How long does it take to speak a language?

And... here we go again:

Instagram message request, 9.50 am:
"Do you give private classes? I know very little Italian, I have now realised that I should have started earlier, but now I feel I'm lagging.

How long does it take to be able to speak it?"

People are not only stressed themselves, but they are indirectly also putting more pressure on me who feel compelled to make them reach unrealistic results.

That's a pity.

Anyway, I always tell people that they can expect to see some progress after 2-3 months, which is a legitimate timespan according to my experience.

Of course, if the expectation is to be fully autonomous at least a year is needed.

I had rocket-fast progress in Dutch, but still, it took me a full year and a half... but

• I have quite a bit of experience with language learning, so my mind is pretty "organized"

• I also studied German at school: my skills are merely passive, but there are a lot of things that are not new to me and happen also in Dutch

• I have an "eye" for etymology and a quite trained auditory memory

• Last, but not least: I have a lot of time and energy to put into language learning

So, my situation is hardly comparable.

So, you should probably expect a bit more to learn it properly compared to my path.

That's a pain to end up learning when you're stressed and under pressure.

It's the same for me too, because I tend to forget that you simply need some time to digest what we see together.

Fancy starting to tackle this stress while being able to juggle work duties and language learning more smartly?