Be fluent in another language

A few weeks ago I was accepted to the Project Abroad program to study Spanish in Costa Rica for two weeks. I was thinking about extending it to a month or maybe going to Peru for an additional two weeks. I feel like its actually real now, that I will be in another country totally out of my element and increasing my knowledge in another language. sigh Its definitely surreal right now. Maybe the closer it gets to June it will become more and more real then.

So I’m a bit behind – have a lot of studying to do for this time next week.

I’ve just made a new friend who is fluent in 4 languages – so perhaps he’ll swap some arabic lessons for a few more english tips from me! Or I could always cook him a risotto…

preferablly french or spanish…my grandmother says I should learn chinese because she believes one day they might take over…but i will stick with spanish or french

...and next week I’ll start stages 3 and 4 of the beginner’s Swedish. After that I can do ‘Swedish as a Second Language’, which is far more advanced, and I believe is also more hours (my courses at the moment are only 2 hours a day, 2 days a week).

I have a head start in Spanish :)

I have had four years of Spanish in high school and two college semesters, and still I am not fluent. I can read it well, but not hear it fully.

One of my many goals in life is to be able to go to another country and talk to someone there in their language. It would be a great accomplishment that I would be incredibly proud of. For the longest time I have wanted to learn Japanese, but now I am also considering learning Italian as well(this would be useful for singing opera). My problem is that I always find excuses not to practice and am not dedicated enough.

Although I’m nowhere near fluent, I know a lot of words, and have a few Astrid Lindgren books, in the original Swedish to start reading. At the moment I don’t have my workbooks, as they’re on their way in boxes (with a whole load of other stuff). I do have Erik to talk to, and he is very helpful. I will also try and find an adult learning course here in Umeå. I knew of Folkuniversitet, but their A1 (beginner) course started on the 15th of September, 5 days before I got here. I am positive, and eager, though, so once my residency is sorted, this should be easier.

I learn both Japanese and french at school and would love some sort of fluency in japanese, but french is my passion. With french, I hope to take it to uni level and live/study there for a year or so.
I just need to get my head down,go over tenses,grammar and the speaking aspect of the language.

Bonne chance :)