How long does it take to learn a second language?

Mastery takes time always, but you can learn enough.

you need to use the language every day in order to learn it. Dont think you will learn with Rosetta stone either, you need interaction with native speakers. I lived in foreign countries and saw Peace Corp workers that majored in Spanish that could not speak to the local spanish speakers.

I know a couple of languages to differing degrees and did some graduate-level work in language teaching.

To really learn a language takes time and repetition. I want to say time (length of exposure) is one of the most important factors, but it's been a long time since I did the graduate work. Certainly you could learn something in three weeks, but would it be enough and sufficient for your purposes? Only you know. Also, how long it would take depends on the relative difficulty of the language -- Spanish is a much easier language to learn than Chinese or Russian. And if it's a Latinate language, it will be easier, since English has a lot of words with Latin roots, even though it's a Germanic language. It also depends on your own abilities and motivation, and if you have any background in linguistics and the structure of language.

If you can find a video series, I find those helpful. Like for French, the "French in Action" series is helpful. Spanish has "Destinos" but I never made it through the whole series, and it's corny. There's a Japanese one I've seen, but I don't know what it's called.

At least nowadays with the internet and streaming tv and YouTube, you have resources and access. I had to learn stuff before all that. And I think learning things with conjugation charts is just stupid, no one thinks through conjugation charts in real life.

If you cant travel hang out in areas that speak the language you want to learn.

My work most bosses etc speak like many lang.all asian which woukd be easy bit like slang lang for each country. Then one boss asked me if i learnt a 2nd lang. I forgot i had 3 from high school EU.
Then today i was in a place yeah i live country not many foreigners yet in my area. And paid no attention to what lang they where speaking then it hit me. I started to listen not just that my 6th sense joined in and so did eye contact. Ssying no more.

Way your planet is everyone neefs to learn.
Nothing worse than rude ppl speaking a lang that is not national.
Dont love it go home.

But when you have 6th sense lang you hear trans auto to your own..

I would say it depends on a few factors :

-The main one being ones age (a lot easier the younger you are)
-If you are with native speakers daily, for a long period of time, who can't speak your native language (very important)
-Ones will power and normal abilities to learn.
-The difficulty of the language, if the language uses the latin alphabet that you already master, that is half of the battle already won.

Possible to hold a conversation in 3 weeks ? Yes.
Possible to hold an intelligent meaningful conversation in 3 weeks? No, not by a long shot. In 6 months ? Yes, if you are with natives all day who can't speak your language.
To master a language (read, write, converse and pick up native accent) a decade or more, but then the more languages you learn and the more the devoted you are, the quicker you learn (a lots of overlapping in languages)

Really, normally, I'd say one can't learn that much in 3 weeks. Maybe some basic words and phrases, maybe some knowledge of how the verbs work and basic word order and some basic pronunciation. As far as developing a broad vocabulary, literature classes in the language are helpful (of course, these take time and are more advanced). Even still, when I watch tv in other languages, I still come across words I don't know, since classroom language is much different than real world conversation between native speakers.

That said, I did read about a polyglot who supposedly infamously studied some language on a plane flight to the country and was able to speak some of it by the time he landed. But, he was a polyglot so he had other language knowledge and experience to draw upon. And I'd say he was the exception and an outlier.

Bump. Good thread and suggestions in general.

I’ve been immersing myself in English for a while before starting to communicate, and contact to natives helps a lot, be it online or offline.

In the case of German, just five minutes...

Lesson One - IN THE CAFE

..........Karl
Das luger Himmler, auschvitz panzer Goering Luftwaffe, bonkybonky

..........Günter
Das dumpkoff panzer krauten Fokker Hitler rhineland anschluss.

..........Klaus
.......(laughing)
Fokker panzer seigheil Munchengladbach sweeper system, Jürgen!

All three laugh.

..........Karl
waffen SS panzer luger das trebant.

German...

LESSON TWO - In the Supermarket.

Maria is examining some tomatoes at the vegetable stall.

......Maria
...(to store assistant)
Das luger trebant prussia merkel hesse von ribbontrop das himmler krupps luger waldheim juden gassy-gassy?

.....Store Assistant
Luger, luger das juden messerschmitt jodl himmler krauten.

