10 muletillas más importantes en inglés

Using English filler words allows you to sound more fluent and more confident in your English speaking skills.  I have noticed that one of the hardest things for many of my English students to do is to stop using Spanish filler words.  A student will be speaking almost perfect English, but when the time comes to use a filler word, they go right to using words like “así que” or “pues nada.”  If your goal is to become completely fluent in English, that means learning these important little words!

One issue with using filler words in your native language is that you lose your train of thought in English. This can keep your mind split between the two languages.  While there is nothing fundamentally wrong with that, it can be a challenge when it comes to attempting to immerse yourself fully in English.  As a bilingual person myself, it takes me about 15 or 20 minutes of speaking in only Spanish to get my brain into what I call “Spanish mode.” However, if I start mixing English in while I am speaking Spanish, I find that it takes me far longer to switch fully into “Spanish mode.”

If you really want to “think in English” (which is our goal here!), one way is to incorporate these filler words and phrases listed below.  I have included some filler words in Spanish that are parallel to the English words.  Remember!  Every country and region has its own filler words, so this is not an attempt to provide a full translation.  These are just some examples of equivalent words based on my personal experience.

Please comment below with some of the filler words you use most in Spanish and what filler words you can use in English to replace them!