To ask if you speak a second language?

[ethelfleda]

And if so, which language and how you learned/How long it took to become fluent?

I would love to learn Spanish but have no idea where to start!

German but I'm not really fluent, I can have basic conversations if people speak clearly.

Lived here 4 years but I started with Duolingo and then just found ways to use it as much as possible.

Yes French. I learnt it at school to begin with plus lots of holidays to France. In my twenties, work gave me the opportunity to learn again. I got one to one tutoring twice a week for 3ish months. I then took over dealings with the Paris office and worked over there quite a bit. Being in Paris made the biggest difference. I wouldn’t say I’m any where near fluent but I can hold decent enough business meetings and negotiations in French.
Conversing in the language is the best way to learn (I think). Can you find a Spanish language group to join?

French. I took lessons from Primary 7 right up to my final year of secondary school (Advanced Higher - Scottish system).

I'm not fluent but I use Duolingo and we visit Paris pretty much every year so I try to practice then.

I'm not fluent but have conversational Japanese.

I've been taking evening classes (1.5 hours per week, about 30 lessons a year) for four years.

I went to Japan for the first time a couple of months ago and was able to hold full conversations with people who had no English.

I can read 'children's Japanese' but I'm still unable to read a lot of the Kanji (you need to know well over a thousand to read a newspaper!)

Welsh is my first language and English is my second.

Pimsleur language courses are good. You listen and repeat.

Learning a language for the sake of it rarely leads to becoming fluent. It is possible if you make it a full commitment and a big part of your life, otherwise, you'll only get to a certain level and then forget it all.

The best way to learn a language is to move to that country and spend many hours watching TV!

Yes Portuguese fluently and Spanish more or less. I learnt Spanish in Chile so for some that's not Spanish . I learnt it in about a month but I already spoke Portuguese, so it wasn't from scratch, I was there for 6 months in total.
I learnt Portuguese living in Brazil and because it's DH's first language, so I started when I was still in my 20's and I'm 40 now. It was about 6 months before I could understand everything people said and I'd say at least 2-3 years before I was fluent or could hold or participate in conversations, it only really happened after I started living and working in Brazil. Spanish I don't use so I can get by, but I'm not fluent, it takes a while to get back in the swing again.

Yes, English...took me about 6m to get fluent (I was 5) I do remember crying a few times at primary because I had no idea what was going on.

My 3rd language is Spanish, I did it for A-level and always practise on holiday. But I’m just conversational in it, not fluent.

Yes French. It’s not perfect, but I can read novels in French and can chatter away fairly fluently, but still sometimes have trouble understanding French people when they are in full flow!

I would say it took at least 4 or 5 years to get to that stage, and that included weekly classes and regular visits to France (if you lived in the country you would pick it up much more quickly). You go on improving for ever!

There are some amazing resources available online, which really help, but I think you definitely need to go to a class, where you can speak and be corrected when you make mistakes. There are some one on one teaching resources available online, like Busuu.

I have really loved learning French, it is really worth the effort.

Yes English. I only spoke Welsh till I was about 6. Picked it up through tv and from a few children at school who had moved to the area.

Yep. Not sure what it is but it's one the dc +dh never seem to grasp.
Thought I only spoke English so I am baffled.

Swedish because I've lived in Sweden for the last 10 years.

I spent most of 1966 living in Germany and learned to speak it then but have lost most of it through non-use. It was fun watching England win the World Cup that year, me and 20 Germans. When I cheered they booed and vice versa. Can also get by in French - in shops, asking directions etc.

Oh and can speak about 15 words of Fijian including a couple of choice swear words.

Portuguese not fluently , English is first language, Arabic fluently, Spanish pretty much fluent.
my eldest speaks Arabic fluently, youngest understands but won't speak it.

Italian because I lived and worked there for five years. Probably a bit rusty now though, but try to speak it whenever I get the chance and can certainly read and understand.

Conversational German having lived there in the 90's - although I speak Bayerische rather than proper German - so not much use in Berlin - as I found recently

I have conversational Spanish, been learning on and off for 10 years as have travelled and volunteered in Latin America. It's rusty at the moment though. Doing a gcse at an evening class could be a good way to start. I did the Spanish one this year as it forced me to learn grammar properly.

This is real fun for a first-timer learning Spanish. Not a bit like lessons and gives you the basics very quickly.

www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/mividaloca/full_details.shtml

English is my second language. I had lots of lessons in school and as an adult. Then I moved to the UK 10 years ago and now feel quite comfortable with the language, but still sometimes have trouble getting what certain people are saying especially if they have an accent I am not familiar with. So I'm impressed by everyone else's abilities!

Yes French,Hindi and Mandarin.
All 3 of them fluently. My roots are from Mauritius and the island is a melting pot,parents spoke either in French or in English all the time and always watched movies/every tv show in french.
Hindi because of some asian roots as well, became fluent by watching indian movies.
Mandarin,had a knack for it since I was young and went for private lessons and now at 22 I am as fluent as someone born in China.

Italian, though I'm rusty now. I don't get much chance to practice, sadly.

I used to be fluent in 5 and conversational in 2 more languages. Now I am fluent in 2 or 3 and conversational in 2, and have the bare basics of understanding in around 3. BUT, IME, any stay in a country speaking the languages would quickly jog my memory. The funniest thing is my mother tongue evading me at times, as English has in these 13 years taken over. Makes me feel rather like I don't have any single language I can express myself in to the very fullest and truest.

OP, I would do an online or physical language course and book a holiday to said country after. Best way to learn a language is being forced to use it!