Back-chaining, a good trick to cope with difficult words or phrases

Sometimes we are confronted to particularly long or complex words or phrases that we feel ourselves unable to utter. Sometimes because of a weird combination of sounds, sometimes due to the length of the word or phrase. And this happens almost in any language we try to learn as a foreign language. Of course, Spanish in no exception.

But don't panic. For those cases we have a useful, reliable, technique that will help you sort out the problem -the so called back-chaining technique. It takes advantage of a feature of human auditory memory, which tends to retain the last few sounds we hear for a short period of time. When we hear a group of words together in a sentence, the last few words/sounds we hear linger on in our memory for a period of time, as if it was an echo. This makes it easy for us to repeat these last few sounds without much effort.

Thousands of language teachers around the world have been using this technique in their lessons for ages. When their students are unable to repeat a difficult word or phrase, they turn to the backchaining technique. So if it's so helpful for them, why don't we trust them and apply it to ourselves.

Let's see how it works with some examples, both at word and phrase/sentence level:

1. Word level

Example #1: Agradabilísimo

Imagine you are having problems with the pronunciation of a long word, like "agradabilísimo" (very agreeable, extremely nice). Follow these steps:

1. Divide the word into smaller units (usually syllables, although not necesarilly): a-gra-da-bi-lí-si-mo.
2. Pronounce the last chunk: mo; then the last two chunks together: si-mo, then the last three chunks: lí-si-mo; then  four:  bi-lí-si-mo; and do on, until you have the full word. 
3. If necessary, repeat each step more than once, until you pronounce it at ease.

Now, play the recording, listen and repeat:

Now, the next time you find this word I bet you won't get it wrong and it will come out at once at once. There are many difficult words in Spanish that can be mastered with this method, including words with the feared double 'r'  sound, like: ferrocarril, prórroga, ornitorrinco, parterre, irrumpir, etc.; or long words like otorrinolaringólogo or esternocleidomastoideo.

2. Phrase level

Example #2: ¡Jaime, baja la jaula!

Let's try to follow the same procedure with a long or difficult phrase or sentence, like ¡Jaime, baja la jaula! (difficult combinations of strong  "j" sounds").

This time we divide the phrase into words or parts of words, if necessary, and follow the same procedure. For example:

• jaula
• la jaula
• baja la jaula
• ¡Jaime, baja la jaula!

Now, play the recording, listen and repeat:

Example #3: Qué rápido corren los carros, cargados de arroz, del ferrocarril

• carril
• ferrocarril
• del ferrocarril
• arroz del ferrocarril
• cargados de arroz del ferrocarril
• los carros cargados de arroz del ferrocarril
• corren los carros cargados de arroz del ferrocarril
• Qué rápido corren los carros cargados de arroz del ferrocarril

Now, play the recording, listen and repeat:

Although it is a rather mechanical repetition exercise, there's no doubt that it helps you improve your communicative fluency, since it provides good practice for the voice organs to get used to those tricky combinations of sounds in the foreign language that do not exist in our mother tongue.

Once our voice organs get enough practice, you'll see how your fluency in Spanish will improve dramatically.