Speak to the Right People and Learn Spanish (Part I)

I mentioned before that when you take Spanish lessons it is a good idea to speak to people who don’t speak it as their mother tongue. However, I have been thinking lately and come to the conclusion that you can also find the right kind of native speakers as well if you try.

Someone with a Good Vocabulary and Decent Grammar

I had started to learn Spanish verb tenses and asked someone the difference between “hablé” and “hablaba”. He told me that if someone asked me a question with “hablaste” in it I would answer “hable” and if it was “hablabas” then I should respond with “hablaba”. When I asked which I should use when I want to ask a question he said that it was best if I didn’t ask the question, which I took as meaning that he couldn’t explain it to me. It took me another few months to fully learn the tenses but someone who has a good grasp of their own language should have been able to explain it to me really quickly.