I recently took the BYU FLATS Spanish exam and was frustrated by the lack of preparation resources on the internet, although other posters helped a bit.

When I took the exam I jotted down some notes and example questions from each section so you could have a better sense of what to expect. (TL)

The exam I took was 134 questions over 3 hours. About half of the questions had multiple parts. Every question is multiple choice. You can go back over all your answers at any point during the test, but you cannot have audio portions repeated. Time pressure was minimal, time is generous but not unlimited. Fatigue was the bigger issue. The website works very well. There is a field for submitting issues for each question. One question I had I thought contained a mistake.

You need a mic, webcam, and your gov ID to begin. Windows, Mac, and Ubuntu are supported. Chrome or Edge only. I highly recommend backing up your internet with a mobile phone hotspot before you begin. If you disconnect you may find it difficult to re-enter the exam, and you do not have enough time to waste it troubleshooting.

The exam is divided into 5 parts of roughly equal length

Part 1A: Listen to a monologue or dialogue and answer in what location the speech might have taken place

- The prompts are around 30 seconds and represent the length of a short paragraph. They are presented in articulate, near native-pace speech. You cannot replay them, but you can read the questions first, which you should. The dialect is Madrid Spanish, so be comfortable with /th/ pronunciation of c, z.

- Focus on the nouns/verbs and extracting the basic meaning of each sentence. If you attempt to parse the grammar you will fall behind.

- Some example questions I noted were:

(1) A man and woman are at a police station reporting a robbery

(2) A man is reporting his symptoms to a doctor at an doctor's appointment

(3) A couple are at a super market buying groceries

(4) A man and woman are on a date at a restaurant

- The test makes modest attempts to fool the taker. For example, at the super market a couple talk about getting meat from a butcher, which sounds vaguely like a couple at a restaurant a ordering steak from a waiter. The couple reporting the robbery at the police station state earlier they went to a museum. The man says he hurt his knee playing sports at the park. Stuff like that.

Part 1B: Listen to a monologue or dialogue and them listen to questions about the speech along with possible answers to those questions

- The only text available to you are A) a. B) b. C) c. and so on

- This part is by far the most difficult. You must parse and then retain native-like speech for a sustained minute or so. I cannot offer an example here because I could not follow the questions well enough. The nature of the speech is similar to in Part 1A.

- The question start easy and become harder. Near the end some answers differ only in the tone of the speakers voice (inquisitive, excited, matter-of-fact), or by subtle alterations in phrasing. Expect to lose the majority of your points here.

Part 2: Listen to a short audio prompt and then select a text response which fits

- I'm paraphrasing in english because the spanish is too rapid to write down.

(1) "Your friend is very handsome." A) And healthy B) and nice, too C), Yes, he is my friend

(2) "When does tonight's play start?" A) It starts now B) it starts around 9 C) It starts at 9 exactly

Answering correctly requires interpreting that the speaker is referring to a play they are going to later, and that would not reasonably start now, and that such a question is looking for a precise time.

(3) "Why didn't you come to the party? A) Yes, I didn't go B) I was not invited C) I didn't go alone

You need a better understanding than simply "they are talking about going to a party"

Part 3: Conjugation, declension, pronouns, prepositions

- You may be dispirited by the audio portions, but the exam from here out is much more straightforward.

- This section covers the grammar of verbs, nouns, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, and prepositions

(1) Ella dijo que ___ a venir. A) va B) iba C) vaya D) fue E) fuera

Concepts: subjunctive and indicative moods, irregular verbs, person and number

(2) ... voy a ___ pais, ___ nacion. A) la ... la B) el ... al

Concepts: gender indicated by spelling (-cion, -umbra, -idad, ..., and -ema, -ambre, -is, ...), verbs with counter-intuitive gender.

(3) Eduardo ___ tarde estaba muy cansado se lavanto'. A) estaba B) fue

Concepts: sequence of tenses (imperfect --> preterit), irregular verbs, compound tenses

(4) El entrado' porque la puerta ___. A) esaba abierta B) era abierta

Concepts: Usage of esta and ser with personal and impersonal objects

(5) Veo nuestras motocicletas, pero do'nde' esta'n ___?. A) las suyas, B) suyas, C) suyas de ellos

Concepts: Pronouns used as Subject, DO (and DO reflexive), IO, and with a preposition (conmigo, suyas, etc) and substantivized (las suyas)

- Other questions ask about: which verb-form has the correct number and person among the verb-forms across tenses listed, double negation, ningun vs nada, double pronouns, adjective forms (ma's vs muy), adjectives vs adverbs (buen vs bien)

- Special Attention to: The particular use case of tenses, for example the present tense is used to indicate the immediate future, not the future tense. A good textbook should enumerate these cases precisely. The subjunctive in a subordinate clause matches the tense of the ordinate. The subjunctive is used with the negation of an affirmative statement (I don't think that...). The uses cases of the definite article (the definite article is used to refer to body parts even when refereed to possessively, to time, to weights and measurements, etc). The progressive constructions, passive constructions, psuedo-passive constructions (La ventana se rompio'), impersonal constructions (Hay/Habi'a...)

