My husband and I are Spain enthusiasts, so mastering Spanish is a big goal for both of us. But even after listening to hundreds of podcast episodes, completing online courses, and taking one-on-one classes with native Spaniards, I still struggle with sounding casual and natural when I speak.
So, I started doing something new over the last couple of weeks, and it's helping me to remember phrases that sound more natural: I'm saving translated phrases in the DeepL app.
DeepL is an online translation tool that claims to be "the world's most accurate translator". I appreciate that accuracy is the company's priority. If you've ever used Google Translate or SpanishDict, you know that the translations that come out of those sites can be weird and clunky.
You can read about what makes DeepL different from other online translators by going to
their desktop site; I'm not here to market for them and I have no affiliation to the company. But
I can confirm that DeepL's translations are really good at identifying nuances in how Spanish speakers use words.
Okay, so I'm not just walking around Madrid translating random words and phrases in the DeepL app. I'm reading a Spanish book (a steamy novel that I picked up at a book fair, although I didn't know it was steamy when I bought it), and I'm using DeepL to help me remember phrases and sentence structures used in the book.
I purchased the book because, when I flipped through the pages, I noticed a lot of dialogue. I also noticed that it was written in, and takes place in, 2017. I realized that the book would be great for learning modern words and phrases that people actually use in conversation, including slang that's specific to Spain.
Here's how I'm specifically doing this, and how you can, too (I've included a screenshot below):
1. I downloaded the DeepL app, which is free and doesn't require an account/login. The DeepL app is available in the US, EU, UK, Canada, Japan, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein.
2. While I'm reading, I notice phrases that I think I might actually want to say some day (or that someone might say to me in Spanish). Something like, "I know I just met you, but..." or "It's a blast!". When I read these phrases in Spanish, I know what they mean, but reproducing them is a totally different story.
3. I translate the phrase in the DeepL app, from Spanish > English (if English isn't your primary language, you can translate to a different language). Because DeepL is big on accuracy and nuances, it usually gives me a couple of versions of the sentence in English, and I pick the one that I believe is the most accurate by tapping on it.
4. After selecting the best translation, I save the phrase and its translation by tapping on the little ribbon icon to save it to my Favorites. (Like I said, I don't have account, so it might be risky to be saving all these phrases to Favorites without a backup, but the app seems pretty stable to me.) I can access the full list of phrases that I've saved by viewing Favorites at any time.
Saving the phrase WITH the English translation is useful to me because without the context from the novel, I would probably forget the meaning of the phrase. And knowing the meaning helps me to see how I could restructure the sentence by using a different verb or noun, etc.
Here's a snapshot of some of the phrases I've translated and saved:
