How to Speak Spanish Confidently? Nick Found the Courage To Speak Spanish and You Can Too

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Fear of saying the first word. We’ve all been there. Nick joins us to share how he moved from hesitation to genuine connection by treating Spanish not as homework, but as a bridge to people, music, and everyday life in South Florida.

What began with love turned into a wider world: conversations with coworkers, rhythmic nights soundtracked by reggaeton, and the courage to speak even when the brain feels slow and the grammar isn’t perfect.

We unpack the mindset shift that keeps momentum alive on tough days. Nick explains why discipline matters, but joy matters more—and how short, human interactions beat long, stressful cram sessions. He walks through the practical habits that helped: singing along to pop hooks for sticky vocabulary, choosing simple wins when energy is low, and anchoring progress to goals that mean something, like talking with a partner’s family or finishing a novel in Spanish.

A huge part of Nick’s growth came from working one-to-one with Coach Diomedes. Beyond corrections and drills, their sessions offered trust, patience, and perspective—especially when life got heavy. That support made it easier to take risks, make mistakes, and keep speaking. Along the way, Nick discovered a powerful surprise: when you reach out in Spanish, many people meet you with warmth, pride, and help. Connection fuels consistency, and consistency builds confidence.

If you’re tired of perfectionism and ready to enjoy the process, this conversation will reset how you learn.

Subscribe, share with a friend who needs a nudge, and leave a quick review to help others find the show. Your next conversation could start today!

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Transcript

Cold Open: Fear And Motivation

Speaker 1 0:04

Tenía miedo cometer un error. Motivation. I think discipline in learning a language. Sometimes you're very tired, your brain isn't working one day, and you think you're getting worse. Totally the fear sometimes you have, and oh, I can't even use that uh word because I'm gonna mess it up. Um I shouldn't even, you know, I'm just scared to do the first word. That's the first step is the RS that does help make that jump.

Welcome And Episode Setup

Speaker 0:44

Hola a todos, welcome to another episode of Conquering Spanish, the podcast where we interview our students and we hear their motivation, their challenges, and how Spanish has helped their lives. I'm your host, Tania Roman. I'm the student success manager at Spanish 55, and today I sat down with one of our students, Nicholas Teach from Florida, and he did a fantastic job having the interview in Spanish. He talked about why he started learning Spanish and most importantly, how he has been able to keep motivated despite his life changes. He also talked about his bond with Coach Diomedes and how Diomedes has been more than just a coach, he's been a friend and a person who provides some guidance. So stay tuned, stick around for the conversation. I'm sure you'll enjoy it, and make sure to turn on your subtitles so that you can follow along.

Meet Nick In Florida

Speaker 1:40

Hola Nick, come stuff.

Speaker 1 1:41

Hola Tania. Bien, ¿cómo estás?

Speaker 1:45

Yo estoy muy bien, muchas gracias. Me imagino que in Florida también.

Speaker 1 1:52

Sí, lo mismo. El mayo has sido muy caliente.

Speaker 1:59

Ajá, sí, y en Florida hace mucho calor in junio y julio también.

Speaker 1 2:06

Ah, sí. Lo que pasa es in la Florida tenemos dos estaciones de la caliente y el caliente, el diablo.

Speaker 2:24

Ajá, si te entiendo. Entonces están llegando a esa temperatura. Muy bien, Nick. Oye, me da mucho gusto que estés aquí. Y ¿por qué no nos platicas un poco de ti? Cuéntanos, ¿quién eres? ¿Qué haces?

Speaker 1 2:45

Muy bien. Ok, entonces mi nombre es Nicolás Nick. Hoy Nick. Tengo 30 años, soy de Estados Unidos y trabajo como ingeniero y vivo en una ciudad llamada West Palm Beach en la Florida.

Speaker 3:07

Ok, muy bien. ¿Y te gusta hacer algo además de ser ingeniero? ¿Qué más te gusta hacer?

Speaker 1 3:17

Me gusta nadar en la talla y pasar por sí cualquier cosa hacer el bar o también me gusta leer y escuchar música.

Speaker 3:38

Ok, excelente.

Using Spanish In Daily Life

Speaker 3:40

Oye, y como estás en Florida, ¿tienes mucha oportunidad de platicar en español con la gente?

