I took three years of Spanish and got an A every semester. Even when it was still fresh in my mind, I was nowhere near able to hold even a very simple conversation. And now just a few years later it's all totally gone from my brain.
My mother's native language is Spanish and she never taught me, which I resent her for. But I still find it incredible how shitty my public school education in Spanish was. We really should be teaching kids a second language from kindergarten up.
Regarding exposure to the language, has anyone had success in learning a language with a language partner? I have a friend (native speaker) who I can practice with, but I'm struggling to get to the point where simple conversations are possible. I know some vocab and book grammar, but it doesn't really flow into real conversation.
We tried a few times, but it terminates too quickly:
Hello, what is your name?
My name is x.
How old are you?
I have N years.
Do you have a favorite color?
Yes, it is blue.
Good, see you later!
I've had good experiences with it, personally. I'm learning Mandarin with a language partner I found on an app and it was very helpful, especially on the pronunciation part.
Yeah duh it won't flow, because you're not fluent. It's gonna be stilted and unnatural conversations for a while, you gotta be disciplined there.