Should I Quit Spanish?
Hello everyone, I've been taking Spanish for 3 years now and I need to decide if I would want to continue on to Spanish IV and AP Spanish. Spanish III Honors this year was sort of a struggle for me. Spanish I & II were easy breezy. The only difficult thing in the first two years was vocabulary for me personally. This year it was much harder to grasp but I managed just fine. I took the National Spanish Exam for both Spanish II & III and received Gold both times. In Spanish II I got a 95 percentile and this year for Spanish III, I scored a 99th percentile. I placed 17th in my state. I don't know if I should continue or not because I did struggle in the class and I feel like the NSE is just another standardized test that does not accurately portray true Spanish speaking skills and grammar. Anyone can do well on the NSE because there is a certain way the test is set up and people can just study for it easily. The NSE also only tests a few skills when learning to speak a language is about multiple concepts and different verb tenses and different sentence types. I feel like there is so much more to Spanish than what is on the NSE. I would really appreciate your feedback! Thank you!
7 Answers
You must ask yourself these questions:
In my career path do I need Spanish?
Am I going to be in a Spanish speaking culture in the near future?
Given my short term goals, do I have the time to spend on this particular elective?
I'm a retired person and so I do things I enjoy. I started Spanish in high school, took 4 semesters in college and then taught it for 2 years (that all ended in 1969). In 2002 I went to Mexico with my wife and started reviewing and relearning an old skill. In 2011, I traveled to Colombia and after that I joined this site to learn and practice and improve my Spanish skills. I do not regret the decisions I made in my life regarding Spanish.
There is no substitute for or better milieu than living in a Spanish speaking country for an extended period of time. Given your experience so far you should be able to benefit from that, but only you know if that fits in with your post school goals.
I hope you make the correct decision, but I have a feeling you will and already know what the answer to your question is.
One more thing to add to what Jubilado has said. If language learning is enjoyable to you, why quit? I had fun learning English, Koiné Greek. I'm now working on Hebrew. I even spent a couple of years delving into Esperanto. Now that's a trip!
Good luck, and remember, if you live in the Southwest part of the U.S. Spanish is pretty much a necessity.
Can you add your level of Spanish and English to your profile?
I assume you are based in the USA but I don't know if it is an area with easy access to Spanish speakers - though there are Spanish speakers throughout the USA.
jubilado has given you good advice. I am surprised given your post explains your achievements in Spanish that you are thinking of dropping it. People on this site would all be motivated to improve our knowledge of a foreign language.
I learned French at school and chose to start learning Spanish at 16. There was no internet and in the UK no music other than English [ok a couple of songs but mainly English] I passed my exams and was good at reading but not communicating.
However, many years later with the oportunity to go on holidays abroad I brushed up my French and much later started to relearn Spanish now I love listening to Spanish music, watching Spanish tv and films and travel - though for family reasons it has been curtailed. Nonetheless I have ben to Cuba, Mexico and Peru and of course Spain.
Check with your teacher their views of your language abilities.
Rediscover your enthusiasm for the language.
Unless continuing Spanish in a formal setting means you have to give up something more important to you you shouldn't give up.
School/college life can be all consuming but unless you are very unlucky it will eventually be a tiny fraction of your life. If you have the opportunity now to build on what you have learned, guided by a teacher I would say go for it!
If you decide not to continue there is a middle road - start listening to music and the news in Spanish try and find someone who wants to improve their English who speaks Spanish and help each other What you will be doing is maintaining an interest in another culture and not letting the Spanish you have learned wither away.
When I went back to Spanish I was surprised how much was still there.
Nooooo- don't give up. I had a year of Spanish lessons aged about 40 . I took it up again aged 70 ish (now 73)and I LOVE it. I am a sort of intermediate level, but still struggle at times. But just this morning I went to an Artisan's Fair in a local Spanish town and had some wonderful conversations with some of the stall holders. I had such fun!! You never know in life when it will come in handy - when in the UK recently I came across a Spanish couple bewildered by directions to get somewhere, and I was able to help them. Makes me feel useful sometimes in my old age!!!
I took two years of Spanish in High School and did not do nearly as well as you seem to be doing. I picked my Spanish training back up at 52 years old when I moved to Mexico. I wish that I had taken Spanish all four years in High School and college as well. I lived my whole life on the west coast among Spanish speakers and now full time in Mexico. I recommend to stick with it if you can. I agree that the standardized tests don't mean much but they are better than nothing and you seem to do well. As for the struggling we all are struggling. Learning a new language ain't easy.
That depends.
Why are you learning Spanish in the first place? Do you need it for a job or do you want to learn it just because you wanna live in a predominantly Spanish speaking country? I personally learn it because learning another language is fun for me and it makes me a hell of a lot more marketable. The job market is craving Spanish speakers. If you live in the United States, this is especially important as we have the second highest population for Spanish speakers. We also need people who can teach English to native Spanish speakers. Some friends of mine who are business majors minored in Spanish and now they work as translators for big business deals! The possibilities are endless with a second language, and the Spanish language is one of the most prevalent and easiest to learn for English speakers.
My point is, please learn it if it's for your own good! I guarantee if you keep working at it, you will improve no matter what tests they throw at you.
¡¡Échale ganas y vas a lograr granes cosas!!
Being a high school student, I have also taken Spanish III Honors. It was a struggle at first for me, but all I had to do was take my time. As someone going into nursing, I view my Spanish learning as important, and I regret not taking the higher tier Spanish classes.
However, not taking these classes does not mean you have to quit Spanish. There are plenty of opportunities, both on this site and in everyday experiences. If you are really adamant about Spanish, then you will find plenty of ways to practice and improve your Spanish.
P.S. I would really consider Jubilado's questions. 
