the same exercise, and the same weight, your muscle naturally stops growing because it's not being challenged. It's only when you confuse your muscle with a new exercise that it results in growth.Bringing this back to learning how to speak Spanish, we need to mix up as many different Spanish conversation practice methods to challenge our mind. Here's an example of what the learning curve looks like when we learn a new skill.

12 Brilliant Tips to Practice Spanish Conversation (And How to Start Them)

To help you minimize this down curve, we're going to share some creative ways to practice your Spanish conversation skills.

1. Find a specific niche you want to master

Why are you learning Spanish? Is it to advance your professional career? Or perhaps it's because you love traveling to Spanish speaking countries. Whatever the reason may be, your best use of time is mastering the niche you're going after. There's not a great deal of value in learning Spanish for travel, when you only plan to use it for business.

2. Listen to the news or podcasts in Spanish

Luckily for us, there are tons of free Spanish learning resources online that you can immerse yourself in. We personally recommend audio formats so that you can be doing something else while you learn. This is why podcasts are so popular today, since you can be doing laundry, working out, or taking your dog for walk.Some resources we recommend are News in Slow Spanish and Espanolistos.

3. Do your daily journal in Spanish (and read it outloud)

Do you journal regularly? Even if you don't we would encourage you to make it a habit. Research shows that improving one's writing communication skills can transfer to oral skills. When we can be clear and articular in the way we write, we can also improve how we comunicate by speech.If you're looking for tips on habit building, we wrote an article on how to make a habit stick.

4. Book a lesson with different teachers on Rype

Of course the easiest way to improve your speaking skills is to actually speak it with someone. On Rype's platform, we have hundreds of handpicked Spanish teachers ready to help you practice your conversation skills. The difference between a professional and a random native Spanish speaker, is that the teacher can give you constructive feedback and guide you to make improvements faster.They're also professionals who have already worked with thousands of students just like you, so they know the blueprint to help you go from beginner to conversation fluent.

5. Record yourself speaking Spanish

Another way to practice your speaking skills in Spanish is to record yourself outloud. This may feel a bit awkward at first, but as long as you're doing it in a private setting, you'll quickly become accustomed to it. Try finding an article written in Spanish or repeat anything that you've learned previoulsy with your Spanish tutor.

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6. Watch Netflix with Spanish audio (and repeat it to yourself)

If you prefer to kill two birds with one stone, you can watch your favorite Netflix series in Spanish, and try repeating what the actors are saying outloud. For this scenario, we recommend watching a show or movie with actual Spanish speaking actors, instead of an English movie with Spanish dubbed audio.May we suggest Narcos?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNWAKZzgbp4

7. Attend local language exchanges

Wherever you are (as long as it's not an Amazon jungle), you'll have local language exchanges that you can find. This is a great opportunity to not only meet new people who are also language learners, but a safe environment to speak your target language. You'll find native Spanish speakers or fellow Spanish learners at these exchanges to practice with.Ideally, you can develop a strong enough relationship so that you can meet outside the event and practice on your own time.Check out Couch Surfing Events, Meetup.com, and Eventbrite to see language exchanges near you.

8. Or if you're too busy, find an online language exchange

The other, perhaps more convenient way to do this is through a language exchange. These are online networks, where you can find people who are looking to learn your native language, and can speak your target language. This allows for a mutual exchange such that 50% of the time you're teaching your native language, and the other 50% of the time, they're teaching you their native language.The only downside with these language exchanges are that they're mostly written. Which means you don't get the live, in-person, and oral practice that's necessary to practice your Spanish conversation skills.

9. Browse the Internet forums in Spanish

You can be with the hundreds of millions of Spanish speakers around he world, there are dedicated forums in Spanish for just about anything. You can browse reddit, gaming forums, or business groups online that are solely in Spanish.We encourage you to interact with these forums instead of just observing as a lurker, so that you're immersing yourself as much as possible.

10. Book your next trip to a Spanish speaking country

Not everyone will have this luxury, so we won't make this a necessary requirement. However, there is nothing that beats actually being in the country that are full of native Spanish speakers. You'll not only get unlimited access to practice your Spanish conversation skills, but you'll be surrounded by the culture as well.As you start to meet more people, you can take advantage of building genuine relationships which will allow you to find a language exchange partner, even when you leave. It'll feel much more authentic and will last longer than a random language partner you meet at an event or online.

11. Watch Spanish gamers (and listen to their hilarious swear words)

If you love to game or watch gamers, why not be entertained as you learn Spanish? This type of Spanish used by game streamers are likely more informal and casual (sometimes with profanity), and not likely professional.Take for example, elrubiusOMG, a Spanish gamer who streams live on Twitch and YouTube as he plays Fortnite.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4CF5pruJz4

12. Learn the most common Spanish conversation topics and starters

It's likely that around 50% of the time, we will be initiating the conversation with another person. Whether that's asking for directions, ordering at a restaurant, or approaching someone at an event. This is where conversation starters come in handy. Some would say, you could coast the majority of your conversations just by learning how to start a conversation in Spanish. The reason is, people love to talk, and you just need to be a great listener. In fact, most people would love conversing with you than anyone else!With that said, we've got a collection of the best conversation starters here for you.

Most Common Spanish Conversation Starters to Survive Any Situation

From starting conversations at a language exchange to talking about your favorite places to travel, enjoy these top Spanish conversation starters.

Languages

 
• What languages do you speak? - ¿Qué idiomas hablas?
 
• What language(s) do people speak in your country? - ¿Qué idiomas hablan las personas en su país?
 
• What language(s) are you learning? Why? - ¿Qué idioma (s) está aprendiendo? ¿Por qué?

Career

 
• Where do you work? - ¿Dónde trabajas?
 
• What do you do? Describe a typical day - ¿A qué te dedicas? Describa un día típico
 
• What's the best thing about your job? - ¿Qué es lo mejor de tu trabajo?

Family

 
• Describe your family members - Describa a los miembros de su familia
 
• Do you have any children? - ¿Tienes hijos?
 
• Would you like to have children? - ¿Te gustaría tener hijos?

Animals

 
• Do you have any pets? - ¿Tienes mascotas?
 
• Did you have any pets as a child? - ¿Tenía usted mascotas de niño?
 
• What's your favourite animal? - ¿Cuál es tu animal favorito?

Health

 
• What do you do to take care of your health? - ¿Qué hace usted para cuidar de su salud?
 
• Do you have any bad habits? - ¿Tienes malos hábitos?
 
• Do you think that people in general are healthy now? - ¿Crees que la gente en general está sana ahora?

Your Region

 
• What's the best thing about your country? - ¿Qué es lo mejor de tu país?
 
• If I were coming to visit you for a week, what would we do and see? - Si venía a visitarte por una semana, ¿qué íbamos a hacer y ver?
 
• Do you live in a big city or a small town? - ¿Vives en una ciudad grande o en un pueblo pequeño?
 
• Do you have any favourite places? - ¿Tienes algún lugar favorito?

Books

 
• Do you like to read? - ¿Te gusta leer?
 
• What kind of books do you like to read? - ¿Qué tipo de libros te gusta leer?
 
• Do you have a favourite book? - ¿Tienes un libro favorito?

Food

 
• What's your favourite food? - ¿Cuál es tu comida favorita?
 
• Is there anything that you can't stand to eat? - ¿Hay algo que no soportes para comer?
 
• Do you like to cook? - ¿Gustar cocinar?
 
• If you were preparing a special meal for someone, what would it be? - Si estuvieras preparando una comida especial para alguien, ¿cuál sería?

Travel

 
• What was your best / worst travel experience? - ¿Cuál fue su mejor/peor experiencia de viaje?
 
• If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go? - Si pudieras ir a cualquier parte del mundo, ¿adónde irás?
 
• Is there a place that you wouldn't want to visit? - ¿Hay algún lugar que no quieras visitar?
 
• Have you ever lived in another country? - ¿Alguna vez has vivido en otro país?

Goals

 
• What are some goals that you've made in the past? - ¿Cuáles son algunas de las metas que has hecho en el pasado?
 
• What would you like to achieve in the next month? Five years? - ¿Qué te gustaría conseguir en el próximo mes? ¿Cinco años?
 
• Have you ever failed to achieve a goal? - ¿Alguna vez has fallado en lograr una meta?
 
• Do you prefer short term or long term goals? - ¿Prefieres objetivos a corto o a largo plazo?
 
• What are you working on right now? - ¿En qué estás trabajando ahora mismo?

If you want to full list of over 100+ conversation starters that you can use in Spanish, we created this document for you.We hope this ultimate guide to practice your Spanish conversation skills was useful.Now go out and start practing your Spanish!