As an American that already speaks a little language called “English”, and is largely isolated from any neighboring populations that speak other languages(comparatively speaking) I haven't had much reason to learn another language.

I consider it to be a bit of an unfortunate reality that we just don't have the same need to develop skills in other languages that other populations do. (Spanish is something of an exception, but it's quite possible to get along without any Spanish in life and never feel the slightest bit like you are missing something.) It might even sound strange to some of you that someone would only know one language, but that's the common situation. At some point I think it would be nice to be able to say I am bilingual, but I'm not sure how one does that without a great deal of saturation. So much of it is raw memorization through constant exposure which would be difficult to manufacture.

I'm actually quite impressed that I can come to this forum and there are people from all over the world speaking with one another in a language that often isn't their native language. Even more impressive is how well so many people speak (type anyway) what is often branded as a difficult language to learn, so it is here I appeal to those that have done it.

What was involved? How long did it take? How old were you when you started? How comfortable are you speaking in second language? How difficult was it, and in what way? Did anything really help, or hurt the process? Was it required learning, or voluntary? How much resolve did it take? Was there a goal in mind for doing it?

For reference I've poked around Japanese a couple of times. I have interest in knowing it, but I'm not sure I have the drive to keep on it enough to get it done. I have word lists made I don't review enough, a nice little android app called “Human Japanese” to explain the mechanics I should have been through 2-3 times by now, but have only gotten a little over half way through. For awhile I slapped hours of recorded audio from Crunchy Roll content on an MP3 player so I could just listen to the raw language whenever my ears weren't busy, but I wasn't sure that would be considered intended use.

Anyway, what say you?

I don't mean it in an offensive way but you should read that again and think about it.

I personnaly honned my english skills by playing fallout and other dialogue oriented rpgs. And TCG too, spent an awfull lot of money in it while being younger, vocabulary is what I most took out of it. Now I keep my english level up through TV shows and gog forum. Learning english is simplified by the amount of material available.

The United States is SO multilingual (a trait which I adore) no matter where you live, a 2nd 3rd or even a 4th language comes in handy. When I was Living in Missouri knowing Italian and Spanish could have helped. Now that I'm in the U.P. Finish and German would come in handy from time to time. If I lived in Alabama grunting and pointing would be very nice to know.

I wish you the best of success /o/

I grew up learning both English and Spanish at the same time so in a way they both feel like my mother tongues. Later on, however I also started learning Chinese because I lived in China for 5 years when i was younger. I went back most of my summers to continue learning. I wouldnt say Im fully trilingual, even though I do know Chinese well.

My best recommendation is to live in a place where they speak the language you want to learn, it forces you to have to know the language for communication. Rosetta Stone is also somewhat good, but try the former option if possible.

Careful. Don't badmouth Alabama. The people there will write a song about it and tell you to the end of your days that southern man doesn't want you around. You of all people should know that, last time I checked you knew your way around music. ;)

I grew in a country where the school system forces you to learn 2 or sometimes 3 other languages than your own. However, a lasting command of a language has to find deeper roots : cultural interests, hobbies, whatever....

Learned Dutch ( second language) and English ( third language) at school. I'm still using both, although English is de facto my main working language now. Moreover, I have more incentives to read, write, speak English than any other language, though my own interests.

I also learned German (4th language) at school, but nowadays, it's mostly passive knowledge ( although I use to read some german newspapers from time to time and am perfectly able to seek and read information in German on the Net, I'd never dare to try drafting anything more or less complex in that language ) . Also have some basic knowledge of Italian.

That's quite a linguistic resume all the same. Despite my affinity for kung fu movies and the food, I'm not sure Chinese is one I would personally want to tackle. Maybe French as a #2 for me. That or Korean given the wealth of Korean content available on Netflix/Hulu I have been known to watch.

For now my main goal would be to watch Anime without the need for subtitles, though I don't know if it would be worth confronting all of the barriers that are involved in migrating to another country in order to do it. If someone said they wanted to pay me money to live in Sapporo for awhile that would be different. I'm sure I would be into that idea, but I kinda doubt the State of Kansas is going to need to send any emissaries of Web Design to Japan anytime soon. Well don't I feel small and uncultured now?

We start learning English in school from the age of 7 (? if it has not changed the last 5 years) and from age 10 or 12 we can choose another language as an option. We also do not dub most normal tv-programs, but use subtitles, so we also get a lot of english from very early that way (childrens shows are usually dubbed, but some also use voice-over)

What, you start learning English at the age of 7 in the UK?
That sounds like a terrible education.

English and French at school, liked both, but most teacher weren't challenging. I haven't had much contact with French people in the last 5 years, and my French skills deteriorated (not even to talk about Spanish or even Portugese, which I totally forgot). I tried learning Arabic and Chinese, but gave up due to time constraints.

The large issues are finding good training for oral exercise, practicing the skills (I don't always want to read the news in a foreign language, the text content should be not predictable), and keeping the knowledge alive. The latter one fails if you work with specialists who use English all time, even for written communication between two people who share the same native language because the text could be reused / forwarded.

hehe, should I maybe add that I am not native British?

Then your story makes a lot more sense.

Not just for you, but I remember that there are language exchange websites where you Skype with people that speak certain languages. The theory being that they help you learn language B and you in turn help them learn your language A.
Anybody have any experience with those sites?

Where are you from?