<p>I am really dreading taking Spanish at Penn. I just took the placement exam and guessed on nearly every single question. Needless to say that I placed into Spanish 110. I completely expected this. I have taken 2 years of Spanish in high school and never really had great instruction.</p>
<p>I guess my question is simply how great is Penn's Spanish department? If I start at 110 and work my way up will I be able to become fluent? I am by no means a language person, in fact quite the opposite. But I would like to know another language and am willing to work on it. </p>
<p>Please share any info on Penn's Spanish program.</p>
<p>hmmm…well it might be hard 4 u 2 continue taking enough spanish 2 get fluent at this point. i’m entering with 2 ap 5’s on spanish lang and lit, so i’m taking 202, then if i wanna continue 212 and 214 (although i would probably take span. 208 business spanish in between)</p>
<p>i think that if u don’t like spanish, then don’t continue beyond the requirements, but maybe you’ll like 110 and want 2 keep going 2 get fluent! who knows. take the class, and you’ll see.</p>
<p>You can take any language you want. Because you placed into 110, it’ll take you the same 4 semesters to do anything now. If you really want to start Arabic or French or Italian this is the time to learn it. </p>
<p>I took two semesters of Spanish at Penn (130, 140) and found them to not be too difficult. Spanish professors tend to be pretty decent. Some might not speak the best English, but it’s not that big of a deal compared to a class like Physics. My friends who started in 110 generally liked their 2 years in the department.</p>
<p>You’ll become fluent if you want to. The best way is to go aborad. I don’t think you’ll be able to do a semester abroad in Spain or Argentina till first semester senior year on your track so you’ll have to do a summer program.</p>
<p>You will never get fluent in a language in the classroom. Venkat is right that the best thing is to go abroad – after you have taken enough language classes to have a basic command, so that you have a base to build on.</p>
<p>One of the advantages of Spanish, though, is that there are so many native Spanish speakers here. You don’t have to go to Argentina to talk Spanish, you can do it at any restaurant in town, and there are Spanish newspapers, books, radio, TV available to everyone. That doesn’t substitute for living in a completely Spanish-speaking environment for months or years (years is really necessary for actual fluency), but it sure gives you a boost, and helps you maintain what you learned when you return if you do study abroad.</p>