Speaker 1 3:49

Sí, tengo muchas oportunidades platicar, hablar, escuchar. Claro que sí. En el sur de Florida tenemos mucha gente en España.

Speaker 4:10

Mis colegas, amigos, bueno, restaurantes. ¿Te acuerdas cuando empezaste a hablar español? ¿Te daba miedo o cómo te sentías hablando español?

Speaker 1 4:33

Al principio. Pues tenía miedo a cometer un error. Es normal, normal.

Speaker 4:48

Claro. Ok, sí, te entiendo. Es normal cometer esos errores. Pero me imagino que te sientes más seguro hablando español, ya.

Speaker 1 5:02

Hace dos años, un año, o desde hace un año, me siento cómodo en hablar español con desconocidos.

Speaker 5:21

Sí, paso a paso, muy bien, Nick. Oye, ¿y en tu trabajo hablas español?

Speaker 1 5:30

Bueno, no mucho, obviamente no puedo hablar cosas técnicas, o como en ingeniero ingeniero, usualmente es en inglés, pero sí, casi medio de mis colegas son nativos de países como Puerto Rico, Colombia, ¿qué más? Sí, los dos. Entonces, trato de hablar con ellos en español a veces. En casualidad o en

Music As The Gateway

Speaker 1 6:10

el ameozo.

Speaker 6:12

Ok. Y me imagino que has conocido música en español o algunas películas. ¿Qué te gusta?

Speaker 1 6:22

Ay, me encanta música. Me encanta usted música. Es mi favorita parte de aprender Estano. Los artistas hay canciones en conciertos. Películas son difíciles. Me cuenta para ver películas, pero a veces series documentarios, pero música es mi foto. Artistas, claro, so Reggaetón fue el primer introducción como populares, artistas populares. También me gusta como pop o rock. Un ejemplo es Enrique y Grecias, me gusta. Muy bien.

Speaker 7:29

Ajá.

Speaker 1 7:29

Y son unos artistas reggaetones, los de el pasado y los tiempos ahora.

Speaker 7:43

Ajá. Sí, te gusta el reggaetón viejito y el reggaetón de ahora. Ok, muy bien. Y has ido a conciertos de tus artistas que te gustan?

Speaker 1 8:00

Pero en el futuro, espero. Pero ir al concierto. No lo sé.

Speaker 8:10

Ok, muy bien. Oye, Nick, ¿por qué empezaste a aprender español?

Why Spanish: Love, Culture, Perspective

Speaker 1 8:17

Ok, buena pregunta. So entonces empecé a salir con una chica. Olvídate que fue por amor.

Speaker 2 8:32

So empecé dos años y medio.

Speaker 8:44

Ok, muy bien. ¿Y cómo te cómo te has sentido que empezaste por amor y ahora por la música? ¿Qué te gusta del español?

Speaker 1 8:56

El desafío, aprendiendo, aprender, es me gusta, pero los cultura, la gente, los amigos, que he conocido música, historia que he aprendido todo, podría decirte todo.

Speaker 9:30

Ok, entonces aprender español te ha abierto muchas puertas a cosas nuevas.

Speaker 1 9:38

Podría decir oportunidades, obviamente, pero poetas, ya. Nuevas ideas.

Speaker 9:49

Nuevas ideas.

Speaker 1 9:50

Diferentes perspectivas.

Speaker 9:53

Ok. Oye, ¿y has viajado a países donde puedas hablar en español?

Travel And Learning Resources

Speaker 1 10:05

Yo he viajado a Sur de América, a Colombia, dos veces.

Speaker 2 10:16

La pasó bien. Súper bien.

Speaker 10:21

Ok, muy bien. ¿Y te gustaría ir a otros países también?

Speaker 1 10:26

Sí, espero que sí. Pero no tengo blanco. Por el momento.

Speaker 10:34

Ok, muy bien. Oye, y antes de Spanish 55, ¿aprendiste español en otras partes? ¿O cómo fue tu camino?

Speaker 1 10:46

Traté con las apps

Finding The Right Coach

Speaker 1 10:49

y algunos cursos de línea. También compré varios libros en educativas que sirven bien como referencias.