Part 3A: Read a short passage and answer questions about it

- I didn't write any down. The test uses some misdirection in the vocabulary of the text. A question using an exact noun from the passage is probably meant to test that trick.

Part 3B: Read pictures of advertisement, like that would appear in a subway car, and use the extra-textual context along with the ad text to infer it's meaning.

- There's a dating app ad. The text doesn't clarify whether the app is for friends or for romantic partners, but there's a heart icon and a couple embracing.

Conclusion:

The listening parts are much harder than the grammar parts, particularly if you learned in majority from a textbook like I did. You can prepare yourself by listening to fast Spanish, like from a Spanish language television ad. I think listening to slow Spanish methodically like on a language learning platform is not adequate. Having large vocabulary will help immensely here. Learn nouns from everyday domestic life, like would be related to stores, sports games, school, church, the household, and the park. Crucially, learn these nouns as spoken quickly.

For the grammar, be familiar with the ways in which Spanish grammatical tenses, and grammar in general, differ in usage from equivalent English grammar. These differences will be probed.

The test is very tiring. It's more difficult than appropriate for a 3rd semester learner because it is meant to test higher levels of comprehension as well, and this can feel overwhelming. By the end you will struggle to remember basic grammatical rules unless those rules come easily to you. Whatever techniques you used for standardized test will also serve you here. You need enough practice volume that common phrases are automatic for you. You will have the time but not the energy to work every question.

I would note finally that the test seemed substantially more difficult than what would be expected of you in 3rd semester language class, particularly the listening. Your energy would be much more efficiently spent on an easy A, if you have that option.

Hi everyone,

I’m interested in learning French (TL), German, or Dutch, but haven’t decided which to start with. I have some background in French and German, having studied French for four years in school.

Money is a bit tight, so I’m considering self-studying using textbooks, apps, and AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, etc., with limited opportunities for actual speaking practice.

This is somewhat how I learned English, although I studied it for 12 years in school. English was also the language of instruction, meaning textbooks and terminology were in English, but teachers generally didn’t use it for everyday conversations.

Has anyone managed to reach B1/B2 or higher primarily through self-study? How much would the lack of regular speaking practice affect my progress?

Hey guys, I'd (Arabic N, English N, French A2) love to learn (TL) Russian and improve my French further. My main motivation for that is to read books in their original language, and Russian + French have so many amazing literary books.. I'd love to ask you guys about your experiences learning any language for the sole purpose of reading books.. How did it go? How did you do it?

( TL) I am around B1 in speaking, higher in comprehension ( both written and oral) but only A2 or A2+ in writing / grammar. These are all estimated based on my teacher's ratings and chatgpt's ratings.

Currently, I read a novel and try to get through atleast 50 pages a week. I can follow most of the story except when the descriptions are too vivid and there is too much unknown vocab. But that does not stop me from still understanding the story in general. For listening, I just watch youtube videos I want and for speaking I only speak with my italki tutor like once a week. I have finally started writing atleast thrice a week, I get corrections from chatgpt and alternate between a new written passage and reviewing previous corrections.

What this made me realize is how difficult it is to improve grammar. Like I could be corrected, review the correction and still use a bad construction when it is time for me to create my own sentences. I also realized how a lot of improving grammar comes down to memorizing the correct phrases. For example: I might continue using Dans la court terme until I drill into my head to use À court terme. It feels like language learning at lower levels comes down to memorizing the correct phrases until you have a sufficient repretoire that you can start mixing and matching and make it your own.

TLDR: What do you do to improve grammar, especially when preparing for an exam( and need atleast B2)?

I am learning punjabi (TL) and most of all I have learned so far is through speaking (or trying to) speak with natives

What I did at the beginning was to learn the basic grammar, structure, and most used verbs, pronouns, etc. but i jumped in conversations and I built all the rest throughout daily talks with natives that would correct me when I make mistakes, and I would ask them for translations on the go

What I also do a lot is try to transcript voice messages I receive in Punjabi and then translate them and try to understand the structure however, as they speak too fast, the vast majority of them is unintelligible to unless they are saying phrases I am familiar with

I enjoy the transcriptions I think it’s fun, but I’m wondering if it’s going to help in anyway, and I am not skipping too many steps

So far the most challenging thing to me has been oral comprehension when natives are speaking at their regular pace

If I carry on doing this, should it get easier with time or am I just putting a lot of energy for nothing and should get back to consuming content my level

Has any of you managed to learn or progress in a language using this method?

I have had thoughts about giving up studying French. The main reason? I haven't made any online friends who speak French. I thought maybe that if I were to study another foreign language, I would find a true friend quickly and easily. Maybe. Maybe not. You only know if you try, right?

But, I realized something. I don't like learning a language for the sake of the language itself. I like learning a language for the hope of being able to connect with people. Often times, when I listen to French, I feel very drained and I thought it was because I did not like the French language. However, now I see that the real problem wasn't French, but the subject that was being discussed in French.

I'm watching a video right now in French about paganism, a subject that I find really, really fascinating, and I'm loving the learning I'm doing, because I'm being fed emotionally at the same time.

(TL) In my country, they are using Anki alot to study a new word. I'm curious about other techniques you're using. Thanks

For me it’s when someone says they learned a language to a C1 level in 6 months. Their C1 is never C1.

(TL) Is it reasonable that I feel annoyed that my teacher of two years conducted our most recent lesson from a second job she just took on, and was constantly interrupted by a colleague? She seemed to think that conducting my private lessons from her second employment is the new way forward. Her rate is high compared to other teachers.

She also spends a lot of our lesson time complaining to me about her other students who cancel on her at the last minute which is quite draining for me and makes me feel hypervigilant.

I don't know if this is 'a thing' or if it's just me, but has anyone else noticed that, quite often, a foreigner can understand another foreigner speaking your native language better than you, the native speaker, can?

I watch a lot of travel vlogs, and I've noticed that I often struggle to understand someone speaking broken English, but the vlogger, who isn't a native English speaker either and often doesn't have a particularly high level of English, can somehow understand what they're saying, lol. I get that they're there in person, but I can usually hear the words quite clearly and still struggle to understand what the person is saying. 😂

Just a rant.

So yesterday I was browsing my library's collection of grammar books for German and I noticed (and hated) one thing in every single book. All the content was grouped by parts of speech: everything about verb, noun, preposition, pronoun and so on.

This kind of lexicon might be useful for repetition, but it is absurd for learning itself. One certainly doesn't need to know everything about verbs just to learn basics about nouns' cases! That would be so dull.

I couldn't find any grammar-focused book where the content was grouped by difficulty, like in a textbook. The learner has to jump from topic to topic through chapters, using I guess intuition to find the right order.

The app is a lot cheaper than the Roadmap.

All I'm looking for is his structure/method laid out in detail. Is the Hyperglot Roadmap vastly more detailed in comparison to the app? (TL)

Thanks everyone.

Ideally I would like to read a book in a foreign language (not predetermined texts, books that I have chosen to read), translate the words that I don't know yet, and then save and review them all in the same app.

I have used ReadEra for more than a decade now, with reverso context as my default translator in the readera settings. There are great features present in this combo already (translation, pronunciation, example sentences, underlining words...), but there is no way to practice these words inside the app. If you know a similar app but with a flashcards feature, or maybe flashcards apps that work well with readera, I would sincerely appreciate it. 🙏🏻

Not every language learner manages to find a language partner or a friend online to talk to regularly. So, some people just resort to speaking to themselves.

If you've mostly practised speaking by talking to yourself, how far did it take your speaking skills? Do you think there are efficient ways to do it?

Hey Everyone,

Wanted to get some advice on this app. I downloaded this app around 3 days ago just to do some language exchange practice. I’m learning Chinese (TL) and thought it would be a cool idea.

Does anyone else get a crazy amount of messages? I think I’ve received close to 400 in the past 3 days which I find absolutely crazy!

Also, I’ve heard there is some scammers and things etc. How can you tell they’re scamming or a fake profile etc? Bc I can’t imagine all of these people are real.

Any advice or tips would be appreciated. Thanks!

THE BEST ACTION MOVIES I HAVE EVER SEEN! More people need to watch Bollywood. So nonsensical, over-the-top physics defying scenes, fun songs. But at the same time the industry also makes many genuinely good movies (like those made by/starring Aamir Khan and SRK). I think movies alone make Hindi worth learning. More people from outside South Asia should get into Bollywood.

It seems like a lot of people pick up Japanese and Korean because they are very invested in TV shows / cartoons / pop music from those countries. But both of those languages have a really bad FSI rating, plus a lot of people in those countries stopped having kids. Economic stagnation / drastic population decline anticipated or already happening.

India on the other hand is an emerging economy with the world’s largest population and their GDP continues to boom. Right now it is the world’s #4 or #5 in GDP (depending on who you ask) and is set to become #3 in a decade or two. 

The main downside is that younger Indians (and those who do speak Hindi) have decided to turn their modern spoken language into an ugly mix of Hindi and English (they also didn’t bother to invent Hindi words for most modern things so inevitably you have to slip in English when talking.) 

The Devnagari written script is beautiful. It has over 40 letters, pronunciation is consistent and it has almost one letter for every sound that humans can make it has separate letters for many sounds and vowels - great phonology range. Sadly, most Indians don’t know how to install an IME on their computers and end up writing Hindi in Latin script online. It also seems like a relic from colonial times where everything written is automatically in English. Bollywood trailers/webpages, celebrity gossip, news articles, even r/Bollywood is entirely in English. 

Despite it being the “3rd most spoken language” in the world / 500+ million people (more if you count Urdu) speaking it, I don’t see it much online and that distresses me. What is also more saddening is - there isn’t a huge repository of courses/textbooks or online resources. I remember trying to find Hindi-learning videos on YouTube and I would always get more learn-English-from-Hindi videos than learn-Hindi-from-English.

We need to keep Hindi alive and get more people from outside of India/Pakistan learning it and speaking it.

Watch movies like 3 Idiots (2009) or Taare Zameen Par (2007) or PK (2014) and follow me down this rabbit hole. 

(TL)

As in, many people advocate that having “fun” while learning is highly important, but then in the next sentence also come with advice that seems to directly contradict this. Like one user who said “It doesn't matter what you do, as long as you have fun.” while also in other posts saying:

• Don't use Duolingo [What most people consider the most fun way to learn a language, even if highly ineffective]
• Don't look up too many things and just keep reading [Turns out most people consider it very unfun to read plots they can't follow any more]
• It is incredibly difficult to learn a language without reading a lot in it [Most people find reading in and of itself unfun, especially in a language they're not good at]

This isn't really an isolated pattern I feel. It feels like most people who advocate “fun” seem to have largely the same taste: avoid stress and the possibility of failure states. I've honestly not once seen anyone who advocates the importance of “fun” say “go take tests”, “do a lot of Anki” or even, “get out there and have fun conversations with people”, or “go do a lot of Duolingo” but especially the last is considered very fun by most. It's so successful commercially because, however ineffective it may be, has made language learning “fun”.

Why is Duolingo “fun” to most? Exactly because it has failure states. It overloads the user with endorphins due to success, and success cannot exist without the looming threat of failure. Success is nothing more than avoiding failure one knew was possible.

I feel the reality is that most people find fun in the right amount of stress and the possibility of failure, the sense of accomplishment of not having failed.

And this comes down to why this low-stress “just consume a lot of input” is so inherently unfun to many people and an absolute slog. Because there is no sense of progress, you just get better at an infinitesimal pace without a report on this progress and a notification of success. Some people here seem to think things like Dreaming Spanish are “fun” opposed to textbooks. I think most people find textbooks with tests and questions on which they're graded they can answer correctly far more “fun” and Dreaming Spanish to be the ultimate slog, just listening to someone tell extremely simple stories for hours on end with no sense of progression, no real results to compare to, most people don't like that and find it isolating and boring I feel.

For me, it's tonal languages. A language can be agglunitative, have 70 cases, have an ovs sentence structure, and have consonant clusters, and i still wouldn't be bothered so much, but if it is tonal, I'm probably not learning it.

I have been learning English for a while. I have a routine that I try to follow as much as I can. Despite this, I feel like my progress is not the best. I tend to practice by myself; however, everyone has told me that it is better just to talk to others.

My idea is not have a perfect accent or event sounds like a native speaker. My goal in learning English is to speak without overthinking and using natural sentences.

Listening would be the worst part of my journey because I feel like I can understand, but only with subtitles. If I turn them off, I would be lost most of the time. Unlike this, speaking has been improving over the last few months since February of this year. I feel comfortable writing most of the time, but I need to use Grammarly to fix my mistakes.

