You don't have to understand every word
At first you may want to understand every Spanish word and translate it in your head. That's completely normal – but it often makes understanding harder than it needs to be. Spoken Spanish in particular can sound very fast: words run into each other, and you can't catch everything straight away.
But you don't need to understand every word. It's already a big step forward if you can tell what it's about and what is meant. That's where keywords help.
What are keywords?
Keywords are the words that give away the topic – often nounsnounsA word that names a person, thing, place, or idea, such as house or sun. such as places, things or people, but also important verbs. If you read el hotel, la habitación, reservar and la recepción, you know straight away: it's about staying at a hotel.
Small words like muy, hoy, con or también, on the other hand, appear in almost every text. They matter for the sentence, but tell you hardly anything about the topic.
How to go about it
Read the text through once calmly and look for the keywords first. Don't stop at every unknown word – often you don't need it at all. First try to understand what it's about overall.
Examples
- el hotel
- la habitación
- reservar
- la recepción