In these times of modern digital technology, finding ways to practice Spanish is much easier than most people think if you’re creative and open-minded.
We will use an oral presentation by the NBA All-Star Manu Ginobili to practice your listening and comprehension skills in Spanish.
If you’re wondering something along the lines of: “how my going to use an oral presentation in Spanish to practice, if I can barely understand the language?”.
The answer, subtitles and perseverance.
The idea behind this exercise is that you play, pause and rewind the video several times in order to understand what Mr. Ginobili is saying, using the subtitles in English as a linguistic guideline.
Activating the subtitles on YouTube is easier than you may think. You only have to click on the CC (close caption) icon shown near the bottom right corner of the video player as shown in this image:
So, subtitles ready?
Perseverance ready?
Pen and paper ready? This is very important so you can make notes of the new words and phrases you encounter.
All ready? Here is the video:
Manu Ginobili at TEDxBuenosAires – Ser Distinto (Being Different).
The last step in this exercise is to watch the entire video again without pausing it and without reading the subtitles as much as possible. You’ll notice that understanding what Mr. Ginobili is saying will suddenly be much easier than before.
Ready to watch the video one more time to test your listening and comprehension skills in Spanish?
Here it is…
Manu Ginobili at TEDxBuenosAires – Ser Distinto (Being Different).
Learn common phrases in Spanish here
How did it feel the last time? Was it easier to understand? Please share your experience with us and let us know if you have any questions using the comments section available at the end of the page.
Also, please share this post with your Facebook friends so they can practice your Spanish as well. It is easy! You only have to click on the social buttons available below these lines. Thanks!