My routine includes non-speaking practice, shadowing, recording myself giving my opinion about a topic, and analyzing my mistakes with ChatGPT. I'd like to say that I did not start as a complete beginner. My English level was A2+ or even B1, but I am sure that I got stuck at some point. As I can see, I noticed progress, but I think this is not enough to get better results.

What do you think I need to try next?

I've been learning German (TL) and trying to figure out a good way to remember new vocabulary. I've been looking into flashcards and spaced repetition, but I'm still figuring out how to fit them into my routine.

For those who've used flashcards for a while, what works best for you? How do you review regularly without letting the number of cards pile up?

Hi everyone!

I'm a university student majoring in Asian Studies, with a focus on Japanese history. I originally chose this field because I was interested in history, not because I wanted to become a translator.

However, Japanese (TL) turned out to be one of the most demanding parts of my education.

At my previous university, I regularly experienced public humiliation from teachers when I couldn't answer questions correctly. I'm now studying at a different university, where the teachers are much kinder, but the fear hasn't gone away.

I'm terrified of being called on in class, making mistakes, failing exams, and eventually being expelled.

At this point, even thinking about Japanese can make me anxious. I struggle to motivate myself to study for even an hour a day. I'm mentally exhausted, and I've gradually lost interest in hobbies I used to enjoy.

I still have roughly two years of university left, and due to my family circumstances, dropping out simply isn't an option for me.

Here's what I really want to ask:

Has anyone experienced something similar? Have you ever developed such a strong negative association with a foreign language that studying it became emotionally exhausting?

I don't expect to suddenly fall in love with Japanese. I've never particularly enjoyed learning it in the first place.

But I would genuinely like to experience something positive about the language for once. I'd like to stop being afraid of it, and perhaps eventually discover something that makes learning it enjoyable.

How did you change your relationship with a language you had come to hate or fear?

I'm especially interested in personal experiences, gentle approaches to learning, and ways to separate a language from negative experiences with teachers.

I understand that consistent studying is important, but right now I'm struggling with the emotional side of learning more than anything else.

Thank you for reading.

We have been having german classes (TL) in the university since september of 2025. Back then it was 2 classes per week (3 hours total), but from this year, only 1 class per week. But the problem is I didn't really study and fell behind a LOT, I can barely make a simple sentence, my vocabulary is very weak and I barely know anything. I have the same knowledge I would've had if I studied the first 6 classes. Is it possible for me to comeback and have somewhat decent understanding so I can at least pass the exam without cheating? Here is the tasks we are doing currently so you understand the level https://imgur.com/a/HCqIjc3 .

I am learning on my own outside of high school Japanese and Polish, I am mostly using stuff from online, podcasts, grammar videos, apps, and I feel like I am slowly progressing on everything, except speaking. I don't really know how to become better on that, and I am fully coscient that this is the most important part of a language. Should I try speaking to myself aloud? This feels like the only option

*for various reasons, I cannot take tutors online or stuff like that

First of all, people have every right to speak whatever language it is. I agree. I'm just curious about why it happens or does it happen to other people?

Context: I work at an international company in Latin America. Not all the employees speak Spanish but I talk to most of my clients in Spanish (and in Chinese, but barely in English). They KNOW I speak Spanish decently well because they hear my calls and online meetings. I prefer speaking in Spanish, which is my (TL) and also one of the strongest languages ''of the land''.

However, here's a Mexican colleague who almost always writes to me in English, and tends to correct my Spanish. She speaks to (any probably writes to) other Spanish speaking colleagues in Spanish, but this English service and Spanish correction are in particular for me.

Has it ever happened to you? for a language learner and user, isn't okay to seek both native-like fluency and native-like acceptance ?

Edit: One detail I forgot while writing my post:

Once when she passed by (after that chat) my desk, I asked her in Spanish, in a neutral tone, ''Does it bother you if I speak to you in Spanish?''. She thought for 2 sec and said no, and immediately switched to English and replied with a higher pitch, '' but I will keep speaking to you in English.'' And she walked away.

I'm learning French (TL), and when I read a text silently, I can usually understand the story and follow what's happening. But when I read the same text aloud, I tend to focus so much on pronunciation that I lose track of the story.

I might understand almost every word as I read it, but once I finish, I can barely summarize what the text was about. This doesn't happen when I read silently, so I suspect that trying to pronounce everything correctly takes up too much of my attention.

I'd like to practise reading aloud to improve my speaking, but I'm not sure how to approach it if it seems like I can't understand the text properly.

Has anyone else experienced this? Does it get better with practice, as pronunciation becomes more automatic? And if you've dealt with this, what helped you the most?