Trying to improve your spanish when you're latin is intimidating. I was afraid people I spoke to would judge me because of how bad my pronunciation was, or that I'd sound stupid or like a gringo without knowing it. First of all, I'd like to say any latin people you talk to are probably going to be ecstatic that you're trying. I haven't yet met someone who seemed judgemental.
Now I'd like to say: Duolingo? Throw it out. It's better than absolutely nothing I GUESS, but I really wouldn't recommend it.
I already knew a good bit of spanish, but I wasn't anywhere near comfortable. I'm more comfortable now, but still definitely learning. Traditional "learn spanish" courses didn't work for me, because I already knew a lot of vocab, I just had to focus on pronunciation and grammar.
There are many many different dialects of Spanish and they all work very differently. If you learned it in school in the US, then depending on where you went, you probably learned Mexican or Spain Spanish. Spain Spanish is very very different to other dialects.
Not every course is gonna have YOUR type of Spanish.
Beyond that, it's a gamble. But there are definitely going to be resources for learning your country's form of Spanish, you just have to dig (or ask people personally.)
If you are from South America, Central America, or the Caribbean, then finding resources that say "Latin American" is your best bet. Mexican should also be close enough. If you're Caribbean, then look for specifically Caribbean, sometimes people have it.
The way that I learned Spanish, (at home and online) I've been told that I have a strange accent from no where, a mix of a bunch of different dialects. Puerto Rican people from the island can distinguish between accents from different parts of the island, this is a skill I do not possess.
In Puerto Rico, we do not pronounce our r's as strongly as in other places. Some people say we say them like l's, I don't think so though.
A lot of people I talk to are worried that they can't roll their r's. Honestly, it's not the end of the world. Your goal should be for people to understand what you're saying, and they can probably do that without you rolling your r's. Focus on pronunciation and vocab and grammar and figure that out later.
Do you have a partner? Una pareja? A boyfriend or a girlfriend? Are you married? Well say goodbye to that relationship because your new love is SpanishDict.
SpanishDict, or SpanishDictionary, is both an app and a website. It is an English to Spanish, Spanish to English dictionary. The most important thing it has that other dictionaries lack is it says WHERE different words are used.
If you ask me how to say "cake" in Spanish, I will say bizcocho, how I grew up saying it.
If I type it into Google Translate, it gives me pastel. For us, un pastel is a completely different kind of food. It then displays other ways to say it, such as bizcocho, underneath in a drop down menu as if it were a synonym.
SPANISHDICT, the love of my LIFE, says pastel first. THEN they clarify: torta in South America, bizcocho in Columbia and Puerto Rico, queque in Costa Rica, Cuba, Honduras, and Nicaragua, and tarta in Spain.
Far more useful! It also helps more when you're talking to people from different countries and you go "How do you say this?" and they give you several completely different words and now everyone feels like they're going insane. SpanishDict! (It also has grammar lessons that I haven't tried, and a lot of good vocab flashcard sets.)
"Como se dice [blank] en Español?" (How do you say [blank] in Spanish?) or just say "como se dice..." then just trail off and start gesturing.
"Ese coso/cosa/cosita/cosito que es como..." (That thing that's like...) for when you forget the word for something. Begin gesturing and describing.
Know you can always just say the english word instead of the Spanish word and there's a great chance they'll know what you mean. "Sabes donde esta mi... toothbrush?"
After, for practice, ask how you say it in Spanish. Sometimes there isn't a word, and the English one is actually correct. Or there is a Spanish word, but no one uses it.
"Eso es correcto?" (Is that correct?) after you say something and you're not sure you got your grammar right. They may say yes or they may correct some things. Good for practice!
Used usually when talking to a person older than yourself. Definitely used talking to older people. Or in a position that demands respect, judge or teacher. You wouldn't use it with your peers.