www.CostaRicaTicas.com

People always argue against me on this but I'll say it again any way...

If you speak well, you'll hear well also. When I was first learning Spanish, I made a real effort to pronounce the words correctly and without the gringo accent. In the beginning, my vocabulary was very limited but what I could say, I said really well. After my pronunciation improved, I found it was a lot easier to hear what people were saying. I started being able to distinguish each word they said instead of hearing a big mess of weird sounding syllables.

In my opinion, learning how to say things correctly helped me more than trying to memorize vocabulary or grammar rules.

I don't think I would consider myself completely fluent yet, but the locals here in Panama always ask me where I'm from because I talk like a Panamanian but don't look like one.

If there's a downside to Brother JJCastro's excellent advice, it's that folks will assume you have more Spanish than you really do. A very minor downside, to be sure, easily remedied--just ask them to speak a bit more slowly and simply.

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"A man accustomed to hear only the echo of his own sentiments, soon bars all the common avenues of delight, and has no part in the general gratification of mankind"--Dr. Johnson
"Amen, brother"-ED

Some great advice in this thread. Spanish is a skill, not a science. People, who practice this skill, speak better. There is no secret or magic bullet. The most important advice is to use your Spanish as much as possible, practice a lot, don’t be embarrassed even if you make mistakes. It takes a lot of practice, effort and dedication to reach a low-intermediate level of proficiency, and it is impossible to achieve this level without practicing. It’s a good strategy to spend less time talking about Spanish in English, and more time trying to connect in Spanish even if your are out of your comfort zone. Finally, don’t get frustrated if you feel you are not improving.