Is it possible to become fluent without living in a Spanish country?
 

Well, I remember my trip to Barcelona earlier on in the year and it was awesome, the people were nice. It's pretty different when you have to use the language to get through the day.

Do you think it's possible to become fluent without being in a Spanish speaking country?

In my opinion nothing really substrates for being in the country but on the other hand, nothing's truly impossible.

What are other peoples thoughts?

Saludos.

Claro que sí se puede hablar el español con bastante fluidez en cualquier pais. Lo que es más es perfeccionar el idioma.
Yes you can learn to speak Spanish fluently in any country you wish. What is more difficult is completely mastering the language.

It's kinda one thing knowing the tenses/verb conjunctions in writing, but it's another thing using it in speech.

What do you mean by mastering the language? ^_^

Saludos.

Mastering the language is to truly know the intricacies of the language. This means using the correct prepositions all the time, getting the gender of the nouns correct all the time, having the ability to say things with the same meaning different ways, pronoucing without a trace of your native language. This is a nearly impossible task for an adult English speaker to unless they use the language daily with various Spanish speakers. It's difficult enough to master English let alone Spanish:)

I often receive compliments on my English but I have never lived in an English-speaking country and I have never lived in an English-speaking community, so I think anyone can become (mostly) fluent in a foreign language without living in a country that speaks it. But then, I have been learning English for about 20 years now. On the other hand, I know someone who has been living in Germany for over 8 years and he hasn't learnt as much German as he should, because he has never ventured outside his English-speaking community.
It's all about dedication and effort. :)

There's an American soccer player who has been playing for a German club for about 8 years by now. I noticed him during the world cup two years ago and thought he was German. No native German speaker could have thought that he was actually American. This is just one example, there are more of course. It just needs time and dedication.
Living in a Spanish speaking country would make it easier, but I don't really think it's necessary.

Especially if you take into account a magic word.


INTERNET.

;)

I don't think anything's quite the same as being in the country, what's every one else's opinion?

But then again, you could be in the country and not want to learn the language. Hmmmmmmm.

If you want to learn it you'll learn it you will. :P

Books, TV, radio and CDs are great, but there is no substitute for a natural Spanish-speaking environment with native Spanish speakers.

I think it is POSSIBLE to learn to speak almost as well as a native speaker without living in a Spanish speaking country, BUT....it would require some serious dedication.

If you live in the country, you will automatically learn a lot of little things: colloquialisms, little words that you never even thought about learning but that caught your attention because they become part of your daily experience etc.

If you don't live in the country, then your knowledge will probably have a lot of little "gaps", minor things perhaps, but still they would be things that a native speaker WOULD know.

Having said all of that, why waste time thinking about whether you will ever know as much as a native speaker? Does it really matter? It's certainly possible to be FLUENT in a language, no matter where you live.

I would say that you have to remember WHY you want to learn a language in the first place. Isn't it to be able to communicate your thoughts to people who speak that language? All that matters is that you can express yourself in the language the way you would LIKE to express yourself. You only have to learn what you actually NEED. Perfection is not the goal, being able to express what you WANT to express should be the goal.

I am sure a native English speaker knows more words than I do in English, but I can say exactly what I WANT to say in English, so I don't feel hampered in my expression by a lack of vocabulary, for instance. So, although I am NOT as good as a native English speaker, I am good enough "for my own standard"!

Definetely yes.