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.
I took Spanish in middle school, high school and even two years in college. My dad is also fluent. I know a lot of words, but I can barely speak it. You really need to practice it to become fluent. Classroom learning will never be enough.