2 years of college Spanish question
What I wonder is this. Suppose someone took a 2 year US Spanish course, at either a private, state or junior college. Suppose they were an excellent student. What percentage of Latin American newspapers and magazines could they comprehend? What percentage of conversations could they follow in either Latin American countries or watching US Spanish TV programs? Any ideas or thoughts?
4 Answers
I think that someone with two years of college Spanish should be able to comprehend maybe 40-60% of the text in Latin American newspapers and magazines. Many of the words and phrases are sure to be unfamiliar, but may be comprehensible within the context of the articles. When I look back at books and articles in Spanish that I read in college, there are many words that I underlined at the time to look up later. Today I still underline unfamiliar words before adding them to my SD flash cards or phone app favorites. (Fortunately, I underline fewer words than I did in college. Sadly, I still underline some of the same words that I did in college!)
Conversational Spanish may be less comprehensible than written text, until the student has spent sufficient time on audio comprehension or immersed in settings conducive to conversation. In my college years, I had very little conversational experience or ability. Determined to improve, I went to Spain after college and spent 10 months in Madrid and elsewhere. Many years later, building on that foundation, I'm still working at moving up from "intermediate" to "advanced" utilizing tools like Span¡shD!ct, reading whatever I can get my hands on in Spanish, watching Spanish-language TV and conversing as often as possible in Spanish.
(My thoughts in bold.) What I wonder is this. Suppose someone took a 2 year US Spanish course, at either a private, state or junior college. (They have a fairly grounded understanding of the grammar end of Spanish.) Suppose they were an excellent student. What percentage of Latin American newspapers and magazines could they comprehend? (Maybe they should consider editing the newspapers?) What percentage of conversations could they follow in either Latin American countries or watching US Spanish TV programs? (Have they been to kiwigirl's website?) Any ideas or thoughts? (I like rac1's answer too.)
For an excellent student with two years of college Spanish, the comprehension percentage for reading magazines and newspapers is approximately 42.6 % of what is read. Comprehension for what is heard lies at about 59.2 %. Now these figures probably vary from where you get your info. Rac1 is right lets see what others say. Buena suerte
I believe that would differ from individual to individual. I know there are cultural differences involved. Let's see what others have to say.
