I chose to learn Japanese, and I love it so far. I'm progressing way better than I expected, and it's really enjoyable to be able to consume content that was previously locked behind a language barrier.
I've been thinking of learning Korean, and I started a bit. My parents are Korean, so I have the motivation to do so.
But I've chosen the two hardest/longest-learning languages I could have possibly landed on as a native English speaker haha. By the time I'm fluent in both, probably five+ years will have passed unless I handily beat the average.
I recently learned the foreign service institute estimates the average person can become fluent (I assume fluency for the workplace like B2) in Spanish within 6 months. That's actually crazy.
I already know how to learn languages in a way that works for me. Spanish would be more helpful than Korean — what do others think about just picking up Spanish or another Category 1 language for fun, studying it for six months then maintaining it 30 minutes a day?
I do think I could probably get fluent in Spanish way shorter than that – maybe three to four months – because I took up to AP Spanish in high school and at one point was probably at B2. Do people think it's worth a shot? Just on the side — I don't even have to drop Japanese.
I fundamentally believe you need to enjoy language learning/have a motivation to get good at a language, which is why I haven't picked up Spanish — but reading that stat has me thinking it over again. Do y'all ever wonder whether it's worth the jump?
by ConcentrateSubject23