[Arnt]

At least a year? You sound like the kind of person who couldn't diet to lose a few kilos.

My wife needed a few weeks to be able to speak Norwegian on a conversational level, I didn't need much more than that for German (difficult to count exactly due to travelblah). Once you reach conversational level the rest of the way has a different quality — you'll need to learn more but you've conquered the cliff, the rest is a modest incline.

[auganov]

A lot of individuals just don't feel comfortable speaking a language before they know it well enough. I definitely have a lot of respect for people that can just pick up a few basics and manage to always get their point across. But I just couldn't do it. I'm the kind of person that rehearses what they'll say in the most mundane situations. I'm uncomfortable when the plan doesn't work out.

Recently I even got complimented by a McD employee for telling them my rather lengthy order flawlessly without any need for interruption, made my day ;-D

[tmalsburg2]

At some point I accepted that my English is terrible (I'm German) and I decided to not waste any more energy on being embarrassed. Lo and behold, that was were my English really started to improve because I used it much more and also more intuitively. Previously, I first constructed every sentence in my head before uttering it. That works to some extent but it prevents you from developing an intuitive understanding of the language. So my advice is: don't make your life harder than necessary, speak without thinking, you will make plenty of mistakes, but people will think you are cute. More generally, If you show your weakness in life, people usually react very positively.

[Noseshine]

So I'll risk the downvotes the parent got - massively, and say that he's got a point. You feel uncomfortable speaking the language at an early level? How.. horrible! Please do think about what you have written. Really. I don't even know what to say, it's just so silly.

[auganov]

Of course it's silly. As silly as being, say, shy is. Knowing that it doesn't stem from some rational evaluation or even realizing it hinders you is only the first step.

And btw I didn't downvote the parent. My point was mostly tangential rather than a counter argument.

[rpgmaker]

> My wife needed a few weeks to be able to speak Norwegian on a conversational level, I didn't need much more than that for German (difficult to count exactly due to travelblah).

You guys must be both geniuses. Either that or those "learn X language in 14 days!" books actually work.