Spanish Conversation Practice: Top 5 Resources to Speak Spanish Like an Absolute Pro
If you want to be fluent in Spanish, you must practice your Spanish conversation skills.
Of course, this can be hard to do with Spanish books alone.
But luckily, there are many Spanish conversation practice resources that you can find online, from Spanish conversation practice worksheets to your own conversation partner.
For example, if you’d like to listen to the best chunks instead of reading them out loud, check out this video from Spring Languages (of which I’m a co-founder).
Here are some of the best tips to improve your basic conversation skills quickly and easily.
1. Spanish Language Exchange Apps to Practice Speaking
There are several apps to practice Spanish conversation out there.
Tandem is one of them. What makes it special is that it is not just another language-learning app but a language-exchange app.
This means that it allows you to talk to native speakers directly.
This way, you can practice speaking the language online with a conversation partner from any Spanish-speaking country. You can also start learning new words or phrases that don’t appear in Spanish books.
Or!
Enhance your listening and speaking skills, and perhaps make some friends, too!
Similar options include HelloTalk and Speaky, where you can chat or video call native Spanish speakers from different regions.
2. Spanish Conversation Starters for Beginners and Intermediate Learners
One way to practice and test your conversation skills by yourself is by learning basic words and phrases or vocabulary on your own and trying to develop a conversation based on them.
To help you with this task, here’s a list of Spanish conversation starters and their possible answers.
Spanish conversation starters + Possible responses
Spanish conversation starters | How to respond to them |
---|---|
Hola, ¿qué tal? ¿Cómo estás? (Hello, how are you?) | Bien, ¿y tú? (I’m fine, and you?) |
¿Cómo ha estado tu día? (How has your day been?) | Bien, ¿y el tuyo? (Fine, and yours?) |
¿Qué has estado haciendo últimamente? (What have you been up to lately?) | He estado trabajando mucho, ¿y tú? (I’ve been working a lot, and you?) |
¿Tienes algún plan para el fin de semana? (Do you have any plans for the weekend?) | No, tal vez sólo me relaje y vea algunas películas, ¿y tú? (No, maybe I’ll just relax and watch some movies, and you?) |
¿Qué vas a hacer más tarde? (What are you going to do later?) | Voy a ir a un bar con un amigo, ¿quieres venir? (I’m going to go to a bar with a friend, do you want to come?) |
¿En qué estás trabajando ahora? (What do you do for a living now?) | Estoy trabajando en un banco, ¿y tú? (I’m working at a bank) |
¿Tienes novio o novia? (Do you have a girlfriend or boyfriend?) | No, todavía no. (No, not yet). |
To improve your Spanish speaking skills, you might find it helpful to try the Conversation Based Chunking technique.
This involves breaking down longer sentences into shorter, more manageable pieces that you can practice in context.
For example:
Some essential Spanish chunks are Hola, ¿qué tal? (Hi, how’s it going?), ¿Qué tal tu día? (How’s your day?) or ¿Quieres comer algo? (Do you want to eat something?)
Once you feel comfortable with each chunk, you can put them together and practice the full sentence.
3. Practice Speaking Spanish with a Language Partner
If you are into more traditional methods, you can hire a professional Spanish tutor as your language partner.
If you don’t find an instructor to work with in person, or you’d rather carry out your Spanish pronunciation practice online because of its convenience, there are many platforms that offer online lessons with professional teachers.
For example, Microsoft’s TakeLessons has several conversation classes that you can join for a small fee. Some of them are group classes while others are private lessons.
Let’s speak Spanish offers conversational, scheduled one-to-one classes with teachers who are native Spanish speakers.
Other options are italki, Lingua Meeting and Preply.
4. Learn Spanish Conversation with Practice Worksheets
Although they may not be the most “trendy” option, language learners can definitely benefit from structured exercises, such as the ones that appear in practice worksheets.
These worksheets typically consist of a series of questions, scenarios, or dialogues that simulate real-life conversations. For example, take a look at SpanishLab’s conversation cards —they present different scenarios and ask questions that can work as scenarios for small talk.
By answering them, you can practice your conversation skills on your own.
Here at Effortless Conversations, we also have Practice Sections in articles but you can sign up below and get access to our Full Practice Worksheets.
These worksheets include various grammar exercises with complete solutions to help you reach fluency faster!
5. Interactive Roleplay Videos with Common Spanish Phrases
Interactive roleplay videos are an excellent option if you’d like to immerse yourself in realistic dialogue. These videos make you assume different roles and/or simulate natural, everyday conversations in Spanish.
This way, you can practice your listening skills and your speaking skills at once.
For example, here is a video from Spring Spanish in which you can follow a small talk with a native Spanish speaker about different topics, such as the weather, work, family, etc.
Don’t worry if you’re not an advanced student —you will be given options on what you can reply to each line of dialogue, including a series of chunks, following the conversation-based chunking method.
Here is another interactive roleplay video in which you will simulate that you’ve just met a native Spanish speaker from Latin America. In that context, she will ask you various questions about yourself.
The video includes a test at the end, as well as several useful chunks to become fluent in Spanish, such as “¿Y tú?” and “¿Y a ti?”.
6. Practice Your Spanish Speaking Skills with Conversation Based Chunking
Improving your Spanish conversation skills is crucial to becoming fluent in the language.
While it may be daunting at first, there are many resources available online to help you improve, such as Spanish conversation practice worksheets and finding a conversation partner.
To make the most of your practice, consider using Conversation Based Chunking, a technique that breaks down conversations into manageable chunks. Everything is included in our Starter Pack but if you want to read more about it before signing up, you can learn more about the method on our site.
Sign up for our Conversation Based Chunking Starter Pack to stay up-to-date on the latest language learning tips and techniques!