Months, years? From your experience or others you know, how long did it take you or someone you know to fluently speak and understand thte language?\n\nIf you learned the language fluently, did you also learn the types of writing as well?
218034
My personal experience:\nI went to Japan knowing the bare basics - greetings, and things related to my current state of being, such as "I`m hungry" "I`m thirsty" etc. I was in an environment where I had the option of speaking Japanese or not speaking at all. There was no English to fall back on.\n\nWithin a month, I could stumble through conversation (With hand movements and drawings) enough to make friends. Two months, and I could sort of manage to understand most of what was going on around me without too much difficulty. Three months and I was able to call and talk to my friends over the phone (basic conversation without any expression/drawing help.)\nEverything from then on was just slowly improving and polishing what I knew. I would say true fluency in *speaking* took around 8 months? Although by around 5 months or so, I could make myself look fluent. (You know, when you understand enough of the conversation to understand what they mean without *really* understanding the words?) After close to a year, I was able to fool anyone I spoke to into thinking that I had been born in Japan. (ie, no accent, no mistakes, etc.)\nWritten language took a bit longer. I could read quite well after about a year, and I considered myself fluent after around a year and a half. It`s hard to learn a written language if you don`t know what the words you are reading mean, so I didn`t read much until after I was pretty much speaking fluently. \n\nMind you though, I was in Japan, in a situation without the option of English interaction available to me. I was also 17 when I came to Japan - as you age it takes longer to pick up new languages. If you go to Japan to teach English or with a school program, your actual exposure to Japanese will be drastically less. And if you have the option to fall back on a language that is easier for you, 9 times out of 10, you probably will. Make sure you NEED to speak the language to survive. It`s the best way.
63995
I started out slow, learning the pronounciations and stuff. Then first and second declension nouns, first and second conjugation verbs. Then we got harder. Now we are learning imperatives. I won't translate documents for several years.
103280
I am a native speaker of Korean, but my American friend who has learned French and Korean told me that Korean was ten times harder than French. He now speaks Korean fluently though, after taking Korean at college for four years. As somebody who learned English as a second language, many features of English grammar didn't make sense at all. And I assume that you will find Korean grammar doesn't makke sense at all. And even if you learn the grammar and the vocabulary of Korean perfectly, it will be hard to speak or understand oral speaking, because the word order is quite opposite. For example, if I say "I know a girl who speaks Korean" would be in Korean something like "I Korean speaks a girl know."
341718
I used to think that about myself. As a matter of fact, I tried learning Spanish in High School when I was 16. I failed first-year Spanish. I thought I was not capable of learning a foreign language until I was about 40, and my oldest daughter began taking Spanish in High School. At that time I realized that I still remembered quite a bit of Spanish, even though I failed the course, and there were 24 years between the two events.\n\nI tried an experiment. I began teaching myself Esperanto (I had heard it was the easiest language on earth to learn). I'm now fluent in Esperanto, and have gone back and studied Spanish and German to the point of being, more-or-less conversational.\n\nAnyone can learn a foreign language, some just learn faster than others. Different methods work with different people. You may be someone who can only learn through immersion. Keep looking at different course methods. Go to your local public library and try out different types of courses. You may find one that works for you.\n\nIf you want to give it another try, give Esperanto a try.  Esperanto was far easier to learn than any of the other languages I've studied, and it opened the world to me. I've had conversations with people from every continent, and every country, and I only had to learn the easiest language on earth to do so.\n\nYou might ask, why is Esperanto easier to learn than any of the other languages? It's because it is a language designed to be simple to learn. Most of the time spent studying a foreign language is spent learning the irregularities and rule exceptions ("I before E except after C", " 'sheep' is both singular and plural", etc). Esperanto has only 16 gramatical rules, and no exceptions to any of the rules.\n\nAnd before you ask, yes you can travel with Esperanto. Read this article in Wikipedia about the Esperanto "Pasporta Servo" (Pasport Service)\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasporta_Servo
599926
