Thinking on quitting...

[Liquinn3]

I might give up Spanish (have been doing it for three years and a few months). What should I do? :(

[Sancho Panther]

Just have a few months rest from it - BUT decide when you're going return and stick to it!

I did that many years ago and my enthusiasm returned.

[JPablo]

The answer is always...
to carry on!

[Sancho Panther]

Agreed... but there are times when you can allow yourself a rest from it.

I would suggest giving it a break from now until the new year - as long as you do resume!

[Liquinn3]

I can never be Spanish or Catalan. :(

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

I'll never be American or British and that won't stop me from studying the language. :p

[Liquinn3]

I'll never be American or British and that won't stop me from studying the language. :p
Tienes razón. But at what point does one "complete" learning a language?

[Rusty]

Never.

[Liquinn3]

Never.
What about a native?

[Rusty]

A native speaker never stops learning his or her language. There is always something new to learn. There are ways to improve on what you think you've mastered.
Languages are ever-changing. There is no possible way to learn everything. You'll spend a lifetime trying to master your native tongue.

[Liquinn3]

A native speaker never stops learning his or her language. There is always something new to learn. There are ways to improve on what you think you've mastered.
Languages are ever-changing. There is no possible way to learn everything. You'll spend a lifetime trying to master your native tongue.
True. What's easier to master? A foreign or native language?

[Sancho Panther]

I began learning Spanish in nineteen seventy after a fellow Brit said how rude we Brits are expecting everybody to understand English. So when I returned from Lloret de Mar in September I commenced learning. By Christmas I'd got a bit behind and packed it up. However in mid-January we were called out on strike which lasted until early March so I resumed my studies. I now manage fairly well but I still continue looking-up points of grammar, especially when I'm corrected by my Spanish señora, or my daughter who has an 'A' level in Spanish and used to live in Alicante!

[JPablo]

I think it is easier to master your native tongue, but you can always get a high level of proficiency in other languages as well... :-)

[Liquinn3]

Could someone LOVE a language but not like the country?

[poli]

Of course. You may love English but hate USA, and love India or Jamaica or Australia or The Philippines or UK. The same would go for Spanish: hate Spain but love Argentina or Mexico or USA... Or you can dislike all those countries, and just have a love for the language. There's lots of variables.

[Liquinn3]

Of course. You may love English but hate USA, and love India or Jamaica or Australia or The Philippines or UK. The same would go for Spanish: hate Spain but love Argentina or Mexico or USA... Or you can dislike all those countries, and just have a love for the language. There's lots of variables.
Reading a Spanish book in England seems different to reading one in Spain. Why?

[poli]

I don't think I would notice the difference, but speaking Castilian in Spain is different from speaking Spanish in NYC for me.

[Liquinn3]

I don't think I would notice the difference, but speaking Castilian in Spain is different from speaking Spanish in NYC for me.
Why is it different? :)

[poli]

The vocabulary and accent is quite different, and I am more accustomed to conversing with new-world Spanish speakers .

[Sancho Panther]

I have little trouble understanding well educated Hispanophones regardless of where they're from, however I do occasionally struggle to follow ill-educated people with marked regional accents, whether they're European or Latin American.

That's not snobbery at all by the way, I hold very liberal views. I actually have as much difficulty with really strong local English accents. The far north east of England has a very marked accent almost incomprehensible to the rest of the UK - 'Geordie' it's called.