How long to get to a conversational level in a language?

This is in answer to a question from mednos, a regular viewer here, and is based on spending one hour a day on input learning activities. I think the answer depends on what level of conversational ability one wants to achieve. It also depends on the language.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• LingQ
• language learning
• input based language learning

[OmarOcean]

Why do you think that French is harder to speak than the other Romance languages? :)

[lingosteve]

@OmarOcean 1) The spelling is not as consistent and obvious as the others, 2) The words have changed more from the original Latin 3) The pronunciation is more difficult 4) There are more unique structures (ne..pas, y en, etc.) On the other hand the subjunctive is used less which is a plus.

[DelNegro10]

Oi, Steven, você falou sobre um tal de Moser(acho que é assim que escreve) no seu vídeo anterior, poderias, pois, escrever o nome dele corretamente para que assim possa procurar no youtube!

Desde já agradeço!

[lingosteve]

@DelNegro10 Moses McCormick

[CyrusFun]

Can you add a section to your website for people looking for Skype language learner friends? It'll help a lot if people can have regular conversations in whatever language they are learning....

[lingosteve]

@CyrusFun At LingQ people can and do contact each other via the Forum and their walls to arrange skype conversations.

[pishkitarian]

you should learn swahili

[TheMartikaa]

That was the best Video! I thought I am stupid bicause Idon `t speak English wery well after 1 year learning! You are the best most realisctic language teacher I´we ever had!By the way I am Hungarian I speak Yugoslawish and Germanish ! I make many mistakes but newer mind! You are the best for me!M

[utubesqueeze]

Really impressive video - a true experienced polygot's carefully reasoned and explained response. Thank you very much, Steve!

[SOGN0]

thanks for this video, steve. i remember wondering how long it would take for me to be able to speak japanese. i decided that it didnt matter. i was just going to keep going until the shift happened. it did! one day i found myself having a great conversation with one of my teachers. i was able to say what i wanted to say, he had no problem understanding me and i had no problem with his responses and questions. a great, surprising feeling. i am expanding vocabulary and constructs now

[Chezrocksall]

It depends on the language and the person. For me it takes me extremely quick depending on the language to learn the language to a conversational level.

[aofsamos]

...me the conviction to keep going. Indeed, I have already made great progress and found it very rewarding to discuss various topics and make Korean friends (that don't speak English) laugh with jokes in their native language. But not knowing the word for a military general or "revolt" and so on can get frustrating. But as you say, with more listening and reading, these gaps can be overcome. It's how I got this far. Still, I also make careless mistakes, the kind I realize soon after I make them.

[aofsamos]

Thank you for discussing the moments in which you couldn't understand or were unable to speak well. It is encouraging for a learner such as myself to know that an accomplished polyglot like yourself goes, to some extent, the same process everyone else does. Last night I went out to a dinner in a Korean environment and made a lot of mistakes (including using a form of goodbye used among friends when a more formal version was required). Examples such as yours give...(cont).