Young children learning a second language will learn Spanish the same way they learned their first language, but this will occur at a different rate for each student. Most children will go through a ‘silent period’, when “the child is building up competence in the second language via listening, by understanding the language around him”. (Stephen Krashen, 1982). That said, there are many factors that go into each child’s specific timeline for acquiring and speaking Spanish. It typically takes between 5 and 7 years to achieve fluency in a second language, but there are many factors to consider for each child’s route to speaking Spanish. These factors include time in school, personality, exposure to Spanish outside of school and personal background with Spanish.