Practice Spanish speaking skills with new Drops gameplay

Learning to speak Spanish confidently can be challenging, but the new Spanish pronunciation practice game in Drops makes it fun and effective! Sharpen your pronunciation skills while engaging in interactive, game-like exercises. Whether you're a beginner looking to build a strong foundation or an advanced learner aiming to refine your accent, we’ve got you covered.  

Read on to discover how speaking practice exercises can boost your confidence and accelerate your Spanish language learning journey.

Why is speaking practice important

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The 4 core language skills

Learning a language involves improving four core skills: reading, writing, listening, and speaking. While you might use some skills more than others, each plays an essential role in helping you master Spanish. Speaking and writing (the productive skills) help you express your ideas, whether you’re speaking to a shop assistant or writing an important email. Meanwhile, listening and reading (the receptive skills) help you understand others, whether in a conversation, movie, or book. 

Dedicating time to each of the four skills helps you develop a well-rounded understanding of the language and prepares you for countless important everyday tasks. Working on one skill also helps you with the others. For example, reading can give you more time to study sentence structure, which helps with your speaking. Similarly, listening can help you work on your pronunciation, which makes your speaking sound more natural. 

What skills can I practice with Drops?

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Drops now helps you improve all four skills. With every session, you’ll:

• Improve your listening skills by hearing native speakers saying a variety of useful terms.  
• Develop your reading skills by seeing each term in writing and completing matching games. 
• Practice your writing with three targeted gameplay types: link word, letter assembly, and typewriter. 
• Gain confidence speaking by repeating words and phrases during your practice and completing our new AI-powered speaking exercises.

Why is speaking so challenging?

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Speaking is the most important skill for many learners, but it’s also one of the most challenging. Unlike reading and writing, speaking in real-life settings requires thinking and responding quickly with little time to consider your answer. Hesitate for too long and the person you’re talking to might try to help you out by switching to a shared language, bringing a quick end to your well-needed practice!  

Speaking also requires learners to take an active role in expressing something, rather than simply understanding information. While you might recognize certain words when you hear them or read them, being able to remember and correctly pronounce them requires a bit more familiarity with the language. 

Finally, learners often feel nervous about making mistakes or embarrassed about how they might sound. While this is completely normal, it can make learners reluctant to put their speaking skills to the test. 

At Drops, we think learning a language should always be a source of pride, and mistakes are the best way to learn. That’s why we created our new speaking practice exercises to give you a safe space to practice and improve. That way, you’ll feel more confident when speaking in real-life situations, helping you build meaningful connections.  And that’s what language is all about, isn’t it?

Let’s take a more detailed look at how you can improve your Spanish-speaking skills.

How can I get better at Speaking

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Pronunciation

You don’t need to have a perfect accent to speak in a foreign language. Having an accent is perfectly natural and can even become a charming part of your identity. The important part is pronouncing words correctly enough to be understood. So, you don’t need to sound like a native speaker, but you do need to spend some time working on your pronunciation. 

Believe us when we say, we know how nerve-wracking it can be to even try pronouncing foreign words when you have an audience! We also know that consistent training is always the best way to hit your language goals. Our new speaking practice exercises give you that essential practice, helping you try your hand at pronouncing words and phrases in a stress-free environment. So, make as many mistakes as you like and slowly train your mouth to make the right sounds. You’ll quickly build the confidence you need to get out there and talk to real people. 

Other top tips for better Spanish-speaking skills

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Listen to Spanish-speaking content

The more you listen to native speakers talk, the more familiar your ear becomes with those sounds. This can help you notice when you’re saying things correctly, get more familiar with common phrases and understand the rhythm of the language. So don’t underestimate the value of consuming lots and lots of content in Spanish! Now you have all the excuses you need to binge.

If you want to add another level to your practice, don’t hesitate to put the subtitles on in Spanish. Reading while you listen can help you understand what’s being said and train your ear.  

Practice speaking Spanish every day

When it comes to speaking, one of the best ways to improve is with practice, practice, and more practice! Fortunately, our speaking practice exercises will come up for every new word in your regular Drops learning sessions. So, keep up with your daily streaks and practice as much as possible. Even just a few minutes can make a big difference when you stay consistent. 

Build your vocabulary 

Ever find yourself stopping mid-sentence because you don’t know a specific word? Growing your vocabulary gives you the building blocks you need to construct sentences and is an essential part of improving your speaking skills. The good news is that Drops was designed for building (and recalling) vocabulary. So, keep learning new words, practice pronouncing them every time, and don’t forget the review sessions! 

As we said, all of the language skills work together to help you become better at expressing yourself. Combine vocab drills with your listening and pronunciation practice, and watch your progress soar.

How our Speaking Practice game works

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AI-powered learning

With these new exercises, you can officially say you’re practicing speaking Spanish with AI! That’s right, our speaking practice uses an AI large language model (LLM) to recognize your pronunciation and compares it to a native speaker’s recording of the same term. You receive feedback after the exercise based on how close your pronunciation was to the native one. Remember, you don’t have to do it perfectly to pass the test! You can attempt each exercise 3 times, and if you’re on the bus or somewhere where you can’t talk out loud, you can simply skip the exercise and you won’t encounter more for the next hour.

How can I access this game?

You’ll find speaking practice exercises in every regular Drops gameplay session (not Dojo, Quiz Mode, or Audio Mode) for all topics in the Mexican Spanish course, in all available interface languages. You just need to make sure your mic is turned on, but we’ll ask your permission for that!

Speaking practice exercises are currently only available in version 38.41 of the Drops app. If you’re using version 38.41 or later, you’ll have access to this feature. Remember to keep your app updated for the best experience, as we regularly make improvements and address issues.

As we continue developing the Drops experience, we’ll release this feature on other language courses too! Next up: our Castillian course.

Maximize your language learning

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Effective communication always depends on developing all aspects of your language skills! In this post, we’ve offered insights on how to enhance your speaking skills and how to make the most out of your learning experience with our new pronunciation game. By incorporating reading, listening, writing, and now speaking exercises, you can create a well-rounded language learning routine. Keep practicing and check back with us for fresh ideas to integrate into your daily lessons.

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