I didn’t take Spanish 1 and 2 middle school, but was able to start Spanish 3 freshman year. Does this equate to 3 years of foreign language? I received 3 credits from that class.
Yes but in your specific situation you’d be expected to continue at least through sophomore year if you’re aiming for tippy top schools. If you’re a heritage/native speaker it can benefit you to take the faster-paced community college classes (if you completed level 3 in high school you’d complete level 3+4 in college in a year, equivalent to reaching AP level, zndnry ayvhave special “Spanish for native speakers” classes) and for top 10 universities/LACs they may want to see that language through AP Spanish literature or post level4 college Spanish or Spanish 4 + 3 years of another language.