How do you become fluent?

[Villa]

La mejor manera de todas para adquirir fluidez en español es conseguir
una novia o novio que es un hablante nativo de español, que sólo sabe
hablar español y estar con ellos 24/7. Entonces mirar la televisión en
español con ellos y así sucesivamente hasta la cama.
Es lo que he hecho yo.

[chileno]

Right.

Back in 79, I met this Chilean in California, who married this beautiful American girl. The girl ended up speaking like a Chilean, and the guy didn't even know how to say Hola in English.

[Villa]

Muy interesante.

He hecho lo mismo con varias novias de habla hispana.
Aprendí mucho español pero ellas no aprendían mucho inglés.
Me sentía un poco culpable, pero yo quería aprender español
más de lo que ellas querían aprender inglés.
No es mi culpa.

[ROBINDESBOIS]

Your Spanish must be perfect, you´re such an untiring learner ! I don´t know if Infatigable is untiring or not.
Congratulations on your will power.

Originally Posted by Villa

Hola Wahooka,

Nobody really learns a second language very well in just a traditional classroom.
It's good as an addition to your learning but not and end to all ends. If you do take
a Spanish class make sure you record all the classes. You can record them right on
your phone. I have and still do.

You need to emerse yourself in Spanish. I for example watch 4 Spanish language soap operas every day 5 nights a week. I also watch TV in Spanish in the morning. I record programs in Spanish when I'm not home. Even on the week ends I watch TV in Spanish. Sabato Gigante with Don Francisco for example.
I live with a native Spanish speaker too that speaks to me only in Spanish. I speak back only in Spanish.

1. Get Spanish audio books and Spanish langugue programs and listen to them in your car every day on
your way to and from work or school.

2. Get Spanish songs on CD and listen to them in your car and at home.
Get the Spanish lyrics from the songs on the internet. Memorize the lyrics. Sing or speak the lyrics.

3. Even when you're on the computer listen to the radio or your Spanish language audio programs and Spanish music. If you're painting or doing house work listen to your Spanish programs or Spanish radio.

4. Listen to Spanish while at the gym. Talk to people in Spanish at the gym and out on the street.

5. Find Spanish speakers. I helped a man from Peru get his master's degree. He helped me with my Spanish. We got together every week.

6. Go to A.A. meetings where everything is in Spanish even if you don't drink. I did. You need to listen to Spanish a lot.

7. Start a Spanish language Meet Up group. Invite native Spanish
speakers that want to learn English and English speakers that want to
learn Spanish.

8. Make lots of flash cards. Spanish on one side, English on the other.

9. Get lots of books to learn Spanish at used book stores, garage sales
and off the internet.

10. Record native Spanish speakers speaking right on your cell phone.

11. Read Spanish out loud. This is one of the best things you can do
to become fluent and you never run out of something to say.

12. Remember that understanding well a language is more important
at first than speaking. Once you understand Spanish the words will just
flow out of your mouth without having to think. The way you learn to
understand Spanish is by listening to it a lot and putting time in studying
with flash cards books and coming on this Spanish forum.

All the above is part of the process of learning Spanish. If you enjoy and
have fun with the process you'll become fluent.

las novias y los novios no siempre ayudan, además siempre se repiten las mismas estructuras, unas veces están demasiado ocupados/-as. Ayuda solo si pones interés en aprender.

[Villa]

Originally Posted by ROBINDESBOIS

Your Spanish must be perfect, you´re such an untiring learner ! I don´t know if Infatigable is untiring or not.
Congratulations on your will power.

Muchas gracias por el cumplido. Eres muy amable, Robindesbois.

¿He mencionado que durante dos años enteros solo veía la televisión en español no viendo la TV en inglés en absoluto?

También estoy aprendiendo la lengua italiana y haciendo muchas de las mismas cosas para aprender italiano que he hecho para aprender español. Por supuesto el italiano es relativamente fácil sapendo el español. Esta es otra de las ventajas de aprender español. Una vez sabiendo español las otras lenguas latinas son más fáciles de aprender.

Originally Posted by ROBINDESBOIS

las novias y los novios no siempre ayudan, además siempre se repiten las mismas estructuras, unas veces están demasiado ocupados/-as. Ayuda solo si pones interés en aprender.

Estoy de acuerdo contigo un poco Robin, pero que sería la alternativa, no tener
una novia de habla hispana? Tener una novia que solo habla inglés y nada de español?
En mi caso, mi novia hispana miraba telenovelas en español todas las noches y yo miraba las con ella. Despues y el dia siguiente hablabamos de lo que habia pasado en las novelas. Ella tenía revistas sobre las telenovelas en el idioma español y me gustaba leer sobre los actores en estas revistas todo en español. Mis novias de habla hispana me hablaban durante horas en español. Me enseñaron mucho vocabulario en español. La inmersión total pues. Por no hablar de hacer el amor en español. Te quiero tanto vida mia! Eres la mujer más hermosa del mundo. Bésame mucho, como si ésta fuera la última noche juntos. Te adoro vida mia. Cuanto me quieres? Estoy totalmente enamorado contigo! Eres muy linda! Me haces el hombre mas feliz del mundo. Eres el amor de mi vida. Me has extrañado?
Te necesito tanto vida mia! No hubiera aprendido nada de esto y mas sin mis novias de habla hispana.

[Hablando]

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.

[Villa]

Speaking of going to a Spanish speaking country to learn Spanish reminds me of a joke I heard years ago:

In the U.S. state of North Dakota on the Canadian border a high
school student is in his room at night studying his Spanish
homework. His dad walks in and asks him what he's doing.
The kid says he's studying his Spanish but says what good
is it to learn Spanish because nobody around North Dakota
speaks Spanish. The father says that's true but some day
son you might take a trip to Los Angeles, California.

To understand this joke you have to realize that even though
Los Angles, California is in The United States there are more
Spanish speakers in L.A. than many Spanish speaking cities
in the 21 Spanish speaking countries around the world. In fact
after Mexico City and Guadalajara Los Angeles is the third largest
Spanish speaking city outside of Mexico.

I just read there are 69 million Spanish speakers in the U.S.
Half of them speak English too. Also there are 6 million
students of Spanish in the U.S.

[SteffiL89]

I think reading doesn't make you fluent in Spanish. At least for me, it doesn't work. I learned tons of vocabulary, read books in English and practised with different softwares written and spoken Spanish and grammar. But speaking stayed a problem for me. I'd advise you to look for intercambios (they are free and you both benefit from each other) face to face or via Skype and regularely. If it's very important for you to improve very fast you should consider going to a language school for some weeks. I have been to one for several weeks because I couldn't communicate fluently. Then you'll be forced to speak and have a way more motivating surrounding in order to get absolutely into the language.

[Voytek]

Has anybody tried chileno`s method? It sounds very interesting but I want to know, if it`s effective?

[Coldrainwater]

Originally Posted by Voytek

Has anybody tried chileno`s method? It sounds very interesting but I want to know, if it`s effective?

Sí, yo me voy a utilizar el método de chileno. Llegué a la misma conclusión antes de unirse a este hilo. Es casi similar a la lectura de mis propios pensamientos. Elijo 'meridiano de sangre(Spanish Edition)' porque me parece interesante la prosa ambos en inglés y español. He estado estudiando español ahora como adulto por cuatro meses. Me siento preparado para este tipo de inmersión. Sólo el tiempo lo dirá!