When can you say you speak another language?
Technically I can speak Spanish, but it's very halting, uncomfortable, and unpleasant for me. I don't know. Am I technically just monolingual with a lot of words in another language in my head?
I'm definitely not bilingual but I can't be entirely monolingual either, since I've had Spanish in my mind for years. But I feel like I can't speak it right. I just feel stupid trying.
I wouldn't ever tell anyone I speak Spanish. But if you can speak a language slowly and uncomfortably, is that still speaking the language?
18 Answers
I personally feel that you need to decide what you mean by 'speaking a language' to answer that question. Most of us here can speak Spanish a little, so if you consider the mere ability to produce a few Spanish sentences as 'speaking', we all speak Spanish to some degree 
Speaking a language, to me, means conversing with natives with neither of you having to say copius amounts of 'Uh, what?/Como dice' or 'Excuse me?'. I read somewhere that there are three stages to actually saying that you speak a language:
1) Saying your first correct sentence without using any references.
2) Understanding and speaking multiple sentences without halting overmuch.
3) Understanding and cracking jokes.
I think you are considering language speaking to be some sort of high honor that is bestowed only on the select few. I seriously suggest saying 'Hablo un poco de español' to anyone who asks you whether you do speak Spanish and then letting loose with whatever you know. Trust me, I have said 'I speak some English' to every foreigner I have met and they are always pleased, even when I mess up my tenses (especially past simple and perfect, lol) and stuff like that.
Point: I'd be gratified if any foreigner ever said hello to me in my mother tongue. It'd make me all warm and fuzzy inside and I would probably spend the rest of my life talking about that foreigner who 'spoke my language' 
Well, from my background, when you become familiarized and comfortable with the language and you can produce specific speech for specific situations, naturally, you speak this language. There is a deep hole between "Speaking the language" and "Speaking as a native speaker of the language".
I wasn't brought up speaking English or Spanish, but I was taught English since kindergarten and my native language is Portuguese. I had a deep and profound interest in English throughout my teenage years and today. I feel very comfortable with English, I speak it and write and read in it everyday. It's definitely my second language, and I'm most definetely proficient at it. Although, I don't speak it as a native-speaker, it might be close to one, but not exactly like one, my Portuguese has influenced my English, and I've never set foot at any English-speaking country for more than a month. Overall, I speak English and I do speak it very well. I had wanted in the past to speak EXACTLY like an american, but I gave up since it is quite stupid an idea 'cause I'm not american at all.
You should not hinder yourself with these ideas. You'll never speak like a native Spanish-speaker, but you could attain higher levels of proficiency at Spanish and get really close to one. You could even get to speak Spanish better in quality of speech and grammar than a native Spanish speaker. I say it 'cause I know some americans that live here in Brazil and speak Portuguese better than 80% of the brazilians. They don't speak Portuguese like a brazilian, but they do speak Portuguese very well, in sound and everything else.
lisaantonella, don't give up, you can do it, you can overcome this problem, and speak Spanish as well as any other Hispanohablante.
Creo que eso nos pasa a todos, yo creo que nunca hablare Ingles de forma que no me sienta ridículo, pero me gusta hablarlo, aunque un nativo se ria de mi acento español jaja pero también estoy seguro de que me ayudaran a hablarlo mejor, a mi me basta con llegar el día en que pueda entender a un nativo hablando Ingles normalmente y pueda tener una conversación formal con él, luego a seguir mejorando : ), no te rindas.
When there is no longer any need to mention it, because nobody notices .
Let me be straight clear. I can speak English, and I can write English. I'm confident.
And I'm sure that you can read, write and speak Spanish too. Ask yourself this question:
If tomorrow, all of a sudden, you wake up in a Spanish-speaking country where nobody speaks or undersrands nothing anything but Spanish. Do you you think you would manage (even struggling) to make people understand you only speaking in Spanish? If so, you can say you speak another language.
The fact that you don't speak a language as fluently as you wish to, it doesn't mean that you don't speak at all.
Good luck.
Correct my English, please
In my mind, fluency does not mean to talk like a native.
I had a manager that was from Ethiopia. He had a marked accent, although he spoke fluently. This fact puzzled a co-worker who was American and she would often wonder how long had this manager of ours had been in the US.
Based on how I think and my experience, I said that most likely, this person had grown up speaking English.
On one occasion we had a general meeting and after it we started to ask personal questions, this agency was helping refugees, I decided to ask him about how he learned English. Sure enough, he had gone to an English school since Kindergarten. All of his education was in English. So he spoke very fluently, like a native but with an accent.
