How Long Does It Take To Learn Spanish?
I am often asked, “how long does it take to learn Spanish?” I’m afraid that this is essentially a million dollar question and one for which there is no common answer.
Unfortunately there are simply way too many variables involved, in that so much relies on how much effort someone is willing to put into studying the language, and also which technique or program they will be using. Add to that the incontrovertible fact that while some students may choose to use the services of a private mentor, others will select a classroom environment instead. Actually, some students will rather opt for using one or other home study program which makes use of books, multimedia, software, and audio recordings. You also have to ask yourself whether the student will be learning the language in a country where it’s spoken as the first language, or whether they will be learning it in their home country. Similarly, the standard of a program or the expertise of a teacher will also influence the outcome.
Since these variables will have such a direct effect on how long does it take to learn Spanish, it is just not possible to provide a simple response to this query. In fact, I have personally been involved with people who after six months, managed to communicate confidently in conversational Spanish, but also , I’ve met individuals who have studied the Spanish language for a few years, frankly on an on and off basis, and yet after many years they can hardly get by.
Rather than attempting to provide a simple answer to this question, I’d rather discuss what I feel to be the fastest way of learning Spanish. The most important step of all, is for a person to seize every possible opportunity with regards to interacting in the language they wish to learn, irrespective of what language that could be.
While you actually do get those who are firm followers of the classroom approach, I personally feel it takes too long unless it is done with another method. To my mind, a self study method of good quality is by a large margin superior in that it permits a student to proceed at their own pace rather than being tied down to the average lecture room pace. This is very true regarding students who are really serious about learning Spanish.
In this case, I would suggest a person to go for a reputable program which includes a selection of audio lessons, multimedia lessons, and naturally, written Spanish. In addition, they should choose a program which allows for lessons to be downloaded onto a mobile device so that the student can listen on their iPod for instance. Remember, if you’re serious about learning a language, then you should aim at being able to not only speak it and write it, but also to read it and understand it. Unless a program covers all 4 of these areas, it needs to be avoided or at least, you will need some further material.
As you most likely have already heard, Rocket Spanish is an extremely well-liked program, and not without reason. Considering that it addresses all four of the area’s mentioned, it has gained a name for providing scholars with a-class foundation for basic Spanish which in turn will ensure that you are able to speak confidently in Spanish inside a relatively short space of time. Similarly, Rosetta Stone is known to be quite as good, in that it also addresses the four areas discussed above. Furthermore, it is available in two versions so that scholars can select between the “Spain” version and the South American Spanish version. Judging from testimonials, it would appear that the Rosetta Stone program takes slightly longer to work thru, which of course means it will take you a little longer before you develop conversational Spanish but in general, it ranks right up there with Rocket Spanish. Also, Rosetta Stone is quite a bit more expensive.
As you can see, there are too many variables involved for me or anyone else to be in a position to give a single response regarding “how long does it takes to learn Spanish. However, you have probably also gathered by this point that there are many things you can do in order to speed up the process. In reality, many people go as far as using both the programs mentioned together with each other to develop conversational talents as fast as possible. However, unless you are steadily exposed to the Spanish language, no program will be capable of making you a hundred percent fluent. On the other hand, providing you are at an intermediate-to-advanced level, you might want to consider subscribing to Puerta del Sol Audio magazine which is a Spanish language talents Magazine. Furthermore, you’d be shocked at how much you can get benefits from joining a Meetup group in your area that is focused on learning the Spanish language.
This entry was posted on Monday, September 28th, 2009 at 3:53 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.