Does anyone know how long it would take to learn a second language for the average person, and what is the difficulty level?

I think it depends on how much time and effort you put into learning the language. Try to immerse yourself in the language as much as you can, it really helps. Try using Rosetta Stone to learn your new language, im using it and it works very well for me!

it depends on ur pace of learning and how quickly you memorize and all that and also depends on the program ur learning w/. if ur using a program and u just can’t learn it, then it’s probably not the best program for u.

Some people have an ear for languages and some don’t.

I definitely fall into the “don’t” category. Most of my friends got easy A’s in foreign language but I had to study and practice a great deal to get mostly B’s.

Depends how old you are, what the language is, how much exposure you have and how often you practice, and it also varies from person to person. My parents both speak 6 languages fluently, but they had exposure and practice all the languages fairly frequently. I can understand all 6 but can only really speak 1 fluently because of a lack of practice and exposure (and i kinda sorta understand french when it is spoken very slowly). I fall under the ‘don’t’ category filletofspam was talking about.

Look at how you did in English class middle school through high school or college or whatever you went up to. If you did horrible, you probably won’t be good at a second language. All languages have things in common because people tend to talk about similar things, to a certain degree. The best way to learn a language is to go to a place where a majority of people speak that language, and better yet only that language. If you put yourself in their culture you’ll make connections so the words aren’t just incoherent sounds with no meaning. Plus if you watch movies and videos in that language you’ll learn also. And read in that language. Lastly, I hear if you go to sleep with this new language being played in headphones in your ears at night, you’ll subconsciously absorb the information.

it took my hubby about a week of working with mexicans to beable to speak and understand their language. So I would have to agree some do catch on quickly.