He's not wrong. Of course, it depends on how well you want to learn something. Just to mess around a bit? Or really seriously? Just as an example: I learned Ge

He's not wrong. Of course, it depends on how well you want to learn something. Just to mess around a bit? Or really seriously? Just as an example: I learned German from zero, at the age of 30ish. It was serious, because I was moving to a German speaking country. After an intro college course (with extra tutoring) to get the basics, I moved. Then I took two 2-hour private lessons per day, plus homework, plus watching TV and generally living there. On the other hand, just for kicks, I took weekly Spanish lessons, plus a bit of Internet practice. I'm fluent in German. I can read a bit of Spanish, if it's simple.