Learn Hardcore Spanish (Latin America): Mi mentora dice que mi acento en español va mejorando poco a poco. - My mentor says that my accent in Spanish is improving little by little.

In Spanish, when you talk about someone who is “my X” (my teacher, my boss, my friend, my mentor, etc.), you almost always use a possessive adjective:

mi mentora = my mentor
la mentora = the mentor (some specific mentor, but not clearly “mine”)

Using mi makes it clear it’s your mentor, not just any mentor in general.

Just saying mentora by itself would sound incomplete in this kind of sentence, because Spanish normally needs either an article (la) or a possessive (mi) before a singular countable noun.

Why is it mentora and not just mentor even if the mentor is a woman?

Both forms are possible in real life, but they have different nuances:

mentor: grammatically masculine; often used generically (for men or women), especially in older or more traditional usage.
mentora: explicitly feminine; clearly indicates that the mentor is a woman.

In modern Spanish, especially with people who care about gender-inclusive language, mentora is very natural and increasingly common.

So mi mentora emphasizes that your mentor is female. Mi mentor could still be used, but it doesn’t explicitly mark feminine gender.

Why is it dice que and not me dice que?

Both are grammatically correct:

Mi mentora dice que… = My mentor says that… (in general; we’re just reporting her statement).
Mi mentora me dice que… = My mentor tells me that… (emphasizes that she is speaking specifically to me).

In your sentence, the focus is on what she says about your accent, not so much on the fact that she’s saying it to you. That’s why me is not strictly necessary.

If you want to highlight the personal interaction, you can say:

Mi mentora me dice que mi acento en español va mejorando poco a poco.

Why is it dice (present) instead of dijo (past) or ha dicho (present perfect)?

Spanish often uses the present tense to report what someone typically or currently says:

Mi mentora dice que…
= My mentor says (that) / My mentor keeps saying (that) / My mentor tells me (that).

Use dijo or ha dicho when you refer to a specific past occasion:

Mi mentora dijo que mi acento en español va mejorando.
= My mentor said (on some particular occasion) that my accent is improving.
Mi mentora me ha dicho que…
= My mentor has told me (at some point recently) that…

In your sentence, the present dice suggests this is her current opinion, maybe something she has said more than once.

Why is it mi acento en español instead of mi acento español or mi acento de español?

The phrase mi acento en español literally means “my accent in Spanish (the language)”—that is, how you sound when you speak Spanish.

The alternatives change the meaning:

mi acento español usually sounds like “my Spanish accent” in the sense of an accent from Spain (nationality), not when I speak Spanish.
mi acento de español is unusual and sounds off; it’s not the natural way to say “accent in Spanish”.

So:

mi acento en español = my accent when I speak Spanish (correct for a learner’s context).
mi acento español = my Spanish accent (like someone from Spain, or oppositely to “Mexican accent”, “Argentinian accent”, etc.), which is not what you want here.

Why is it en español and not en el español?

With names of languages, Spanish often omits the article:

hablar español, escribir en español, leer en inglés, etc.

You generally don’t say en el español unless you are speaking about “the Spanish language” as an abstract object (for example, in linguistics or very formal discussions):

En el español del siglo XVI… (In the Spanish of the 16th century…)

For everyday phrases like “in Spanish” (language you’re speaking), the natural form is:

en español = in Spanish
en inglés = in English
en francés = in French

Why does the sentence use va mejorando instead of está mejorando?

Both are correct, but they have slightly different nuances:

está mejorando = is improving (focus on the ongoing process right now).
va mejorando = literally “goes improving”, but it means “keeps improving / is gradually improving”. It emphasizes gradual, step-by-step progress over time.

Given that the sentence also has poco a poco (little by little), va mejorando matches that idea very well:

Mi acento en español va mejorando poco a poco.
= My accent in Spanish is slowly but steadily improving.

You could say está mejorando poco a poco, and it would still be correct and natural, just a tiny bit less “progressive-feeling” than va mejorando.

Why is it mejorando (the -ando form) and not mejorar (the infinitive)?

After verbs like ir, estar, seguir, andar, etc., Spanish uses the gerund (the -ando / -iendo form) to express a progressive action:

ir + gerund → va mejorando (is gradually improving)
estar + gerund → está mejorando (is improving)

The infinitive mejorar would not work with va in this meaning:

va mejorar → is grammatically possible but means “he/she is going to improve” (future: va a mejorar), which is a different construction and meaning.

So for “is improving” (progressive aspect), you need the gerund: mejorando.

Could I say Mi acento en español mejora poco a poco instead? What’s the difference?

Yes, it’s correct and natural:

Mi acento en español mejora poco a poco.
= My accent in Spanish improves little by little.

The differences are subtle:

mejora (simple present) sounds more like a general fact or a neutral description of what’s happening over time.
va mejorando emphasizes the ongoing, gradual progress, almost like “it keeps on getting better”.

Both are fine. Va mejorando poco a poco just adds a stronger feeling of a slow, steady process.

Why isn’t the subjunctive used (vaya mejorando) after dice que?

The verb decir can trigger either indicative or subjunctive, depending on its meaning:

When decir que = to state / report a fact, we use indicative:
- Mi mentora dice que mi acento va mejorando.
  → She states as a fact that your accent is improving.
When decir que = to tell someone to do something (an order or request), we use subjunctive:
- Mi mentora dice que practique más.
  → She tells me to practice more.

In your sentence, she is not giving an order; she is reporting her opinion as a fact, so indicative (va mejorando) is correct.
Using vaya mejorando would sound wrong here.

Why don’t we say se va mejorando (with a reflexive pronoun) for “is improving”?

Spanish often uses non-reflexive verbs to express that something is getting better:

Mi acento va mejorando.
La situación mejora. (The situation is improving.)
Tu salud está mejorando. (Your health is improving.)

Mejorarse does exist (especially in the sense of “to get better” after being sick), but it’s not needed here, and se va mejorando with mi acento would sound unnatural.

So for “my accent is improving,” the normal forms are:

Mi acento mejora.
Mi acento está mejorando.
Mi acento va mejorando.

No reflexive pronoun is required.

What exactly does poco a poco mean, and can it go somewhere else in the sentence?

poco a poco is a very common expression meaning:

little by little
bit by bit
gradually

It emphasizes slow, progressive change over time.

In terms of position, it’s flexible. All of these are natural:

Mi acento en español va mejorando poco a poco.
Poco a poco, mi acento en español va mejorando.
Mi acento en español, poco a poco, va mejorando. (more “spoken”, with commas/pauses)

The version in your sentence (at the end) is probably the most common and neutral word order.