I agree you'll need some years to speak fluently and confidently. Let me teel you my own estimates for this (I assume you're starting from scratch and will keep studying regularly): chatting with confidence: 3 months Surviving to phone calls: 4 months Reading an entire spanish newspaper: 6 months Surviving 1 day in any Spanish-speaking city: 1 year Talking local slang and joking: 2 years Get the local accent in short conversations: 7 years Reading the news in 'CNN en Español': 10 years Hiding completely your foreign accent: Lifetime (it's very difficult, even between latins/spaniards) PS: Same figures apply for me with English, LOL Good Luck! Survi

I think the right person to asnwer this question is someone that speak the same native language than you and that already tried to learn Spanish, because I think that a great part of learning depends on the point we start from, this is, our native language. But well, anyway, if I take into account some foreign people I know, French and Polish for example, it´s not very very difficult for them, and the ones who moved to my country without having studied it very much before could manage in a few months. The most difficult part is verbs, that takes a lot of time to be used properly, because there´re some verbal tense use that is cultural and very difficult to explain scientifically. So, if you like the language, just try to find a good language school, don´t miss any lessons and study from time to time, and in a couple of years you will be able to visit Spain or any Southamerican country. Come on, let´s go! :D