Can I be fluent in Spanish after three college semesters?

Question

If I get a "B" or better in 3 consecutive semesters of college Spanish, could I get around in Spain well without having to use a English-Spanish dictionary?

If I get a "B" or better in 2 consecutive semesters of college French, could I get around in France well without having to use a n English-French dictionary?

Thanks

Answer 1

I traveled to Argentina and Ecuador this past summer after 2 semesters of college Spanish and frankly could not speak or understand anything. However, I rarely used my dictionary (really it was more of a hassle to pull it out of my purse and look for a word than to just ask what the word meant and I did have a fairly large vocabulary). After a couple of months I became conversational but not by any means fluent. Fluency takes years to accomplish and in my opinion requires living abroad or speaking the language with natives very frequently. I had a friend that was about to start her graduate work in Spanish and she could not understand any of the native speakers until she picked up on the accent. The classroom gives a good understanding of the grammer and vocabulary (vocab also varies immensely from region to region in Spanish-speaking countries so this also requires speaking with native speakers) but the real language learning begins in the country. If you are traveling for only for vacation the vocab is fairly simple and very repetitive so you'll soon catch on if you don't already understand it. However, if you're studying abroad or plan on having frequent conversations with native speakers you'll probably be pretty lost at times but don't stress, you'll soon be able to converse without too much difficulty!

Answer 2

You surely must reside in a Spanish-talking nation to emerge as fluent in written & spoken Spanish. I knew men and women who went to Spain on Erasmus & grew to become conversationally fluent in a yr. I believe with the finding out you could have performed, you can no less than get a head begin. Id advise occurring an immersion direction for a minimum of three months (approximately 20hrs/wk), after which get a low-stage process within the nation if you are a scholar (bar paintings), or perhaps practice for an internship in a organization. Maybe if you are in tuition you'll do just a little of study and uncover out whether or not your institution presents a research overseas programme? You would spend a yr in a Latin American or Spanish tuition, attend lectures and seminars in Spanish, and growth relatively speedy. I'd additionally advise residing with Spanish audio system too, and try to make as many peers as feasible on your host nation. It'll be difficult in the beginning, however the immersion categories must supply you a head begin. I believe you can surely be 'fluent' in a yr; it would take two or extra to emerge as surely knowledgeable, nonetheless (e.g. utilising trade Spanish or academically talking). Good good fortune!

Answer 3

Language proficiency depends on a lot of factors like:

- how good your teacher, classroom methodologies, and instructional materials are;
- how intensive (hours per week) and extensive (number of weeks or months per semester) your course is;
- how often do you practice your reading, writing, listening and speaking skills both in school and outside school;
- how dedicated and talented you are in Spanish (we all have our respective linguistic competencies and can only learn as much within boundaries of space and barriers of time);
- how you try to learn from other media, i.e., the internet, radio, television, film, magazines, novels, other language books, etc. You should learn beyond your school textbooks and dictionary.

English-Spanish dictionaries are used even by experienced Spanish teachers and translators. You can never perfect a language. But you can learn, understand, and be understood. You can improve and gain mastery. But you can never get rid of your dictionary!

The best of luck! Have fun learning Spanish...

Answer 4

It depends on how hard you work and how much you love it to learn it. If you really want to learn fluent spanish try your best. Good Luck!

Answer 5

Once you've passed your critical period, that is, at pubterty, it is almost impossible to ever become fluent at another language. You may be able to pick up parts but you will never be completely fluent.