Who here has taken Spanish in college?

[Pyramid_Party]

I am a Junior at UNCW in N.C. I was an A,B student until I took Spanish 1 and made a D, and it was brutal. I have to get credit for 2 Foreign Language classes as well to graduate. I am trying to get into sign language. I don't think it is fair they make us take these classes, as we cant truly learn the language from the book. Very difficult!

What is unfair is they let Spanish speakers take Spanish as a foreign language. Would it be fair if I took English as a foreign language? They should have to take some other language like German or Italian so that it creates the same challenge as it would for a non-Spanish speaking person to take Spanish.

 

[Pyramid_Party]

I took 4 years of spanish in highschool. That sucked. Every single word has a he,she, they, us, we and who knows what else for of the word. Too much.

Yep they have gendered nouns same as German.

 

[joe jaskot]

I took 5 years of spanish in high school. Actually had to read a long novel in spanish. With that said, most Americans who speak spanish speak too rapidly for me to understand what they are saying. Also there are too many different dialects. Unless you use the language you will lose it. After 40+ years my knowledge of the spanish language is poor. On the other hand, my daughter took spanish in high school and also in college. She studied abroad in Madrid for a semester and is now fluent in the language. Personally, I would just rather press 1 for english. LOL!

 

[Inglorious]

I'm always more fluent after returning home from a two week vacation in Mexico than I ever was after two years if it in school.

 

[Pyramid_Party]

Yeah a professor told me his Mother and Father in law learned Italian and they lived in Italy for a few years too. So it really does help to be around it.

 

[BlackShark11k]

the "only a native speaker can get an a" is ridiculous. but, the only way to truly know a language is immersion - seriously, on my first trip to costa rica in my sophomore year of high school i learned more than i had with my first two years of classroom study. after a few more subsequent trips skipped 3rd year spanish and got AP credit in spanish junior year.. speaking with the people, you can pick the language up very quickly - anyone can. but only a few people can get a lot of out of a book.

 

[Pyramid_Party]

Well I know some Spanish speakers so I would speak it with them. Plus there are tons of videos on youtube that teach Spanish. This is part of the reason why I chose Spanish. There are more Spanish speakers I come across than any other language. How often do I come across someone that speaks French? Or German? Or Italian? Everywhere around me there is Spanish speakers. It is a good skill to have if you work hard towards getting it. Plus I like to keep my brain active. Learning new things makes your brain grow and keeps it healthy.

 

[beex215]

i did but it proved no point so i stopped going to that class.

 

[Lupin]

I'm married to a spanish teacher. You gotta travel to spanish speaking countries or speak spanish with fluent people to really get it. You can't get dialects from a book. Mis pantalones es en fuego.

True. I wish my Spanish great grandfather continued the language down the line.