It's an interesting question. I'm a native English speaker (American). I began learning French in school at age 11, and did so for 7 years, before taking a few

It's an interesting question. I'm a native English speaker (American). I began learning French in school at age 11, and did so for 7 years, before taking a few years off, then minoring in it in college. Even now, another 15 years on, with little practice, I consider myself fluent; I haven't forgotten much and it's fairly easy to hold a conversation. That said, television and radio have always felt slightly out of my grasp; movies less so. It's the speed, and the context, and the slang. Learning a language is so much easier when you're younger. I also took a year of German in college, and know just enough to ask questions, the answers to which I will not understand. I've used Duolingo to learn bits of languages before I travel. I would put this more in the "personal enrichment" category. A couple months of brief daily Norwegian lessons before a trip to Norway. It's interesting to be able to piece together bits of information from signs, advertisements, menus, etc. Certainly not something I could call useful, particularly in such an English-speaking country. I've always heard Japanese is much harder for an American to learn than, say, French or Spanish. Given how little time American schools spend on languages, and how many years it takes to be truly "good" at even an "easy" foreign language, why bother at all? Especially as an adult, where the learning curve is so much steeper than it is for a child. At the end of the day, I think it has to be about enjoying the process, enjoying learning, enjoying what you get out of even synthesizing small bits of information when you travel or encounter foreign media. Otherwise, with today's technology, there's simply no way that the average English- or Mandarin- speaking adult learning a foreign language (other than Mandarin or English!) makes a whole lot of sense, unless that person is planning to live in another country.