Becomming fluent/native speaking from scratch

Hi all,

Brand new to this site so apologies if I am asking you to repeat yourselves.

I basically have a 5 year plan to live and work in Spain. (Probably Valencia or Barcelona). I have just yesterday signed up for my first Spanish course (Cert in Spanish) the goal is to go all the way through to evenually get a BA hons in Modern Language (Spanish and English).

I have been working as a New Business Manager in IT for over 15 years and want to continue with my career. It seems theonly way to do this effectively is to speak fluent Spanish so I can do business in both countries.

I am going to spend the next 5 years completely imersing myself in Spanish language and culture but I have been told that this will not be enough to get me speaking fluently at business level. Is this true?

I am going to travel to Spain probably 3 or more times per year to help with my education.

Ideally I would liek to wwork for a Spanish company selling to England or an English company selling in Spain.

Am I being a little optomistic or is this possible with the right methods and practise?

Good to meet you guys and get prepared for lots of questiosn from me :)

Gee

Thanks for your response. It gives me great hope.

We are going to have Spanish days at home where the whole family are only allowed to communicate in Spanish :) The kids are going to love it ...Not

Really looking forward to it

Are there any success stories on this site of users who started from scratch that are now living in Spain and working etc.

Would be good to read some hints and tricks from people like me

Gee

BIENVENIDO al foro Gee,

sure you are going to be our first example of the great success!
please keep working just according your opportunities, you`ll get there,
although within 5 years, that you cannot enforce. Impossible is nothing yet.

"..But it would be great if you were the first one in my stay in this site"
Puca: ¡te quiero! ¡qué aviso estupendo!

 

Hi
My experience with learning English tells me that nobody who starts learning a language as an adult can reach native speaker level.
I am from Poland and I studied English in Poland with a private teacher for about 5 years before I moved to Australia. At that time my English was at pretty advanced level. I have been now in Australia for 3.5 years. I am completely surrounded by the language, I speak it all day long, I hear it all day long, I work in the language, I read in the language. I have managed to achieve fluency BUT by fluency I mean I am able to have a conversation on any subject, I can understand everything, I can conduct business and I do think in English. BUT I am not fully proficient as I still make small mistakes and speak with Polish accent. Everyone I meet can tell straight away I am not a native speaker. They all say my English is excellent but I know it is not perfect.

So YES, you can become fluent but I don't think you will ever reach the same level as a native speaker.

Hola, Gee

¿Cómo estas?

I think u can do it too. Don't worry!