HOW LONG HASe IT TAKEN YOU TO LEARN A LANGUAGE FLUENTLY??

Question

and wut lang. can you speak and can you speak multiple languages??

Answer 1

I live in Belgium, so we start to learn a second language in 5th grade, about an hour a week. As I'm Flemish that meant learning French. And living in a small country with three official languages, I would be able to watch TV in French and German. And that helps. Plus my father spoke French and English. I could speak acceptable French by 7th grade. But the breaktrough came in 9th grade, when I changed schools, had a very stern French teacher and failed French. My parents sent me on a language holiday in the French speaking part of Belgium, and there I was encouraged to speak French, even for discussing complex subjects like science and politics, and I finally gained confidence. I realized that people could undestand me, and wouldn't laugh about my mistakes. Finally all that vocabulary and grammar clicked together. Next year, 10th grade, I was first in French, and since then I started speaking it fluently.

A similar thing happened with English and German, which we had to take from 10th grade on, one hour a week. I was average, in spite of all the English and German movies with subtitles we have in Belgium, plus all those English songs in the hitparade. But in 11th grade I subscribed to a TV course on English for Scientists, and I became hooked. I gained confidence and was proud when my English teacher told me my English was fine, but a bit too American to his taste. Again, it has to click together.

When I went to university, I decided to play it safe, as English is an obligatory subject. So I went to an English summer course, where I immediately ended up in the most advanced group. And I when they tested me, I scored so good that I was exempt from English in my first year. The same with French. I went to an month long advanced course in France, and the first thing they asked me was "What do you still hope to learn here? You're French is almost perfect". So I used the course to learn French argot (street slang). And I started to read French newspapers and comic books. And again I was excempt French in my second year at university. And I served as a liaison with the French-speaking student unions.

I *hated* German, with all that complex grammar and umlauts. There the click came at that same advanced French course in France. Most of the participants were German scholarship students, so I had to speak German in my free time to hook up with girls! I think I learned more German than French during that month ...

After university I landed in the peace movement and was regulary drafted for simultanious translations French-English and English-French at international meetings. Later on I became liaison with the German peace movement and was asked to give speeches in German. The first time I asked German co-workers to check my speeches, but they told me it wasn't necessary, because people had to be able to hear I wasn't a native speaker. An again that click, the confidence to speak a language with mistakes and all.

So later on, when I worked in the computer industry, I was able to give every course in Dutch, English, French or German. Regulary switching languages in the same course, when they managed again to stick a Swede with a group of Germans, for example. Only if I haven't given a German course for a while I have to freshen up on German computer terminology for an hour or so.

And nowadays I consider myself fluent in four languages, and I can manage in Spanish and Italian, with smatterings of Portugese and Russian. In fact, English has become my second mother tongue. But I have to take efforts to keep up that proficiency : books, magazines, newspapers, movies.

The only problem I sometimes have is that I can think of a word in several other languages, but not in the language I need at the moment. The luxury problem of a polyglot.

Conclusion : learning words and grammar is OK, but you have to have the confidence to speak it, warts and all. You get encouragement and you will make advances. And you have to keep it up the rest of your life if you want to be proficient and to be able to switch languages at the drop of a hat.

Answer 2

English was the worst, that took almost twenty years. French wasn't much better that took about 16, Spanish was easier that only took about 5, German was the easiest only took 3. Going to try Bulgarian next that's a toughie because they use both the cryllic and roman alphabet. The best way to learn a foreign language fluently is to go there and totally immerse yourself, it will take about 6 months.

Answer 3

I'm French and I've been learning English for ages now - more than 15 years. I think I'm ok now, but I'm still learning. The hardest part is to keep in touch with the language, so I read a lot of English press and wander around on places like here. So to answer correctly, I would say it took me 8 years to get a decent level.
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The first time I ordered a beer in a English Pub - in Brighton in 1998 - I said "I'd like a Grolsch please!", ... I was served a Coke! I think my accent is far better nowadays :)

Answer 4

I've been learning Spanish for 10 years and I am still learning and making mistakes. I am learning it up here in the U.S. If you are not in the country where the language is spoken it takes you a lot longer to learn. If you learn in the country which the language is spoken you pick it up faster. I can read, write and speak Spanish fairly well but I still have trouble understanding when it is spoken fast. It takes a lot of concentration on my part.

Answer 5

I guess this depends upon what your definition of fluently is.
I would say that you would have to be around people who spoke that language and use it yourself exclusively for a year or two until you could converse with them at a normal conversation pace.
I can speak and understand some Spanish, however I am not fluent in it.

Answer 6

It took me about 2 to 3 years to be able to speak English fluently, but less than that to read and write in English. I think writing in English is much easier than speaking it. I speak Arabic and understand a little Assyrian.

Answer 7

I started learning english at the age of 7, and 50 years later, I am still learning new ways of saying what I want to express. It is an ongoing prosess

Answer 8

I can speak English fluently, and I know some German, Spanish, French, Chinese, and Khmer (language of Cambodia).

Answer 9

A lifetime. I'm english & can speak dutch it's taken 6 years to get this far & i'm still learning new words.

Answer 10

i speak english fluently obviously.i can also speak punjabi(indian) but not that fluently and i'm still trying to get the hang of speaking German as i live in Germany.so i can speak 3 languages!!

Answer 11

I've been working on German for 4 years or so.... And I'm not even close.... I've had a couple teachers and they all say for a lot of people it's pretty much impossible unless you live in the country where it's spoken and surround yourself in it....