Making spelling mistakes when writing in Spanish generates confusion in the receiver of our message. Moreover, correcting spelling mistakes in your documents is perceived as a high command of the language, as well as a good cultural level.
Protecting Spanish as a language is the goal of academics and linguists. Also, writing according to Spanish spelling rules will help us to be clearer and more precise when we express ourselves. Good spelling helps to improve the communicative process, so it is important to wonder how to avoid spelling mistakes while writing.
Even if you like to read a lot and you pay attention to how to write without spelling mistakes, making errors happens to everyone sometimes. iScribo brings you a few tips about how to spell correct in Spanish, so that your fluency when writing is not affected by punctual doubts you may have.
1. Keep Reading
If you wonder how to overcome spelling mistakes while writing, we’ll tell you that reading is vital to improve your writing in any language and Spanish is no exception.
If you are one of those people who devour books and literature is your passion, you are in luck. Kill two birds with one stone! While practising your favourite hobby, you will learn how to write properly in Spanish.
If you’re not much of a storyteller, read newspapers and magazines that interest you – anything goes!
2. Learn Spanish Spelling Rules
Spanish is based on rules. Yes, there are exceptions, but we have to start somewhere. Learning basic Spanish spelling will help you to write better and better each time.
3. Write Nonstop
Practice makes perfect. The first thing is to learn the spelling rules well and the second is to put them into practice.
You can write in your own handwriting with pen and paper, the old-fashioned way, or you can use a spellchecker in Spanish to correct yourself as you write. Think that everything helps and that everything you do will improve the way you write.
4. Ask a Spanish-Speaker for Help
Globalisation has its advantages. One of them is that, as Spanish is the second most globally spoken language, you will find Spanish speakers everywhere you go!
If you know a Spanish speaker, ask them if they can dictate to you and then correct it. It’s a great way to learn the basic rules of Spanish and learn in real time.
5. Work With Synonyms
Repeat after me “the dictionary is my best friend”. Don’t say it out loud or people will think you have a social problem, but rather, repeat it to yourself in your head for a few minutes.
Why have a dictionary ‘as a friend’? Associating a word with its meaning will help you spell it well. Look up synonyms for a word and your brain will begin to associate it with what you already know. This trick is infallible to write well.
6. Identify Other’s Spelling Mistakes
Reading someone else’s text, whether from a friend or a newspaper or magazine, for example, and identifying the spelling mistakes that have been made will sharpen your instinct for spotting your own spelling mistakes.
It’s not about being cruel to others! But think that no one is perfect, so we all make spelling mistakes. First, learn to criticise yourself and then you will be able to see the mistakes of others with the constructive perspective that will help you learn.
7. Mind your Writing!
Nowadays we live surrounded by stimuli and this favours attention deficit. When typing or using a pen, concentrate on what your hands are doing and writing. This simple step is ideal for avoiding spelling mistakes. Common sense? Yes, maybe, attention plays an essential role in your writing.
8. Write Down your Most Frequent Mistakes
We tend to make the same mistakes repeatedly. What can we do? As human beings, that is our condition.
Make a list of your most frequent spelling mistakes in Spanish and look at it from time to time. That way you will train your brain… and it works!
Take Advantage of the Benefits that Internet Offers
Spanish RAE y other organisations like Fundéu are there to help us. Take advantage of a world dominated by the Internet and learn from these tools.
The more you practice and work on writing well in Spanish, the fewer spelling mistakes you will make.
Have you tried the iScribo Spanish grammar checker yet? In addition to correcting spelling mistakes, it will suggest grammatical improvements as well as synonyms. Writing well is easy and at your fingertips. Tell us in the comments section below.
