I studied Spanish for five years in junior high and high school. At the time, nearly all of my friends were from Spanish-speaking homes so I was able to practice the language regularly. I became mostly fluent. However, I graduated from high school over ten years ago and I have failed to realy practice my Spanish since that time. I keep trying to find new ways to practice it but nothing’s worked consistently so far. I am hoping that I just stumbled across the answer – perhaps I can use Twitter to practice my Spanish.

The problem with practicing is that I don’t do it regularly right now. I occasionally read books that are in Spanish with English translations. I sometimes watch movies in Spanish. Every once in awhile I’ll check out a Spanish class or group but then fail to follow through with it. I guess the truth is that I’m not committed enough to keeping up with my Spanish to consistently study and practice it.

However, I miss the Spanish language. I love Spanish. I think that there are some things that you can only really say in Spanish because the English equivalent doesn’t express the same type of emotion. And I don’t want to lose my Spanish. I’m actually surprised at how much I’ve retained over the years without too much practice and I know that it’s only a matter of time before I lose it all. As it stands now, my vocabulary is pretty good but my ability to conjugate verbs or speak in the correct tense is almost non-existent.

Enter Twitter. It occurred to me today that I could probably stick to a schedule of daily Spanish practice if I did it through Twitter. The short 140 character DM messages allowed by Twitter keep it concise enough that I can mostly understand what’s been said and I can respond promptly without much hassle. I have already found a few friends on Twitter that I can exchange thoughts with in Spanish. I would love to find some more!

Find me on Twitter @KathrynVercillo and send me a message en espanol!

Tags: languages, practice spanish on twitter, spanish, twitter spanish