I am a native Chinese speaker. I was born in China and it was my first language, with English following closely after. If I take AP Chinese in my freshman year of high school, then Spanish for my sophomore, junior and senior years, will that hurt my chances of getting into a good college? Is it better to take Spanish in all four years?
Is your knowledge of Chinese already beyond that of an AP Chinese course and test, or would you actually learn something in an AP Chinese course? (There are some sample AP Chinese test questions at https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/courses/ap-chinese-language-and-culture/exam to see how your knowledge compares.)
If your knowledge is already beyond that of an AP Chinese course, just take the AP test to prove your knowledge with a 5 score and take Spanish 1 through Spanish 4 (or AP if year 4 is AP level) in school.
Agree with above. Just take the Chinese exam without taking the course, so you can still take Spanish all 4 years.