Starting really early is the key. I am Albanian and grew up watching Italian TV, and learned Italian as a kid. Only took two semesters of Italian classes, yet

Starting really early is the key. I am Albanian and grew up watching Italian TV, and learned Italian as a kid. Only took two semesters of Italian classes, yet the language ability (especially reading and comprehension) is still there 30 years later. It takes just a bit longer to kick my speaking abilities into gear. (Usually a couple of days when visiting). I did take two years of German lessons (High school and college), and unfortunately I forgot it by now. The key is: 1) Start really early (6 or 7 years old) and 2) Immersion is key. Learn by being immersed int the language (either TV, living in the country, etc). When I visited Sweden and Denmark, I couldn’t find anybody that didn’t know English well. Everyone was really good at it, and I suspect is part of the reason that Sacandinavian countries have better living standards than Germany/France/Spain, where it was very often hard to communicate in English. English is the de-facto business language, and while as an American you can get by without knowing a foreign language, knowing one well is huge asset to your life. One pro-tip: the best language to learn is the language from a country that you like the culture. You can really know a language by only being immersed in the culture as well. By being an asset I mean it allows you to be able to move to a country with a lot less friction. Eg. knowing German well, it opens your world and ability to do business life locally and live in Germany, Austria and Switzerland without the huge penalty if you didn't know the language.