I learned Japanese by going there to work as an English teacher in 1993. I learned Sesotho by going there (Lesotho) to work as a volunteer teacher in 1988. I le

I learned Japanese by going there to work as an English teacher in 1993. I learned Sesotho by going there (Lesotho) to work as a volunteer teacher in 1988. I learned French in school and doing French immersion courses in Quebec in 1980/81 (free to any Canadian students, and still available!). I have a chemical engineering degree, but have worked as a software developer for the past 25 years. Yes, learning another language does take time and dedication, no way around that. If you learn Japanese, forget about learning to read or write (except katakana and hiragana, which you can learn in a week) and concentrate on spoken language, which is not that difficult to get to a basic fluency in.