We too are going to the Alicante area but inland - seems everyone wants to go there for some reason.

I have found in the past that it can be difficult sometimes to speak spanish in some of the very expat/touristy areas.

As soon as they find out youre english they want to practice their lingo on you.

We stayed in a hotel in april in one of these areas and I got really fed up with it.

So with the hotel staff I spoke to them in spanish and they replied in english so we were both happy with our practice.

I have to say though they were amazed I could speak their lingo!!!!!!

Surely not all brits are mute.

this is true - I don't know about A level, but the GCSE is barely out of the present tense & aimed at talking about 'topics' rather than adapting what you learn to other uses

after all your years here, would you consider yourself 'fluent'?

After only 6 years here there is NO WAY I am - though I probably speak better spanish than many who have been here many more years

I think even if I was living in a situation where I HAD to speak spanish all day I wouldn't be fluent after 6 years - for sure closer than I am now - but not totally fluent

my daughters (10 & 13) & I often joke that we are fluent between us - our vocabulary is fitted to our needs - we often ask each other -'how do you say........?'

they both also sometimes ask 'how do say 'such & such' in english.......?

Yes when it comes to the crunch an "a level" is nothing really.

A good knowledge of vocab, a bit of present, perfect, imperfect and future can work wonders.

Yeah, I was quite surprised at how useless my A'Level was. I think I had the impression that my level of Spanish would be "mediumish" with that A'Level when I arrived, but it's not even close.

I would consider myself fluent now though after 7 years here. In fact I would consider I was fluent after say about 3 years although it is really hard to pinpoint. I did a hell of a lot of studying though during my first year in Spain. 20 hours a week for several months.

I met my OH after only one year in Spain and as I mentioned before he doesn't speak English, so even after one year my level of Spanish was good enough to go dating! However my entire day is spent speaking Spanish - I only speak English once a week on the phone to my Mother in the UK. And here. But this isn't speaking. I think if you throw yourself in at the deep end (and don't get Sky TV) you can learn a language pretty quickly.

[QUOTE=lynnxa;7821471]this is true - I don't know about A level, but the GCSE is barely out of the present tense & aimed at talking about 'topics' rather than adapting what you learn to other uses

after all your years here, would you consider yourself 'fluent'?

After only 6 years here there is NO WAY I am - though I probably speak better spanish than many who have been here many more years

I think even if I was living in a situation where I HAD to speak spanish all day I wouldn't be fluent after 6 years - for sure closer than I am now - but not totally fluent

my daughters (10 & 13) & I often joke that we are fluent between us - our vocabulary is fitted to our needs - we often ask each other -'how do you say........?'


I am not fluent in any shape or form but I can get by in any situation.

albeit probably pigeonish.

My main problem is keeping up with what theyre saying.

Its taken my 8 years of studying and practicing, I got an 8 out of 10 in one of these official fluency tests. Still, need a 9 to be able to work full time in Spanish, but almost there

lynnxa, this isnt a criticism but an honest Q. If you arent fluent, how can you give Spanish lessons and do translations?

What are the official fluency tests you mention? I'd like to have a go. Got a link? or is it not something you do online?

I think she is being modest!
I have lessons with her and she seems fluent enough to me

It is on a CD Rom for a language school my OH works for. I have a paper version I can share with you if you're interested. Not sure how I'd get it to you, through PM or email?

the first thing I tell all my students is that I'm not fluent - but know way more than they do!

I wouldn't dream of attempting to teach 'advanced spanish' I advertise that I teach beginners - although I've been teaching a couple of people so long now that they are in danger of catching me up (joke)

good thing I keep learning all the time eh?

as for translations, I only do spanish to english, not the other way around, and will only do an interpreting job if I know that I'm familiar enough with the vocabulary for the situation - yes, I will turn a job down & be honest as to why

I'm familiar enough with the various tenses that I don't get confused & get the message all wrong - for written translations the subject matter will often be unfamiliar territory in any case, so a good dictionary is essential

I once did a massive translation for a German International Musical Theatre company. It had originally been translated from German to Spanish, then I did the Spanish to English, while a French lady did Spanish to French. Although I have O level music (a looooooong time ago!) a lot of the vocab was very specialised, so I think anyone would have needed a dictionary.

Translating into your own language requires a good knowledge of the other language & a lot of common sense! The last thing the client wants is what might be a 'word perfect' translation that doesn't actually sound as if it's in English! A way with words also helps.

I'm a firm believer that written translations should only be done into the mother tongue, rather than the other way around!

there's your advantage - some days the only time I speak spanish is to my students & the girl on the till in Mercadona

yeah me too

My OH does sworn translations and has a degree in philology. She is Spanish, but speaks better English than me (certainly has a better vocab). I guess the difference with sworn translations is not even one word or phrase can be wrong or even misconstrued or you can be sued.

The theatre company should have traslated German to English and German to French, otehrwise they are playing their own game of Chinese whispers

Of course translations arent meant to be word perfect, they are meant to transmit the same communication as the original. Very difficult expecially at 9c per word

e.g. I had to translate this the otherday into Spanish for a poster for a friend. It's almost untranslatable..

"Playing live tonight, performing all your favourites from the hit parade. ABC's one and only xxxx" Any marketing cr*p like this is a nightmare

sworn translations is a whole different ballgame!


the theatre company brought the translation to the language school I worked in for translation - the owner of the school was German

it was translated from German to Spanish first by a spanish lady - and so on

at the end, we all compared what we had so that we knew the essense was what was intended

the funniest thing was that the Spanish lady said she didn't know this supposedly famous film - El Sonido de la Musica

good job someone (me) knew that it's called Sonrisas y Lagrimas in Spanish

so what did you translate that poster into?


Tocar en vivo esta noche, la realización de todos los favoritos de los hit-parade. El unico cantante de ABC xxxx

something like that?

yes local knowledge helps tons, otherwise it is impossible I just looked up the exact words

the English was actually
"From ABC's xxx programme. Performing your favourite Top-40 Tracks"

The trick was that they didnt actually play instruments (tocar), but sang with a backing track, so I put
"Del programa xxx de ABC. Actuará sus canciones favoritas de la lista de éxitos"

But my OH said I was wrong as "actuar" is for plays/drama and since they dont "tocar" either, we cant use the word for perform here and can only put "cantar". Just shows how tricky it is.