......Maria
Krauten schiester seelowe juden merkel bmw luger-luger.

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS
- How much were the tomatoes?
- What was wrong with the apples?
- Why was Marie unhappy with the store assistant?
- Why were some shelves bare?

Remember, to speak German, you just need to shout as loudly as you can, wave your hands around, put das in front of every noun and add ein onto the end of every third word.

If you're a savant, yes



[link to www.youtube.com (secure)]

This guy learned Icelandic in one week.

Took me about a year (rough) to become simple conversational with German. It helped to fly over there two or three times a week. Immersion is the key.

There's more to it than that. German has three versions of "The" depending on gender:

"Das" neutral
"Die" (pronounced dee) feminine
"Der" (pronounced as dair) masculine

Depends entirely on what you mean by learning it. You only get good at exactly what you're practicing.

My native language is Swedish, but I've spent most of 20 years reading and writing and watching movies and TV shows in English, so I'm close to a native English speaker when it comes to

1. Reading English

2. Writing English

3. Hearing English

But I'm still completely useless at SPEAKING English, because I haven't practiced it at all! When I try to say something in English, my brain freezes up and no words come out. I can actually think in English, and often do (!), but getting those thoughts to exit my mouth is still very hard.

So, have I "learned English" yet?

Germans clearly need to take more gender studies classes! Only three genders? That's preposterous, not to mention homophobic, transphobic, queerphobic, non-binary-phobic, and so on and so forth.(*)

(*) My apologies for not listing all of the excluded genders here. I'm aware people who for instance identify as a squirrel must now be rolling on the floor in spasms over having been dismissed in such an uncaring way.

Depends on your level of motivation, your dogged determination, and your discipline to stick it out.

It takes years.

Just buy one of these:
[link to www.intexcatranslator.com (secure)]

As far as brain functions go, it's very similar to learning chess. Not just the concept of the game, but strategy as well...three weeks, if you have a very high IQ

and get lots of sleep...

I can teach you Pig Latin in minutes.

Sign language wouldn't take long. Couple weeks?

Moe.....O-May

Larry....Airy-Lay

Curly....Curly Cue!!!

Yuk yuk yuk yuk!

Some things under the influence of Marijuana seem funnier than they really are...

Learn basic phrases first, then some common vocabulary. Next, immersion is best way to learn from locals or friends/co-workers who speak it. Your age and the language also factors.

When I was about 25, it took me about 6 mo's to learn conversational Spanish (Latin American). Although, I discovered some countries in South America some words/phrases have different meanings (slang). For example, "coger" in most Latin American countries means "to take", but in Argentina it means "have sex". That was an embarrassing learning moment for me.

I'm now 54 and have been living in Philippines for over 3 years and still not fluent in Tagalog. I usually end up speaking "Taglish", a combination of Tagalog and English words. I have no problems with speaking and pronouncing Tagalog words. I actually surprise most locals when I speak to them in Tagalog. They don't expect a "kano" (slang for American or Foreigner) to speak Tagalog.

It also helps that many Filipinos understand English, but don't necessarily speak it. It took me a few weeks to figure out what the slang "bloody nose" meant. It means the person is thinking hard to understand you, that it "makes their nose bleed" in a figurative way.

Last Edited by Agent MIB on 10/21/2018 08:20 AM

3 weeks? never. you might be able to learn a few words and phrases, which will go a long way in terms of good will from the place you're visiting. but, you'll never be able to meaningfully learn and understand (listing comprehension) in such a short time.

i have quite a knack for languages, and still think this is impossible. a few months, fully engrossed in a foreign country can do a lot though, but still needs a lot of effort on your part. also depends on the language and your native language--some are much more difficult, especially when different letters/alphabets are involved.

Just depends on how dumb you are son.

Yes especially if you have already learned one other then English. They are all essentially the same. I am native English, Spanish is my second language, Latin is my third.

If you are 5-7 yo and immersed in the language: 2 weeks to understand something, soon after you can speak simple and short sentences (e.g. "i am hungry") and you will be fully conversant in 6 months. Another 6 months and you are fluent.

If you are 40, it takes the rest of your life to become conversant.

If I could have a super power, it would be the "Power of Babel". Knowing all spoken languages in the world.