How long would it take to learn another language fluently?

1. 79

   PoeticPhilosophyposted 10 years ago

   How long would it take to learn another language fluently?

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2. 81

   Souther29posted 10 years ago

   It's completely dependent on the work you put in. I did a French degree and had been learning basic French at school since the age of 10. I also lived in France for a year. Living in the country and being surrounded by the language... I saw my knowledge and fluency skyrocket and you learn so much more.
   
   The issue is if you don't keep your languages up you can forget a lot. If you need to learn a new language for business i.e. being relocated to another country. Within 6 months you would be able to have a very good grasp if you studied daily, practiced speaking lots but to really be truly fluent and surrounded yourself with the language... living in the country is a must I feel to be 100% fluent.

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   1. 79

      PoeticPhilosophyposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Wow you got great knowledge, thanks for your answer! Just what I was lookin for. I'm thinkin of doin online learning for French actually too. Haha

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   2. 81

      Souther29posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      French is a really fun language to learn. There are some big differences such as words having their own gender (whereas in English it is not as  specific) and the sentence structure is different too. Good luck:-)

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   3. 60

      hubmuffinsposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Thats true, you have to live in the country whose language you want to learn to have a tight grasp on the language.

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3. 60

   hubmuffinsposted 10 years ago

   It depends on your dedication. You can learn to read and write pretty quickly but if you want to speak fluently, you have to try to converse with people who have the knowledge of that language. Like if want to learn to speak Arabic, you have to converse with people who know the language otherwise there is no chance that you would be able to speak 'Fluently' . But as far as reading and writing is considered, you do not need the help of anyone else once you have learnt the grammar.

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   1. 79

      PoeticPhilosophyposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks hubmuffiins

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   2. 89

      IslandBitesposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I agree. When I studied Italian (as part of my University degree) , just with one year course, I could read and understand pretty well. But to speak it fluently you must converse.

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4. 83

   liesl5858posted 10 years ago

   It depends on each individual, when I learnt spoken Arabic it took me about three months. But I lived with my ex- Kuwaiti Employers family and the kids helped me a lot. It's not easy to learn but it is easier to learn when you live in the country with a different language which you want to learn. Also you have to have the enthusiasm to go with it and the drive to learn another language.

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   1. 79

      PoeticPhilosophyposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      3 months!? That's crazy. I'm just going to be doing online training of some sort. I'll practice pronouncing outload haha we'll see how it goes

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5. 70

   Second Languageposted 10 years ago

   The US Foreign Service Institute gives a chart on what it thinks it would take for its native English-speaking personnel to gain proficiency in another language.
   
   The easiest group takes 23-24 weeks (575-600 class hours) and the hardest group takes 88 weeks (2200 class hours)(about half that time preferably spent studying in-country).
   
   You can find the chart here: http://ebestlanguagelearningsoftware.co … e-to-learn
   
   So that can give you some idea, but really, each individual learner is different.
   
   Maybe I'll make a hub about it!

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