This month is the one Year mark for my French learning. I want to share a little bit of my experience.
To grossly oversimplify, I'd say my situation represents a large portion of newcomers to this site:
It's my first language learning experience (other than High School Spanish, which I think barely counts)
I'm completely self-directed and self-motivated.
I work full time and have a busy life without a ton of available time to study.
what can a learner expect to achieve in one year?
Exactly however much they put into it! At this point I would guess that I've spent somewhere between 200 and 300 hours studying (not counting movies, tv, video games, music etc). To a casual learner this may seem like a lot (a seasoned one will know it's not very much at all!).
I am somewhere between A2 and B1(see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_European_Framework_of_Reference_for_Languages if you aren't familiar with what that means)
this isn't a surprise every single frame of reference says that this is on par with normal learning.
At this point I can read native content, at least at a young adult or easy reader level, and understand the majority of it (though not everything). I have focused on reading, so reading is my best skill. I'm probably in a B level in reading, and barely at A2 in speaking. whatever you practice the most, that is what you will get better at
I can watch TV shows and movies with French Subtitles and follow the story (usually). I love documentaries because they usually talk slowly and clearly.
I can't speak or write worth shit and understanding speech or music without subtitles is a struggle unless it is very clear and straightforward, but this isn't a surprise- I haven't practiced those skills very much. Input and Output are two different skill and although they can complement each other they require targeted learning to really improve.
Basically, the point of me sharing this is to let people know that there are not a lot of surprises. Put in the time. I didn't realize when I started just how big of a task learning a language is. It takes hundreds of hours just to get to the point where you can enjoy books and TV, and can take thousands of hours to really become "fluent" at a native level.
This isn't meant to discourage new learners, but help you not be discouraged when you aren't "fluent" in 90 days. despite the challenge, this year of learning has been one of the most rewarding things I've ever done - even outside of the little wins of understanding new literature and media and chatting with natives, it is immensely rewarding to maintain dedication to a long and sometimes difficult process rather than giving up when you realize how far you have to go.
I've fallen in love not just with the language I'm learning, but with the process of learning itself. I hope you do the same.
This next year I'm going to continue to build my vocab and reading skills, but I'm also going to focus more on phonetic and speaking. Once I get a new computer I'll start Italki Lessons.
TLDR: Language learning takes a LOT of work and time, but I still like it.
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via Learn Online English Speaking
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