How long does it ACTUALLY take to learn a language to fluency?

As far as i hear, it depends on how similar your native is with and how efforts you put and so on, but obvious thing is that you have to study at least over one years every day or probably two year

You can totally answer this question. It's like asking how long does it take to retire. Yes, some far left work avoidant people may never retire and some people will retire early because they work hard. But in general, it won't take 1 year to retire and it won't take 300 years (if you actually work). The average person who tries retires between 55 and 65. Done.

omg thank you! you spoke out my mind. it piss me off as a learner when I see vidoes talking about how many hours you need to be fluent in a specific langauge. come on! who's gonna count the exact hours when they start learning a languge? how about the random moments when I'm practicing aftet my class ended? while I'm eating or taking a shower or walking and thinking about the langauge and the old lessons that I've already took?
how about if you set a timer and you got distracted or you weren't really paying attention to the lesson didn't you waste some time here?
how about if you weren't even studying it well? how about if you were doing it wrong and you need a new method?
for real don't be obsessed with the hours (in general too) cause you're gonna practice the language for ever.

Good points

Hi, great video and thanks for share, pero en Español no usamos "Todes" ese es un lenguaje que no existe y no es Español. Que un grupo de personas quiera imponerlo no quiere decir que exista y menos en Español. saludos y que estes bien.

Te amoooo. Sos la mejor ❤

It took me about 3 years to reach fluency (B2) in my target language (Māori). I'm guessing it took me about 1,500 hours (mostly immersion) to get there, averaging about an hour a day. After nearly 5 years, I'm currently at about a C1 level. It's consistency and the compounding effect of doing a little bit every day that counts.

Esse negócio de "todes" em espanhol, tá acontecendo o mesmo com o português aqui no Brasil. Mas isso tudo é questão política, tão querendo estragar nosso idioma. Essa galerinha lacradora que vem com esse papo de "todes" comigo, eu já solto logo um "todes teu c*!" 😇

I loved this talk a lot. It's very true that effort is more important than the overall time. Thank you for having this conversation. AND the camera footage looks great! Good investment 🥰

Don't say "todes" please 😖😖

GENDER NEUTRAL LANGUAGE IS FAKE

Hi! If I am studying Russian 2hrs per day everyday (missing a day here and there ofc) is that what u would call dedicated? (I use online classes, tutors etc)

I wish to learn german but I have no idea where to start . Where shouldI start ?

Sometimes we need to remind ourselves that when we were children it took us around 7 years of constant learning and improving to become fluent in English and even after that there were still words we needed to learn later on as we grew, so we need to be kind to ourselves when learning a new language. Span of time doesn't matter, consistency when learning does

I speak 6 languages, 4 of them fluently. I never mention this to other people unless they ask me, because I hate showing off

I really love your content Elysse but I'm finding it hard to trust your advice because of all your sponsorships from language learning programs. It seems each video you are promoting a new program that you swear up and down by. It's hard for me to take your advice because it's starting to seem less sincere with the way you work in your sponsorships. I'm glad your making your side hustle but I wish you would tie in your ads in a more transparent and honest way.

how do you practice speaking in your target language

Thanks for the video! I can't agree more, especially about the three false assumptions. As a traditional Chinese saying puts it, a boxer's fist is always tight and a sing's mouth never rests. Or... practice and persistence make perfect :)

I hope this letter finds you safe and sound. With the recent earthquake in Turkey, I can't help but worry about your safety. The news reports have been devastating and it's hard not to imagine the worst to what might have happened to you.

Bro you’re camera looks amazing, it almost looks like you have a filter (also I love your haircut) :)

This video actually helped me to not get nervious and critisize my self based on others time standards for language learing. we all have different ways to learn and it doesn't matter how much time it takes.

I really really like your piercings! Çok güzel,sana çok yakışıyor <3

Why don't you learn any slavic language ?????

