It's not impossible to learn a language in your home country, but it's damn difficult. Most English learners reach a pretty good level even in their home countr

It's not impossible to learn a language in your home country, but it's damn difficult. Most English learners reach a pretty good level even in their home country, but English is unprecedented in it's universality, usefulness, availability of TV, movies, books, everything. For example, living in Sweden I was fairly fluent by the time I was 18 without ever having had a single conversation with an English speaker. I did what most people do, watch a lot of TV, then TV without subtitles, play games, write posts on online forums etc. The first time I had to actually speak it, I was 21 and taking care of an exchange student from the US. That year was what made me truly comfortable speaking English for days, without having to struggle for words and expressions. It's that experience, and also spending 2 years at a US university and then working here, that made me a 98% native speaker. It's to a point where people can't tell that I'm not native now unless they spend a day with me. Some people sense that there's something a little off perhaps, still. I think the last 10-15% is extremely difficult to get for most people, without living in the country. A lot of that last 10% is cultural as well, there are still many cultural references that fly past me.