Mastered a language through an intensive language course?
 

Hey FT,

Just wondering if anybody has had any experiences learning a language through and intensive language program. Like a full on language course and how it went.
Did you actually end up speaking the language and after how long>?

What language is worth learning?
I considered taking spanish for about 2months ++.. what are the success chances? Can anybody recommend any spanish courses?

kind regards

If you are willing to dedicate two months, try one of the Middlebury College immersion programs. These programs include in-country residence time. Just do a web search on Middlebury College. It's in Vermont. Good luck.

M8

I don't have any experience (first or second-hand) of going from complete ignorance of a language to complete mastery via an intensive language course.

However, I know someone who had taken a couple of mediocre college-level courses in French, then went to a French language school for 4-6 weeks (he was tested and enrolled in an intermediate-level course). He emerged with quite a good mastery/fluency in the language. Of course, it was a total emersion experience in class and out (he boarded with a French family).

I have done such an intensive language course in Spanish.

I went to Mexico for it, to a town called Cuernavaca, about one hour south of Mexico City, where there are many good language schools.

I was going to work in Mexico for six months, and took two weeks of private instruction with 50 hours per week. I also boarded with a Mexican family. I knew a little bit of Spanish beforehand, but not much more than what you would pick up from a few vacations in Spain.

After these two weeks I could get by pretty well, but what really did it for me was actually living and working in a Spanish-speaking environment afterwards. I would say it took me about three months after the course to really speak Spanish fluently (which I still do).

The courses cost me 250 USD per week, plus 15 USD per night for room and board, though this was in 2002 and Mexico has gotten more expensive since then.

Anyway, Spanish is relatively easy to learn, and your plan of doing a two-month intensive course to gain fluency is doable as long as you put in the required effort, though I would recommend three months based on my experience.

Feel free to PM me if you would like some more details.

Cheers,

Alex

I've taken intensive courses for a # of different languages. You can learn a whole lot in 2 months, particularly if you go to a place where you'll be using the language outside of class. I did that twice in Guatemala and Lesotho, and it worked quite well. tls