The idea of comparing yourself to yourself is a very good suggestion...it's the best thing you can teach a child but unfortunately society is going in the wrong direction in this regard both in the West and East

sorry, no one uses gender neutral spanish

It takes 200-400 hours per level in a language roughly speaking

I spent a lot of time reading the old AJATT blog way before I ever learned any languages seriously, & he really emphasized that it takes thousands of hours to reach a high level in a language unrelated to our own. I do feel like having realistic expectations helped me when I started learning Chinese. I have only a limited amount of time to spend, but I am not surprised or disappointed when my progress is slow. I get the sense there are lots of people who consider themselves "bad at learning languages" because they aren't fluent after a couple semesters of classes or 6 months of Duolingo, when in fact they're doing fine & just have no realistic sense of how many hours are required. I also agree that elapsed time is a bad measure - there's a big difference between a professional language learner doing 8+ hours a day for a few months, & a regular person doing an hour a day or less for the same amount of time.

How to overcome the intermediate plateau in English?

Guys someone who can be my friend to improve our speaking skills in English

Yeah, I’ve been learning and using Mandarin Chinese in my daily life or professionally since 1995 and I still can find beneficial ways to improve. I still like to practice speaking to people about certain types of topics.

Take an attempt to learn the 🇮🇳 Language Malayalam😝

Yeah, it's smoothing your skin Hahahah

Preach it girl!! Like you mentioned, the question itself appears very innocent, and it usually comes from a place of pure curiosity. However, this question has the potential to make language learners feel bad about themselves, especially if someone (like myself) has spent a lot of time on the dreaded "intermediate plateau". The learning journey becomes a lot more enjoyable after you rid yourself of comparison.

Also, the new camera looks amazing! Would you mind sharing what type of camera that is?

Getting good at something is rarely about the goal itself, but enjoying the process. The process always happens in the present, so the future isn't important.

You look absolutely stunning in this new camera!!

Has anyone tried iTalki/Tandem/Preply? I've heard you can use them to find speaking partners. What's good/bad about them?

Thank you for this informative video

I also feel like the camera is smoothing your skin. But to language learning - I always hate when people ask me how long have I been learning German because I don't know what to answer. Do I answer that I started in primary school when I hated it and refused to actively learn anything? Do I say I started when I was in secondary and was 16 years old because I had to learn it? Do I say when I was 18 because that's when I started liking it and started learning it outside of school? What about the 3 years at uni when I spent almost no time on german? It would be easy to say "I started learning German 9 years ago". But that says absolutely nothing about my level or my relationship with the language.

im 15 and literally only started taking my language journey seriously around 2 months ago . ive been doing spanish for 4 years and i sit my spanish GCSE,s (test )in 4 months but i will probally do it for higher education (a levels ) so ive started to revise it every night in the 2 months ive already improved ALOT and have already learnt more than i need to know for the test iand more , cant stress enough how little school teaches you it helps with the grammer but not so much extra vocab and how to speak and hold a conversation . after 4 years of school learning im only at a A2/B1 level bt we only do 2 hours a week in school anyway but ive seen that outside of school language learning is so much faster aswell as spanish im currently learning russian ("2 months ) and feel like ive already learnt 6 months of school content in that time and actually enjoyed it

Disaster all over the world.. God give warning to us because any soon WILL HAPPEN Armageddon.. prepared do kindness to each other with charity so God put you in heaven not in hell.. world just a bridge to eternal life so makes suress your safety after this life.

Ye i mean it would depend several factors that would make a generalisation near impossible. If u spend 12 hours a day like a crazy person 7 days a week how long would that take? Madness i telll u.

omg girl love your hairrrr

It took me roughly 3 years of hard effort (2-3 hours per day, 6 days a week) to get to a solid B2 reading level in Russian. Your mileage may vary. Why is that so hard to say?

Is not the camera , u are so pretty

Eu só fui entender o que é aprender uma língua quando eu comecei a estudar Coreano e Japonês e tive que lidar um um alfabeto totalmente diferente do tradicional romano/latino. Eu diria que se você pegar um idioma e estudá-lo com regularidade, você irá ficar fluente em 3 ou 4 anos.

Excellent video 🙌
You've put into words some feelings that have been floating around my head for years now •́⁠ ⁠ ⁠‿⁠ ⁠,⁠•̀

As an ESL tutor, I often have students ask me about progress in terms of time, and I totally agree with you! The only situation where time should factor into progress is if you're under a deadline for an exam. Outside of that, time can take a hike! Love your thoughts on this :) thanks for sharing, and love the new camera!

I've been "Learning" Spanish for 20+ years and I'm still like a1 or maybe a2 but I don't really do anything outside of listening in public and some TV and music. I have almost 0 conversational skills in the language.