[somewhereoutth]

> finding someone to actually converse with.

Yes this is indeed a key barrier, particularly if your own language is already the language of your work/play, and if native speakers of the target language are typically fluent in your language.

This should be a (the?) killer app for AI, particularly LLMs, as the potential benefits are enormous (facilitating better communication between peoples), and the problem is ideally suited to current AI (e.g. it doesn't have to be 100% accurate all the time, and it doesn't have to have any understanding of the reality underlying the language itself - it is just a word interpreter/regurgitator that you are using to practice speaking and listening)