I am often asked, “how long does it take to learn Spanish?” I am afraid that this is basically a million dollar question and one for which there’s no common answer.
Sadly there are simply too many variables involved, in that so much depends on how much effort an individual is willing to put into learning the language, and also which technique or program they are going to be using. Add to that the incontrovertible fact that while some people may choose to use the services of a personal mentor, others will select a classroom environment instead. Actually, some students will rather select using one or other home study program which gets use from books, multimedia, software, and audio recordings. You also need to ask yourself whether the person will be learning the language in a country where it’s spoken as the first language, or whether they’ll be learning it in their home country. Similarly, the standard of a program or the experience of a teacher will also influence the result.
Since these variables will have such a direct impact on how long does it take to learn Spanish, it is simply not feasible to provide a single answer to this query. In reality, I have personally been involved with students who after six months, managed to communicate confidently in conversational Spanish, but I have also met people who have studied the Spanish language for a period of years, admittedly on an on and off basis, and yet after many years they can hardly get by.
Instead of attempting to provide a generic answer to this question, I’d prefer to discuss what I feel to be the fastest way of learning Spanish. The most significant step of all, is for a student to seize each possible opportunity regarding interacting in the language they would like to learn, irrespective of what language that could be.
While you actually do get those that are firm followers of the lecture room approach, I actually feel it takes too long unless it is done with another technique. In my experience, a self study system of good quality is by far superior in that it allows a student to move forward at their own pace instead of being tied down to the average classroom pace. This is very true regarding students who are really serious about learning Spanish.
In this case, I might suggest a student to select a credible program which includes a selection of audio lessons, multimedia lessons, and naturally, written Spanish. In addition, they should select a program which allows for lessons to be downloaded onto a mobile device so that the student can listen on their iPod for example. Remember, if you’re serious about learning a language, then you should aim for having the ability 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’ll need some additional material.
As you could have already heard, Rocket Spanish is an intensely well-liked program, and not without reason. Considering that it addresses all four of the area’s discussed, it has gained a name for providing scholars with a first foundation for basic Spanish which in turn will ensure that you are able to communicate 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 4 areas discussed above. Furthermore, it is available in two versions so that students can select between the “Spain” version and the Latin American Spanish version. Judging by testimonials, it would appear that the Rosetta Stone program takes slightly longer to work through, which of course means it will take you a little longer before you develop conversational Spanish but generally, it ranks right up there with Rocket Spanish. Also, Rosetta Stone is quite a bit costlier.
As you can see, there are too many variables concerned for me or anyone else to be able to give a simple answer regarding “how long does it takes to learn Spanish. However, you’ve potentially also gathered by now that there are a few things you can do in order to speed up the process. In reality, many people go as far as using both the programs mentioned in conjunction with each other to develop conversational abilities as fast as possible. However, unless you are continuously exposed to the Spanish language, no program will be capable of making you a hundred p.c fluent. On the other hand, providing you’re at an intermediate-to-advanced level, you might consider subscribing to Puerta del Sol Audio magazine which is a Spanish language skills Magazine. Furthermore, you’d be surprised at quite how much you can get benefits from joining a Meetup group in your area that focuses on learning the Spanish language.