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I could but, with the world's sad condition, it's doubtful I will ever try. A few years ago my first choice would have been South America, possibly Chile.
Could be cool, best way to learn a language is to live in an area where everyone is speaking it. I think it'd be pretty exciting even if at times it will be frustrating.
I lived in Czech Republic for 5 years. I am then eager to learn the language but then it turned out the opposite. Czech wants more to learn English than me learning Czech so I end up 0 knowledge of Czech language.
Really? I read somewhere that you'll generally think and dream in your mother tongue, the language you first learned in your formative years.
I can't imagine thinking in another language, actually. Forgive my seeming pride, but English is as much a part of the world to me as gravity or the sun.
I didn't become fluent in Spanish until I was about 15 or 16. Around then I started having dreams in Spanish too.
I'm 30 now, and I still have the occasional dream en español, about one a month. I haven't spoken it even semi-regularly in over ten years.
To those from an English speaking country like the US, UK, Australia, could you live in a non-English speaking country long term?
I probably could, but not permanently or for longer than a few years...it'd be too weird speaking another language for that long, although of course I'd learn some of the language if I did move.
If I did, maybe somewhere in South America, Italy, Greece, Japan or even China.
I did in the past but I am not sure I would want to in the future.
How did you become fluent in Spanish? Did you just take Spanish classes?
Yes. I come from a Mexican-American family, and grew up in a Latino neighborhood, so I was always exposed to it. I remember having somewhat of a grasp of understanding much of it around 7th grade, but couldn't form my own sentences.
I took Spanish 1 in 10th grade, Spanish 2 in 11th, and Spanish 4 in 12th (they didn't seem to think I needed Spanish 3). I had a lot of opportunity to practice, as I worked in a restaurant, and many of the back of house employees only spoke Spanish. So it was great.
I would think 2-3 years of intense study/courses (i.e. making it a pretty big priority) should do the trick for most people. I was sick of being "left out", so I took my classes seriously, and it mostly paid off.
I don't think I would do well anywhere with a tonal spoken language and a written language of logograms (China, Japan, Korea, etc.). Nor would I do well with Arabic.
But as I've lived in Mexico and spend some time in Bulgaria (Cyrillic), I think I could figure out most any Romance or Slavic language. I was fluent in Spanish, and could eventually understand most Spanish speakers. I did think in Spanish (don't recall dreaming in it though). I could phoentically read Cyrillic and put many basic sentences together after just a couple of months.
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