I am fluent in 4 different languages. When I say fluent I mean that I can speak, write and read these languages: including my two native languages plus english and spanish. Actually, I can read and understand 7 languages but because I am not exposed enough to the three others languages, I cannot speak them fuently so I don't consider that I am fluent in 7 languages. \n\nYou are fluent in a language when you can write it, speak it, understand it, read it at almost the same degree than your native language. \n\nThe best way to arrive to this point is to learn how to listen to someone. When I first came in America, I could read, write,  speak a little english but I couldn't understand the english spoken by some Americans people. I have been taught the british english, even it was the same language, I couldn't understand because the accent was different. So, I had to learn first,  to be familiar with the different types of accents and the TV helped me a lot. Beside the language itself, the accent may be an obstacle that you can overcome by training your ears.\n\nIt was the same for spanish. I have been taught the spanish from Spain. So I did some adjustements with my ears in order to understand the mexican accent. Now, I can interact very easily with mexicans. So I exposed my ears to the differents types of accents. It's very important to expose and train  your ears to the foreign accent and your brain will do the rest for you. The keyword is exposure.\n\nReading will improve your vocabulary and your writting skills, talking and listening will train your ears and improve your prononciation, grammar etc ... \n\nThe more you practice and the more you will master it. Because it's the way that the brain works. It's like learning a sport or riding a bicycle ... the brain needs to be trained and stimulated to something new and once he gets it things become very easier. \n\nMy 2 years son is bilingual (french / english) ... he didn't have to go to college for that ... his brain can make the difference between the 2 languages, he understands both ... because he has been immerged since he was born and the brain did the rest.\n\nImmersion is the keyword. You need to find a way to immerge yourself in this language. Talk talk and talk. Knowledge is something but your knowledges will not benefit you if you don't apply it. \n\nI don't believe that using softwares, CDs or DVDs is the best way to speed your learning process ... Interact with native speakers is the only great tool to speed your learning process when it's about  learning a new language. Interaction is another keyword.Talk,  listen to the radio and T.V in spanish to train your ears and force your brain to be familiar with this language,  interact with spanish people and force yourself to speak only spanish even it's easier for you to speak english. \n\nYou can be immerged in a culture but if you don't interact with the people, you won't learn nothing. My sister lived during three years in an english and french spoken country, she can't speak english now (my 2 years old son is much better than her) because french was an option so she chose the easier way, she didn't make any effort to communicate in english.\n\nImmersion is something. But immersion is not enough, you must interact.\n\nAnd your brain will adjust .. It's a brain stuff and the humain brain is wonderful.
550028
The best thing I have ever done at my free time was to learn two foreign languages. By the way that is why I am here now, cause I can speak  English :-) You have no idea of how speaking more than a language can open your mind and bring you all kinds of new experiences. I don't regret having stopped watching soap operas and having exchanged that for hours of fun language studying :-) I take it easy on my mistakes... What really matters is that it is fun and rewarding ;-D
215662
I know this might sound weird, but I'd buy some language learning kits, the ones with tapes or cds and a workbook in them... and then pop the tape in at night while you're sleeping, it helped me out some. Languages are learned best when the person is at a very young age but the older you are the harder it is to learn.
617230
It's not easy to find a software to teach you to type in Arabic :( \nI couldn't find one so I applied the same techniques from the software that taught me to type English to learn to type Arabic and it worked in like 2 or 3 weeks.
427580
To offer some background, I really suck at talking. I can not formulate the correct words in my head before I say them. That means that I can't always say what I mean, and mean what I say. Bad combo. I'd like to think that I'm good at writing though. I collected a lot of what I know from reading difficult to understand books like Hamlet or other Victorian age books. Learning different lingos will boost the vocabulary and aid in the ability to select better speech or words. Hope I've not talked your ear off about something that didn't help!
584123
I'm going in2 the 9th grade we moved here from Mexico when i was 5 so I leared english in school. I don't think it works but u can try anyways it takes 5 years to totally learn english that was the result of a study someone did
588401
My first and only fluent language is English.  I used to speak Spanish very well thanks to 5 years study in school, but it gets rusty when I don't use it.\n\nI'm learning French right now.  My boyfriend is French Canadian and while he is fluently bilingual, I think it's respectful to learn his mother tongue.  The "how" on this is very amusing.  I do have a cheapy computer program and audio program which I use from time to time.  They mostly help with pronounciation and vocabulary.  I bought a Canadian French workbook that was created for adult Anglophones who want to learn French.  THAT has been very useful.  \n\nThe bulk of my "teaching" comes from my boyfriend himself.  He gives me words and phrases that come up in regular conversation or that are relevant to something going on at that time.  The fun (although sometimes maddening) part is that he teaches me all sorts of stuff that one does not say in polite company.  I'm scared to death that someday one of these words will be too close to the word I really want to use and will slip out in front of some Franophones.
416475
It is possible to acquire a very good level in French and to speak it fluently within seven months, BUT you have to be really enthusiastic, highly motivated,disciplined and to devout yourself. Another great plus would be if you have a natural flair for languages.\nHope that is of help.\nWish you luck in learning French!
