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French to a B2 certificate level from l’Académie Française without living in a Francophone country. Done in 2 years by self studying and forced media immersion.

French to a B2 certificate level from l’Académie Française without living in a Francophone country. Done in 2 years by self studying and forced media immersion. It is not hard to learn a foreign language in 10 years. Also watched my parents learn English in a year as a child moving to an Anglophone country. Way to cut out the part where I said “it’s not hard to learn a foreign language” and just drop the time scale. It’s of course a lot of work but it is NOT difficult with such an opportunity to absord and practice.

caskstrength 4y ago
Wow, good for you! Me and most people I discussed it with didn't find learning foreign languages easy. They consider it rather hard, in fact.
- kaesar14 4y ago
  Every human being can learn to speak any language in 10 years. Poor immigrants do it in their chosen nations of residence all the time. Anyone who doesn’t is not trying, I’m sad to say.
  - caskstrength 4y ago
    You are moving the goalpost from "bare minimum amount of effor ... not hard..." to "can learn in 10 years", I'm sad to say.
    - kaesar14 4y ago
      My original message, verbatim: “That's not an excuse for not integrating into a culture with the bare minimum amount of effort. It is not hard to learn a language with 10 years of immersion.” Is it hard to learn a language in a year? Yes! That is not what I said. I said that not making the modicum of effort required over 10 years of practice and immersion required to achieve functional fluency is not difficult. It simply is not. The passive input alone is absolutely enormous, and it’s the least you can do to a country that’s graciously accepted you into its own borders.
      - caskstrength 4y ago
        > the least you can do to a country that’s graciously accepted you into its own borders I'm sorry? Maybe more like "invited to prop up ponzi-pyramid of welfare state that the ageing local population can't sustain anymore"?

caskstrength 4y ago

Wow, good for you! Me and most people I discussed it with didn't find learning foreign languages easy. They consider it rather hard, in fact.

kaesar14 4y ago
Every human being can learn to speak any language in 10 years. Poor immigrants do it in their chosen nations of residence all the time. Anyone who doesn’t is not trying, I’m sad to say.
- caskstrength 4y ago
  You are moving the goalpost from "bare minimum amount of effor ... not hard..." to "can learn in 10 years", I'm sad to say.
  - kaesar14 4y ago
    My original message, verbatim: “That's not an excuse for not integrating into a culture with the bare minimum amount of effort. It is not hard to learn a language with 10 years of immersion.” Is it hard to learn a language in a year? Yes! That is not what I said. I said that not making the modicum of effort required over 10 years of practice and immersion required to achieve functional fluency is not difficult. It simply is not. The passive input alone is absolutely enormous, and it’s the least you can do to a country that’s graciously accepted you into its own borders.
    - caskstrength 4y ago
      > the least you can do to a country that’s graciously accepted you into its own borders I'm sorry? Maybe more like "invited to prop up ponzi-pyramid of welfare state that the ageing local population can't sustain anymore"?