How long to get really good at a language?

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Andy in Sig

Vice President in Exile
normgow said:
I would recommend "Suddeutsche Zeitung or Frankfurter Allgemeine"

both excellent papers for news , politics, culture and sport.

They are indeed good papers (I take the Suddeutsche every day) however short and sweet articles are a bit thin in the ground in them. Therefore I would recommend Stern or Der Spiegel.
 

mangaman

Guest
I think it depends on how good you want to be!

I lived in Spain for a year many years ago and although I couldn't afford Spanish lessons I picked things up within a few months

After 1 year I was "thinking in Spanish" ie not having to listen to someone/translate it into English/ formulate a reply and translate that back into Spanish.

Now, despite doing evening classes, listening to the radio etc I am back at the average level. I can make myself understood in Spain and can understand someone talking clearly. I'd tried everything but my Spanish hit a certain level but I was never fluent.

I have a Spanish mate in my town and he is an unemployed teacher, so I pay him a small fee and he comes round once a week and teaches me. It's made a massive difference in about 4 months.

We often just sit and chat in Spanish about stuff like climate change, the Spanish civil war, the poet Lorca - it's amazing how you tune into it and can achieve.

He also teaches real Spanish not "textbook Spanish"
 

Maz

Guru
I did A-level Spanish at night class about 5 years ago. I didn't want to lose what I had learned. I occasionally get the chance to speak Spanish at work with colleagues in the office or on the phone. Other than that, I download lots of free podcasts from RTVE (you could probably find the German equivalent of the 'BBC') and listen to them. To get my ears accustomed to the speed of speech, I have written many Spanish transcripts of the podcasts and I get them corrected from language forums and friends. It's a simple, free and very effective way of learning a language.
 
I go to the Goethe Institut in Manchester (based at Manchester uni nowadays) There are very few ones in this country. I think there is only London apart from Manchester. I have visited Germany over the past few years and have noticed my improvement, from hardly speaking much at all to not speaking any English all week. Get out there, decide from day to day where you will stay, book yourself a train journey somewhere, then find yourself some accommodation and a meal. Good luck!
 

Andy in Sig

Vice President in Exile
Campfire said:
I go to the Goethe Institut in Manchester (based at Manchester uni nowadays) There are very few ones in this country. I think there is only London apart from Manchester. I have visited Germany over the past few years and have noticed my improvement, from hardly speaking much at all to not speaking any English all week. Get out there, decide from day to day where you will stay, book yourself a train journey somewhere, then find yourself some accommodation and a meal. Good luck!

There is also a Goethe Institut in Glasgow, so perhaps it is in other big cities as well.
 
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