254804
A friend of mine lived in France for six years and in his sixth year I was helping him with French translations (this was my third year there).\n\nAnother guy came with zero French, was sent to a special immersion course in Vichy for three weeks, found a French girlfriend and three months after his arrival his French was very good.\n\nIf you REALLY want to learn French - pretend (even for yourself) that you don't speak English.
347103
personally no, b/c i think it takes time to learn it
663306
This is an interesting question.\n\nLinguists, especially those who study second language acquisition (SLA), are aware that most people who learn a new language after about the age of 15 always speak with an "accent".  It is quite rare, in fact, to meet a person who doesn't.\n\nWhether or not this means that the person is not a fabulous user of the language is somewhat beside the point.  I am acquainted with a German woman who now teaches in English at an American university, for example.  As far as the grammar, pragmatics, and many other characteristics of her English, she uses English very very well.  In some cases, her ability to use English in an academic setting is superior to that of many native speakers.  However, she speaks English with an accent.  Does that mean that she is not able to use English to communicate?\n\nAnother complicating factor is that our perception and even comprehension of language is confounded by our perception of the person who uses that language.  A classic study that demonstrates this was performed by a researcher named Rubin.  In that study, students listened to a lecture.  They were shown different pictures and told that the person in the picture gave the lecture.  Students who were shown a picture of an Asian male did not perform as well on a comprehension test as students who were shown a picture of a Caucasian male, even though they listened to the same tape recording.  This type of effect, where our comprehension is affected by our perception of the person as well as that person's language, can affect interactions with non-native speakers as well.\n\nBecause so few non-native speakers are able to speak with an accent that sounds native-like, language teachers in general don't make it a goal to train their students to sound like native speakers.  However, there are some features of accents that can be changed to make them more understandable.  Native speakers often listen to the length of the vowel, for example, to tell the difference between the words "beat" and "bead".  So non-native speakers can be trained to make the vowel in "bead" longer than the one in "beat", which will help native speakers to understand them better.  However, one thing that frustrates me as an ESL teacher is the inequality of this; I teach the non-native speakers how to make their accents more understandable, but I never teach the native speakers how to understand accents better.  I find that to be quite unfair.  Who says the native speaker is the one that should be catered to?\n\nIn answer to your question, I know some people that I consider very "fluent" in English despite the fact that they speak with accents.  However, native speakers of English certainly do seem to react when they sense that someone doesn't speak English exactly like they expect.  How much of this is language-related and how much of this is (gulp) prejudice is up for grabs.\n\nEven having written that, I am aware of the irony that I complain about the inequality and unfairness that's built into teaching ESL pronunciation, but I still continue to teach it.  In addition, my ability to speak with a very native-like accent is something that I take some pride in as a non-native speaker of Spanish, for example.  So although I am aware of these issues, I am still contributing to them.\n\nAlso, as a linguistic researcher, I am increasingly interested in the problem of perception.  There is a lot of evidence coming out in research studies today that the reason people speak English with an accent may not be that their English sound system is influenced by their native language, but that their perception of English as they hear it is.  In other words, because they hear things through the sound system of their native language, English might sound more like their native language to them than it does to English speakers.  Therefore, when they hear and store new vocabulary words
602940
Well, to me, the secret is to practice regularly and not limit yourself to just reading the textbooks that the english-teaching programs give you. \n\nI'm a native argentinian myself, living in Argentina. I consider that my spelling and understanding are pretty good, mainly because I try to practice a lot and try to do activities as if I were a native speaker\nFor example, when I watch an english-speaking tv show, I try to avoid reading the captions... I sometimes buy the english-language version of some books so that I can read them like a native speaker too... I love hearing the news, so aside from the argentine spanish news reports, I also like to watch the BBC every now and then.\nAlso, chatting in english with other people over the internet (like we are doing on this site) has really helped me to catch up with a lot of native words and neologisms that they don't teach you in school/university textbooks.\n\nIf you can afford it, try travelling to an english-speaking country for some months. I haven't done it myself, but I've been told that that's truly the best way to improve the knowledge on any language: being forced to hear it 24 hours a day.
413146
I sort of started on both at the same time.I had a CD of words and such,but I also started memorizing the letters too.I know some words,and I like to practice by reading different things I find like food boxes,TV shows and such.It's a very lovely language in writtien form.I am enjoying learning it.\n\nEveryone is different.Listen to the native speaker's answers.I just started off on my own.Start with sounds of letters,then go to numbers,then words.