The time it takes to become fluent depends on several things, the most important of which is whether you are living in a Spanish-speaking region. If you live someplace like Spain or Mexico for a year, you will most likely be fluent towards the end of that. If you're not living in a Spanish-speaking area, it can take 5 to 10 years, or more.

The other factors are 

1. Your age - the younger you are when you start, the better
2. Your aptitude for language - some people are just better at language than others
3. The effort you put into learning - if you practice every day you'll learn and remember a lot more than someone who goes to class once a week but never practices outside of class

For more information, please read my in-depth article on fluency. I wrote this article for my French site, but the information applies equally to Spanish.

Other Frequently Asked Questions

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