For me there's no point I'm a homebody I never even leave my County and everyone I know speaks English I live out in the country I'm surrounded by beautiful water and woods and deer and Farms we have our own personal lake stocked with trout so I have no desire to travel I'm already where I want to be learning another language would be pointless plus I found if you don't practice it you forget it

My friend Billie, 82, speaks English, Spanish and French fluently, some Mandarin Chinese. She has a gift for languages.

"It took me eight years to becomes fluent in Spanish," Billie said. "Staying with a Spanish-speaking family- immersion in the language- was key."

it depends on the person him/herself, since not everyone is equally attuned to languages including his/her own; it depends on the method of learning, be it immersion or a wobbly old tape or a class or a tutor; it depends on what you mean by "really" learn, since no one knows EVERYTHING about a language, whether one's own or another; and it depends on how well the speaker speakers english already, too. it depends on whether a person is visually oriented, audially oriented or both. it depends a whole lot on what other language one is trying to learn! it depends on SO many things. this is not a question one can just answer with a number and a time frame! as for why we don't, i did, so.... assumptions, assumptions!

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In my experience it took a year living in country to be fluent. Six months and I was mostly independent. That was a Latin based language which is similar to English so no clue for other more challenging languages.