How to learn Spanish
I'm a normal person and not a linguist although I am interested in languages. This article is about the time it takes to learn a language, based on my personal experience.
So, how long does it take to learn Spanish?
Firstly, and let's get this clear from the beginning. You can't learn Spanish or any other language in four/eight weeks (insert arbitrary but short time period here) with 30 minutes practice a day. The FSI (Foreign Service Courses) developed by the United States Government for diplomats are probably the closest thing you will find to genuinely quick language learning. Learning Spanish using an FSI course takes about 600 hours of class time spread over approximately 24 weeks.
If you want to learn Spanish fluently, I believe that FSI is part of the way to go. However, FSI courses are not for everyone (they are intensely repetitive) and neither are they the whole story. I'm trying to illustrate that it isn't possible to learn a language, to a high level of competence, quickly. How long does it take to learn a language written by a language teacher, in essence says 'quite a long time'.
Although many language courses promise the opposite, you can't learn a language in a short period of time, and it is important to recognize this so that you can set realistic language learning goals and not become discouraged.
I've been learning Spanish off and on for approximately five years, and while I have spent time in Spanish speaking countries live in England. I am by no means fluent although I can communicate effectively. In other words, I've reached a level which is higher than most second language learners, mainly due to not giving up.
My language learning experience has always been part-time, I've never studied Spanish full-time at a university or lived for years in a Spanish speaking country.
My advice on learning Spanish (part-time) is as follows:
1. Ignore any course which promises too much or sounds to good to be true.
2. Use as many sources as possible when you are learning.
3. Find a formal and structured course of some description. Structured courses are not a panacea, but you can use them as a basis for your own learning.
4. Use FSI Spanish as part of your learning.
5. Once you have reached an intermediate level, find a native speaker or speakers and practice as much as possible. It is better to do this once a week for a long period of time, than a lot for a short period and then never again.
6. Set your own goals.
7. Take charge of and responsibility for your own learning.
By the way, the good news is that once you have learned another language, it does become easier to learn others. I'm sure that this is in part due to the fact that you have learnt how to learn. (Again speaking from my experience).
Peace.
Frank M.
Non linguist.