{"id":411,"date":"2015-05-12T16:23:02","date_gmt":"2015-05-12T20:23:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pimsleurspeaks.pimsleur.com\/?p=411"},"modified":"2025-06-13T09:46:24","modified_gmt":"2025-06-13T13:46:24","slug":"how-to-speak-spanish-move-hips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pimsleur.com\/blog\/how-to-speak-spanish-move-hips\/","title":{"rendered":"How Latin Dancing Can Help You Learn to Speak Spanish"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There are many challenges for an English speaker trying to learn how to speak Spanish. Adjectives and nouns are placed in a different order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Verbs must be conjugated to agree with their subjects in person, gender, and number. And then, there\u2019s the pronunciation, with all those rolled r\u2019s! Not to mention the r\u2019s that aren\u2019t rolled but \u201cflipped.\u201d Some people just decide it\u2019s too hard and give up. Don\u2019t give up. You can do this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s start with those r\u2019s and double r\u2019s. Both are pronounced by holding the tip of the tongue near the front of the roof of the mouth and blowing air past it, causing it to flutter \u2013 a quick flutter for the single r, a longer one for the double r. Go ahead, try it. While this can be challenging if you didn\u2019t grow up making that sound, I\u2019ve found that a more common problem than an inability to make the r sounds is a tendency to overdo it. Once that tongue learns to flutter, it just doesn\u2019t want to stop. Me com\u00ed una pera<\/em> becomes Me com\u00ed una perra<\/em>, and just like that, instead of eating a pear, I ate a dog. In rolling your r\u2019s, as in many other endeavors, there can be too much of a good thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to Speak Spanish: Move Your Hips<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While it may seem far-fetched, I think there\u2019s an analogous relationship between speaking Spanish and Latin dancing. Both involve movements that are not part of the Anglophone cultural vocabulary. In speaking, those movements occur in the mouth; in dancing, in the hips. Just as the tip of the tongue must be trained to move independently of the base, the hips must be trained to move independently of the upper body. When you watch good salsa dancers<\/a>, it looks as if their torsos are floating through space while their legs execute all manner of amazing footwork.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many years ago, a Latin dance instructor I knew showed me a great trick for helping people develop that independence between lower and upper body: Pretend you\u2019re riding a bike. Standing in place, with your feet just a few inches apart, begin to \u201cpedal,\u201d lifting one heel and then lowering it as you lift the other. Hold your torso still (but not stiff), hinge at the waist, and feel your hips moving side to side as you shift your weight. Soon, you can feel the magic of your hips moving without bringing the rest of you along. People get very excited when they learn this. Sometimes too excited. Like the runaway rolling rrrrrrr\u2019s, the gyrating hips can get out of control, giving the fledgling salsero<\/em> a rather peculiar style and creating a minor hazard for fellow dancers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Spanish language and Latin dancing both embody an important element of Hispanic culture: Controlled exuberance. Enjoy the thrill of your tongue fluttering, the rhythmic swaying of your hips, but don\u2019t get carried away with it. Master this, and you\u2019re on your way to learning how to speak Spanish<\/a>, or dancing, without an accent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are many challenges for an English speaker trying to learn how to speak Spanish. Adjectives and nouns are placed in a different order. Verbs must be conjugated to agree with their subjects in person, gender, and number. And then, there\u2019s the pronunciation, with all those rolled r\u2019s! Not to mention the r\u2019s that aren\u2019t rolled Read More >><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":629,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[58,2413,1136,1378],"class_list":["post-411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","tag-language-learning-2","tag-latin-america","tag-music","tag-spanish"],"yoast_head":"\nHow Latin Dancing Can Help You Learn to Speak Spanish<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There\u2019s a relationship between speaking Spanish and Latin dancing. 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