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Old February 27, 2014, 03:33 AM
Hablando Hablando is offline
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Join Date: Apr 2012
Posts: 2
Hablando is on a distinguished road
How to get fluent

I can speak Spanish very well and yet I still ask myself how it actually got that way.
It all started when I decided to do a Spanish course in Spain many many years ago. I wasnt even learning Spanish at the time and didnt do it at school either. Anyhow, I decided to go for it and in those days it meant going to the consulate (where I found some flyers), writing to the school for info, sending off the application form etc etc. I went to Granada in a school called Instituto Espanol de Granada - it doesnt exist any more. I booked for 4 weeks, 20 lessons a week, but ended up staying for 6 weeks.

What happened in those 6 weeks is a blur - eating, drinking, partying, lessons, meeting new people of all nationalities, speaking Spanish, excursions... And at the end of the 6 weeks I could communicate in Spanish. I could even talk to the barman in my favourite bar about the soccer on TV - something Id never imagined possible just 5 or 6 weeks previously.

The following year I did another 4 week course (Proyecto Espanol school) and, as with the previous year, learned tons but all in a blur which left me thinking "how did that happen". Last year, more than ten years after the first course in Granada I decided to do another course (with Estudia Espana this time). In the 10 years Id had little or no contact with Spanish but was surprised to find out how much I still knew. I had no communication problems really. And the 4 weeks was just like the rest - blur... learn... blur... learn.

I guess what Im saying is that the best way to become fluent is to go to a Spanish speaking country and do a course but also get out there to the bars, cinema, speak to people (they dont bite!) and immerse yourself. One thing I have learned over the years is that the fears and worries we have about speaking a foreign language, making mistakes etc, is absolutely not necessary. The schools are great for giving you the the grammatical guidance and security but speaking and living the language is the ONLY way to get fluent.
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