|
First; You need to clearly define what you mean by fluent. That is a very loose term with different meanings for different people. Assuming you want to be able to function socially in a language is not as hard as being flawless in your chosen field of expertise. If you happen to be a connoisseur of poetry, it will require huge amounts of reading in order to fully appreciate and being able to discuss that topic in a foreign language.
Second; Reading silently or out loud? Silently means that you improve your passive understanding of a language. In academia you will find a lot of people that for example are very well versed in Heian literature, but if they order a beer and it isn't cold enough for their liking they will swallow their embarrassment rather than attempting a complaint. They have read a lot but they have never practiced the language. If you are aiming for active knowledge of a foreign language you need to read out loud, even if it is embarrassing, in order to train your mouth to form the necessary sounds and words.
Third; Once you have a working knowledge of the foreign language, reading modern literature is a great aid in acquainting you with idioms and socio-linguistic features of said language. You can almost always catch the foreigner on her odd usage of some idioms, or sometimes trying to shoehorn in an idiom or socio-linguistic feature from her native language in the foreign environment.
The rule I apply with my students when they tell me they think they have become fluent in Japanese is; "Ok, then please tell me a joke I haven't heard before". The reason being that humor is the one feature in a language that needs to transcend almost all the features that make up a language. If you can create something funny in a foreign language, then, in my book at least, you have arrived.
|