<p>I'm currently a sophomore undergrad and I'm 95% sure I'll be studying in Madrid, Spain next year for two quarters + winter break (about 7 months in total).</p>
<p>I will have been studying Spanish for 6 years by the time I go. I started taking it my freshman year of high school, took the intermediate courses my freshman year of college, and now am midway through my first advanced Spanish class at the university. I'm minoring in Spanish. </p>
<p>I consider myself "proficient" but definitely not fluent. I can do a good job of minimizing my accent and seem to understand almost everything when I'm having a conversation with a Mexicano or in class. By the time I go to Spain I'll have taken two more advanced Spanish courses. My current roommate also is also a native Spanish speaker.</p>
<p>Also, the program I'm going on is amazing. My first quarter there I'll be studying at the Complu taking all Spanish classes. I'm then spending winter break with a Spanish friend of mine who lives in southern Spain. The last quarter I'll be back in Madrid doing an unpaid internship in accounting. All of my living arrangements will be in home-stays. It'll be a total language immersion.</p>
<p>Here's my dilemma: </p>
<p>I feel like I'm not ready enough. I seem to be able to hold a conversation- but whenever I watch movies in Spanish (specifically ones set in Spain) I'm totally lost. I can only get a few phrases and things here and there, but not enough to follow the plot!</p>
<p>I'm really nervous for studying abroad because of this. I know I'll learn when I'm there, but I feel overwhelmed already despite the fact I haven't even gone yet and I'm more than decent at Spanish.</p>
<p>Should I go? Is Spain maybe not the right location? Should I wait before I go? What have other people done who've gone to study abroad without being fluent in the language first? </p>
<p>Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thank You</p>
<p>Our D went to Spain last summer for a one month as part of an exchange and loved it! But her first call to us to confirm that she landed safely was a few hours after the plane landed and she was having lunch near Madrid; her words about Spanish was that it was like 24/7 all the time! Don’t fear though as she seemed to have acclimated pretty fast, within a week or two, I sensed she had started to gain some confidence. She kind of forced herself to jump in and join conversations a little just for the sake of speaking and not just being a listenier. By the time she left she had made numerous friends and is still Facebooking them now. So don’t worry it will come to you before you know it. Have a blast.</p>
<p>I have never been apply to speak a lick of any languag,e but manager to get around different areas of the world fine. With that being said I had a friend who went to Chile on a missionary mission who spoke -10% spanish. He said within 2 months he had become fluent. In your case I think by the end of the first week you seem like a local (just with a strange accent).
Don’t worry you will do great</p>
<p>Don’t worry, movies are hard. They’re full of slang and you never get to ask “Can you repeat that?” If you are determined to watch Spanish movies, I’d put the Spanish subtitles on. It’ll help with your listening comprehension but you’ll catch more of the plot because you’ll see the actual words.
Look, most people will know almost immediately that you’re an American. And there isn’t anything wrong with that. They’ll probably use simpler words (my host mother avoided slang; when she talked to her daughters on the phone I had NO IDEA what she was saying despite the fact that we talked for hours every day) and they’ll repeat themselves if necessary.
IMO you can’t ever attain fluency WITHOUT living a language. I think you’re traveling at exactly the right time and doing the right things. Homestays are necessary and wonderful. Take every opportunity to speak, read and think in Spanish. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes; they’ll understand anyway. (One of my pet phrases when I was abroad in France was, “I don’t know the word in French, but…” and then I’d describe it. I got really stuck once because I couldn’t remember how to say “tire” and I had no idea how to describe it. I think I said, “There are four of them on a car…” My host parents got it eventually!)</p>
<p>I spent a month in China , speaking ZERO Chinese . If I can survive that , you should be fine ! If you can pick up the basic thread of a conversation , you can always ask about a particular word , or have a handy pocket dictionary ! Just relax and smile ! PS- I never learned much Chinese but I was good at pantomime !</p>
<p>I typed up a long post but then got logged out. So the salient points:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>I’m a Spanish major. Like you, I consider myself proficient but not fluent. Similarly, I started in college at the intermediate level (Spanish 4 to be exact) and am now a sophomore. Unlike you, I did not do any Spanish in high school - I was self-taught for two years, which brings me to just over three years of studying Spanish, with absolutely no meaningful conversation for the first two years of that.</p></li>
<li><p>I went to Madrid for four days about six months ago. First time in Spanish-speaking country. No problems conversing. They speak fast, much faster than Mexicans, but you’ll get used to it sooner than you think.</p></li>
<li><p>Spaniards will often offer to speak English if they know you’re not a native speaker, but if you say no, they will continue solely in Spanish. Most are not comfortable with English, certainly less so than you are with Spanish. This is a good thing! It means you have the option of going to English if you absolutely need it, but it also means that there will be no temptation to switch to English for easier communication on both your parts.</p></li>
<li><p>By the fourth day someone had mistaken me for a native speaker. That’s how fast you’ll adjust.</p></li>
<li><p>Accent: if you’re good at hiding your accent, that can only be a big help. There’s a difference between hiding your American accent and hiding your Latin American accent, but in either case, the worst that can happen is that they’ll know you’re not from Spain. Big deal, and this, too, is something that will improve over time. Remember that in Madrid and most of Spain “c” before “i” and “e”, and “z”, are pronounced “th”. Don’t forget that the vosotros form exists (the first time I heard it, it was like being slapped in the ear). Spaniards are much more informal than Latin Americans, “tú” is much more common than “usted”. And add “vale” to your vocabulary.</p></li>
<li><p>A friend of mine who did her Master’s abroad, in a language that was not her first or second language, once said that if your progress in a language is plateauing despite all your best efforts, that’s the time to go abroad for total language immersion, regardless of whether you feel ready. The thing about language learning is that there’s no way to improve without making mistakes. So you’ll often feel silly or out of your depth, but that’s the only way you’ll get better. Don’t be afraid of it.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>I did a summer high school program in Barcelona for a month this summer and stayed in a home stay with a host mother who spoke only Spanish and Catalan. Neither of my roommates spoke any Spanish. I’d only had 2 years of high school Spanish and I was able to understand everything she said, everything everyone else said, and I got around perfectly fine. I even caught myself thinking in Spanish multiple times a day. Even if I do happen to be really good at Spanish, you’ve had 3 times as many years of learning it as me. Trust me, you’ll be fine.</p>
<p>You’re ready. Go. I went to Spain with less preparation than you did. By the time you have finished up your stay in Spain…you will have learned a lot. You’re ready. Go.</p>