Need help planning

[u/Unkwnmirag]

Hi there!

I have a bit of a predicament and I would really appreciate some advice.

So im going back to school and im required to be intermediate proficiency for a foreign language.

I have have some experience with Spanish from high school but didn't retain much.

The problem is that I'll basically be starting from scratch. And the goal would be to reach that proficiency in about 4 months.

Option two is urdu. I speak it pretty conversationally but learning how to write it seems very difficult.

So basically. Would it be easier to learn Spanish given that writing it would be relatively easy as they use the same characters as English. Or would it be easier to learn urdu when all I have to learn is writing?

Thank you!

[u/freebiscuit2002]

What can I say? You have put yourself in this position by going back to a school where there's a foreign language proficiency requirement - which you know you don't meet.

I can only recommend you make your choice and get to work.

As for which one, I don't know what learning resources you have available to learn Spanish from scratch, or learn to write in Urdu. I suggest breaking down the tasks and thinking realistically about what you can do with the resources you have available and in a reasonable amount of time.

[u/maxreturns29]

I think that writing fluently in urdu is probably going to take a lot more time for you to master it although you speak it fluently at home. I've heard a lot of people say that even though they have a lot of experience with the language, doing spelling correctly is difficult and could even take years to make this happen. Spanish is pretty straightforward as you have mentioned in your situation. You can write it at the same time as you learn how to speak it, although to get to intermediate proficiency in 4 months is a bit limited. Although i do know a bit of spanish, don't know if you already knows it but i hope it helps:

1. Hola. Me llamo _____. ¿Cómo estás? Espero que estés bien. Tengo [trece, catorce, quince, dieciséis, diecisiete] años

hello. my name is _____. How are you? I hope you're doing well. I am [tirtheen, fourteen, fifteen,sixteen, seventeen] years old

1. y mi cumpleaños es en [enero, febrero, marzo, abril, mayo, junio, julio, agosto, septiembre, octubre, noviembre, diciembre].

and my birthday is on [the january, feb, mar, april, may, june, july, august, september, october, november, december]. (if you learn numbers it helps)

1. Me encanta / No me gusta [viajar, hacer deporte, ver una película], porque es [aburrido, interesante, divertido, maravilloso, increíble, horrible].

I love / don't like to [travel, play sports, watch a movie], because it is [boring, interesting, fun, wonderful, amazing, horrible].

1. Tengo una [hermana, madre, tía, prima] / un [hermano, padre, tío, primo] y

I have a [sister, brother, mum, dad, aunt, cousin] and

1. tienen el pelo [castaño, negro, rubio, gris] y los ojos [marrones, azules, verdes, color avellana].

they have [brown, black, blonde, grey] hair and [brown, blue, green, hazel] eyes.

La escuela me parece / I find school to be

En ____ hay.../ In _____ there is

[u/Significant_Menu_313]

Urdu! It will deepen your understanding and appreciation of it when you get to read in it and write in it.

[u/Waste-Use-4652]

If you already speak Urdu conversationally, I would lean toward Urdu, assuming the school accepts your existing speaking ability and the proficiency requirement includes the skills you can realistically develop in four months. Learning a writing system is a very different task from building intermediate ability in a language from scratch. With Spanish, you would still need to rebuild vocabulary, grammar, listening, and speaking, even though the writing system would be familiar. Four months is a short time for that. If the requirement is specifically balanced across reading, writing, listening, and speaking, then I would check exactly what the school means by “intermediate” before deciding, because that could change the answer.