Is It Possible to Become Fluent in Chinese in Just 9 Weeks??

[Johann]

I live in the US and speak a little Spanish and my wife is quite conversant in it. Advanced knowledge of Spanish has never been something that I felt like would help me get a job I wanted or a promotion.

I don't disagree with anything you said. But I feel there can be very good reasons to want to study languages besides getting a job or a promotion e.g. maybe you want to visit, or perhaps know more about the culture, literature and/or history, have met overseas people here, etc. Those were always my personal reasons -- I guess not many people on this forum share my view. Oh well...

[rachel83az]

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm currently doing Russian at XAMK because it looked interesting and I wanted to. Not for job prospects.

[LevelUP]

I think Johann and freeloader are both right.

Countries like India make a national commitment to foreign languages.  In a lot of colleges in India, English is the only language used.

Market-driven economics do affect the motivation to learn a language. For example, in some countries, you can make double the income if you know English. 

In America, if you work as a dental assistant, you could literally increase the Spanish-only-speaking patients if you know even an A1/A2 level Spanish. So that may help get you the job and make you more valuable.

Learning a foreign language can open you to a whole new world filled with a different culture and social opportunities.

Everyone does have their different reasons for learning a new language.  It's not an all-or-nothing type of decision as to how far you want to take your language education.

[Johann]

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm currently doing Russian at XAMK because it looked interesting and I wanted to. Not for job prospects.

Тогда молодцы! (Good for you! Well done!)  

[jamshid666]

I would expect that most missionaries are at A1 or maybe A2 level upon leaving the MTC. There's just not enough time to get any better than that.

Nine weeks is definitely not enough to become fluent. The Defense Language Institute is a full-time language school for the military, and the Chinese Mandarin course is 63 weeks long, 40 hours per week. Students must pass the final DLPT at a 2/2/2 level to graduate, which is equivalent to a B2 level under the CEFR ratings. With only nine weeks of study, I agree with you that most students would be at A1, with a small percentage maybe hitting A2. Even an easy language like Spanish required 26 weeks at DLI to reach a B2 level.

[LevelUP]

Anybody ever heard of the Diglot Weave learning method?

One of the problems for language learners is getting to the point where they can read in their target language.  But how do you read and comprehend without knowing enough of the words?  This is the Catch 22 paradox.
https://languagemixing.com/learn-spanish

That can work for books and there is a browser plugin that will switch only certain words to your target language.

Thoughts?

[rachel83az]

I think that's how the Assimil system works. I have the Toucan plugin for Chrome but I don't really use it.

[Alpha]

Once upon a time you could go to the website of the People's Daily, China's leading newspaper (and acknowledged arm of the Chinese government) and engage in written conversation with a Chinese person who wants to practice their English language skills.  Some of it was just casual conversation but some was more focused on specific subjects, the primary interest of the learner typically.  For many people it's the only way to practice, something we know is critical for true fluency.  If you poke about the site a bit you might discover whether they still do this.
English--People's Daily Online