[Asraelite]

It is literally the hardest language to learn for English speakers. Regardless of what you hear about the elegance of its grammar, this is a real fact backed up with evidence from past learners. Know what you're getting yourself into.

[glandium]

As someone who speaks Japanese, I think Chinese is harder.

[presentation]

If you want to get to native level mastery and full literacy, but learning it to conversational proficiency is actually quite easy.

[Aeolun]

Say you. But I’ve been trying to do that for 4 years, with weekly lessons, in Japan, and I’m still having difficulty.

It’s certainly not easy for everyone.

[presentation]

Check out Cure Dolly on YouTube and weep at the poor quality of instruction that you’re probably receiving.

Also I don’t know how much actual conversational practice you get from day to day life - but at least for me, I talk with my wife and my (mostly Japanese) friends in Japanese for hours every day, and that makes a huge difference. Once a week would simply not be enough.