How long to learn Spanish in Chile?

Sara writes and asks:

Hello Pepe,

What i would like to know is, is if you spend a period of time in chile or any latin american country are you able to learn spanish and be fluent by the end of your stay there?

It helps if you know the basics of Spanish when you get there. Of course the longer you spend in the country the better your Spanish will become. By the time my 2 years were up I was fluent. Of course I don’t know how to say everything in Spanish but I can at least talk my way around words I don’t know.

I had taken Spanish all through high school but when I got to Chile I couldn’t understand the locals to save my life. I adapted to their accents, slang, and manner of speaking such that I was comfortable in conversations after about 2 months.

Posted October 9th, 2006 in Ask Pepe.

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