Speaker 11:01

Y pero necesitabas un poquito más.

Speaker 2 11:05

O porque decidiste Spanish 55 por un recomendario o recomendación que seguir avanzado para practicar con más esfuerzo. No lo sé si estaría una buena idea o el disfrute de asistir clases.

Speaker 1 11:42

Con span.

Speaker 11:44

Ok, eso es muy importante, disfrutar las clases. Sí, oye, y estás con un muy buen coach con Diómedes. ¿Qué te gusta de tus clases con Diómedes?

Speaker 1 12:00

Diómedes es un buen amigo. Sí. Me gusta la confianza. Se me da, la confianza y seguridad. Uno a uno, obviamente, es el mejor para preguntar a pedir preguntas. Un buen amigo, terapista, es el mejor.

Speaker 12:33

Ok, muy bien. La verdad, me da mucho gusto que consideres a Diomedes como un amigo, porque hace que te sientas seguro para poder

Goals: Family, Novels, Confidence

Speaker 12:46

hablar. Oye, ¿y qué metas has cumplido ahora que has aprendido español?

Speaker 1 12:54

Sí, sí, metas, propósitos, como así.

Speaker 12:57

Sí, metas, propósitos, ¿qué has cumplido? ¿Cómo te sientes?

Speaker 1 13:02

Bueno, al principio podía hablar con las a los padres de mi pareja. Fue mi primer propósito. Pero si lo ve o lo hice. Pero ahora mismo no tengo propósitos concretos como avanzando niveles. Sí. De verdad, quiero leer una novela larga completamente en esto. ¡Guau!

Speaker 13:39

Ok, de acuerdo. ¿Y ya sabes cuáles o todavía no?

Speaker 1 13:45

No, todavía no.

Speaker 13:47

Ok. Es una es una gran meta. Muy bien. Excelente. Oye, ¿y tienes algunos otros otras cosas que tú escuches o otros recursos para aprender español?

Speaker 1 14:07

De verdad, no. Cursos de línea, no. Siguiendo escuchar conversaciones, el sonido de español. Es simpatic.

Speaker 14:28

Muy bien.

Switch To English: Staying Motivated

Speaker 14:29

Pues te parece si ahorita platicamos un poco de tus retos aprendiendo español, pero me gustaría hacerlo en inglés para que nuestros listeners, nuestras escuchas, pues también practicen, regresan a su idioma en el que están escuchando. So, Nick, uh you've told me, you know, your motivation. Um, and I'm sure there there has been a couple of challenges during these last couple of years. Um, what have they been and how have you overcome them?

Speaker 1 15:04

Oh, so I think sometimes motivation, um, I think discipline in learning a language, sometimes you're very tired, you don't want to take class. Um, your motivation, it seems difficult, your brain isn't working one day, and you think you're getting worse. Um, I think to uh lighten out in those moments to enjoy the process, like it's supposed to be fun. It's not um, you know, supposed to be work, although it can be work. So challenges like that. Uh just the just you know, keeping motivation. So I don't know if that's a great answer, but like try to think of you know the bigger picture, why you're learning or why you're doing this. Right.

Speaker 16:00

Uh and um I know I already asked you this, but uh being in Florida, um, you know, you have all these opportunities. Do you think um you your I don't know, like the richness in your life has has increased because of the connections you make in Spanish?

Speaker 1 16:17

For me, it has. Um when

Community, Connection, And Service

Speaker 1 16:20

they uh when I approach them, they look, oh, it's a gringo coming. But I like to um I like to uh I'd like to think that they appreciate um the effort um because here in Florida, we do have a lot of Spanish speakers. We're getting um very um growing very much um yeah, not major speakers of of English. So if you can reach out, um it's that it I think it really shows um the more comfortable. Um so I think of it as yeah, an opportunity, but also maybe I could be helping them um because maybe they don't like uh I had an example where they didn't know if this was the right address, and I was I helped them out a little bit. So that was a great um, you know, feel good moment for me. So um it's very it's very lucky to to live here and to be able to learn with them also because um there's so many accents and different countries.

Speaker 17:34

So I want to ask you, do you have a favorite moment from like a lesson with Yomedes?

