Like many Germans in my age group I learned English in school, although I probably started a year earlier than most because my elementary school offered a volun

Like many Germans in my age group I learned English in school, although I probably started a year earlier than most because my elementary school offered a voluntary course in fourth grade (German elementary school is four years followed by six to eight years in the equivalents of high school). But if that were how I actually learned English I probably wouldn't be any more fluent than average (i.e. not very). What helped me was growing up with the Internet and being exposed to English language movies by my parents (who prefer watching English language films and tv shows in the original language). As soon as Amazon became a thing I also started buying games in English (before region locking existed). I think it was actually beneficial to me that a lot of the sources I had to rely on when I started out with web development were only available in English. I wouldn't recommend reading technical specs to language beginners but it certainly helped becoming fluent in technical terminology (and in colloquial language via the related mailing lists). I've tried picking up several other languages since then but I've nearly always failed simply because there was nothing that required me to "work through the pain" in the same way.