:-D
I think it is more of a spectrum than a black and white thing. It can feel weird to say you speak another language if you don't feel the same level of ease that you feel in your native language, but if you are communicating in your second language, then you are speaking it. I have long conversations in Spanish. I have important relationships in which I almost exclusively speak Spanish. That said, my Spanish is far from perfect, and I still have plenty of moments where I don't understand. I am learning all the time and want to continue learning. Saying I speak Spanish doesn't mean the same thing to me as it did when I started out. When I began learning, I imagined reaching some clearly marked goal of perfect fluency and understanding. Now it means something different to me. It means that I am able to able to actively engage in communication with Spanish speakers. For me, speaking another language isn't a neat, either or proposition-- it is a messy, complex (and endlessly interesting!) process.
In my opinion, you can say you speak Spanish when you can do all of the following things:
Can hold your end of a conversation with someone fluent in Spanish.
Can understand most Spanish you read or hear.
Can translate from Spanish to English and English to Spanish.
By these definitions, I am in no way fluent in Spanish. I can understand it, but I can't speak it very well...
Buena Suerta
You have posed an interesting question! The answer is a little different for us all, In my experience, When you can think in a different language...Then you can truely speak it.
I know and speak less Spanish than the questioner and all the answerers, but Spanish speakers have told me that I speak Spanish. That's it! That's all that matters. However I will keep learning more everyday. One more thing: I am able to do what I want. That's significant.
Encontré esto en un aplicación. I thought it might be of interest.
As far as fluency goes, I don't obsess over that. I have been able to hold a conversation well in Spanish for years, translate when needed, and do well in situations where no English was spoken. That somebody says that in order to be fluid you have to be able to translate from English to Spanish? I can translate most straightforward ideas to Spanish even if I have to reword it completely. But my husband is from Mexico, he moved here at age 19, he speaks English so well that ppl think he is a Mexican American. But even HE cannot always translate English books to Spanish, despite his understanding of the language. He has never had a problem understanding English as long as he has been with me, and yet whej we read books to our dd in English my husband doesn't even try to butcher a Spanish translation. I at least try, but some books I gave up on and decided instead that I would invest in Spanish books because it is easier to translate from Spanish to English.
Just last night on tv we saw this phrase "get your geek on" and my husband knows what it means but cannot translate it. In fact he could not even think of a good translation for "the grease popped on my arm" as I was tryinh to explain to my dd. I actually came up with this myself "la grasa me salpicó en el brazo."
Now what I would tell ppl about myself, I can hold a conversation well in Spanish, I have an easier time understanding Mexicans than anyone else but I can hold a convo with any Spanish speaker one on one or in a small group on a common interest topic. Even with English which is my native tongue, I cannot hold a convo well in groups when they are discussing an unfamiliar subject and while I understand all the words they use, it is kind of like I don't, because when interest is not there my ears tune out, just the same with Spanish.
Now yes I do feel more comfortable speaking English than Spanish. Spanish does feel like more brain work for me.
But I guess I am not one to obsess over fluency itself. If I can have friends who speak only Spanish then that in and of itself accomplishes a lot. I have friends I otherwise wouls not have.
Children do not speak any language perfectly, if fluency is defined by not making grammatical mistakes (although my grammar in Spanish is often as good or better than a native).
What I recommend is to make Spanish study, and growth as a Spanish speaker a life time goal rather than something that you have to get down in x years or you are just incompetent. By looking at it this way you will never fail.
I you can say you speak a language when you can use it daily life. For example, although I'm not fluent in Spanish, I was able to use it at work during my summer internship. I translated during lawyer-client appointments. Now I tell people I can speak with ease but not fluently.
If someone asked you 'can you speak Spanish' you wouldn't say 'no' you would say 'I can get by' or 'I speak a little' I think your question is a request for help to improve your knowledge of Spanish. If someone came into a café where you were having a drink and asked in Spanish if anyone spoke Spanish and there was a deathly silence I am sure you would ask her if you could help. I am from the UK and there are many people who do not speak another language - they may know basic pleasantries from school or a holiday. I don't think you can say 'speak' until you can speak some phrases or sentences but a language changes all the time. I have been educated to a reasonable level and have an excellent vocabulary in my native language, but I learn new things every day, usually without thinking, particularly new slang words and phrases. I read something in Spanish every day and my vocabulary is improving. I usually listen to some Spanish too, but I do not speak enough so my verbal skills lag behind and I know I am not forward enough to just speak - I tend to worry about how to say something then if my vocabulary is not good enough don't speak! The exception is if I go to a Spanish speaking country where I relax and enjoy having a go! I assume you live in the USA so unless you live somewhere small and remote it will be easy to meet people who speak Spanish - do it - if they want you can help with their English, but my joy in learning a language is the whole package including new literature, music and knowledge of other countries. While encouraging 'speaking' do not neglect listening or you will impress others with what you have said then not understand the next step in the dialogue! This site explains how much Spanish we know! http://www.knowspanish.com/
Después de qué? ray?
:-D