Speaker 1 17:40

Huh. Well, I think it's not I've been uh moment um where you taught me a uh something very eye-opening or even a Spanish, you know, an educative moment. Just uh as a as a friend, um in a difficult uh moment uh with with you know personal um personal relationships and

Support From Coach Diomedes

Speaker 1 18:10

I confided in him and um I was having trouble attending classes um and I reached out and he really just uh gave me a good um a good feeling and you know reminded me it's you know it's you know we're human and I know we're you know doing this virtually but um I understand that what you're what you're going through, he was almost like uh like a really good uh the hyptist. So this moment was um helpful and it kept me um kept me sort of uh the bigger picture of why I'm doing this.

Speaker 18:55

All right. Has there been anything that has surprised you about your language learning journey?

Speaker 1 19:03

Uh what surprised me, I think the the engagement or the um of other people when when they they hear I'm I'm studying or they're learning, they're really helpful. They're really um uh friendly or they they're encouraged. And I didn't I thought I was all on my own. Um but the more I tell people, I think the more um the more open you're being with people um can be helping the other the other one out. Oh and maybe I help someone with English too. Uh that's just a bonus.

Speaker 19:41

So before we we're coming up to the close of our conversation, Nick. So before before we go, I'd like you to think about your early days in your lessons with Diomedes. Mm-hmm. What knowing what you know now, what would you? ha have liked to know back

Letting Go Of Perfection

Speaker 20:02

then?

Speaker 1 20:02

Oh that's a great question, Tanya. Um I in the beginning I was very excited and I was maybe a little too focused on I think uh a lot of a lot of like taking notes, a lot of um just strict uh learning and sort of having to learn something every time I think having expectations of you know um you know oh I I really need to learn this much um or improve so that in the you know for my upcoming trip let's say I can you know really use these uh these lessons you know uh to to my advantage wisely but um as when I kind of switched my my brain and thought about it as more just uh like just having a call um with your friend and you're talking about a little bit about uh had what you've been up to um it sort of eases the expectations or the uh the stress of you know I have to take notes this time and I'm not even fully engaged um so I would tell myself to um uh the the phrase I guess go with the flow to um enjoy um fair interaction more and not so focused on the you know the material okay okay is that is that same mindset what has helped you just like get out there and speak instead of being nervous or scared to try it? Totally

Shoutout And Closing Reflections

Speaker 1 21:51

the fear sometimes you have and oh I can't even use that uh word because I'm gonna mess it up. Um I shouldn't even you know I'm just scared to do the first word that's the first step is the RV.

Speaker 22:03

That does help um make that jump into talking with strangers or talking at you know okay wonderful Nick so the last thing that I want to ask you is do you want to give Coach Diomedes a shout out? Tell him anything.

Speaker 1 22:20

Yes that he's great I love you Coach Diomedes. Um and uh I hope it's going well this weekend um hope you're relaxing so I I'm super grateful to to coach Diomedes uh and I hope we have um you know developed the friendship and the the connection of a you know a teacher student um even more even uh even many more months and uh lessons.

Speaker 22:54

Wonderful I'm I'm sure he's gonna be really happy to hear you say that. So thank you so much Nick I I enjoyed listening to you know this special bond that you have with your coach and how it has helped you out in numerous ways not only Spanish but also in in personal matters and you know the fact that you've been connecting with Spanish through music. So um and I really do hope you get to go to to some reggaeton concert soon and hopefully to an Enrique Glesias concert as well. Thank you Tania it was a pleasure talking with you and uh I'm very um happy to uh have participated thank you so then we'll invite you back soon so you can share with us some more of your experiences okay thank you what a powerful conversation with Nicholas his journey shows us that it's not about vocabulary and grammar it's actually about connection consistency and courage from overcoming fear to embracing culture and music Nicholas shows us that learning a language is the door to gaining richer experiences and deepening friendships. And most importantly he shows how a supportive coach like Diomedes can make the difference between giving up and thriving.

Final Takeaways And CTA

Speaker 24:18

If Nicholas's story inspired you make sure to check out Spanish55.com to begin your own Spanish learning journey. And don't forget to leave us a review and share this episode with anybody who might need some encouragement. I'll see you next time as we continue conquering Spanish together.