How many years does it take to be fluent in a language?

[Zaino]

A whole race cannot for the most part speak fluent English, so I guess it depends.

 

[dark night]

It depends on how much passionate you are to learn English. Also, it depends on regular usage of the language in routine life.

 

[BabyGotBacklink]

For languages that use the same written set of characters or similar I'd say a year is long enough to have a survival level of fluency. For business purposes tack on another year. Real fluency begins when you stop translating in your head and start thinking in the language you are learning/speaking.

 

[SirKonstantine]

Ich habe Deutsch. Ich studiere Deutsch seit zwei Jahre. Mein Deutsch ist guter als der English meines VAs.

Gutes Glueck Brueder.

 

[SirKonstantine]

Last but not least, could you Americans please lower your voice in public when you're visiting civilized European countries?

Funny cuz we ask blacks to do the same thing in America.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zb4BljT7taM]Obese loud mouth black woman banned from mall for 10 years - YouTube[/ame]

 

[acidie]

Money is the universal language

 

[Mikesev]

Fuck that, move to California so you can learn normal English and not that fruity UK jolly ol' accented shit.

The Californian accent must be the worst accent in the entire English speaking world. I visibly cringe when I hear it, even scouse doesn't do that to me.

 

[rusvik]

Ich habe Deutsch. Ich studiere Deutsch seit zwei Jahre. Mein Deutsch ist guter als der English meines VAs.

Gutes Glueck Brueder.

Ich glaube das 'Ich habe Deutsch' ist nichts korrekt, aber vieleicht einer unsere deutschen freunde kann so erklären. Doch auch, soll 'ist guter als' sind 'ist besser als' . Aber, Ich habe auch vielen feler gemacht in meinen text. lol.

 

[Fatbat]

Being fluent and being a good speaker are two different things.

 

[dtk123]

I would say 1 year to be 90%, then 5 years to be 99%. (Assuming you are using the language)