That's the million dollar question. When you find the answer, let me know. Have you ever tried Berlitz? They have had a lot of commercial success... I never went, always wondered what they were doing right...

Thanks! I try to practice French as much as I can in my daily learning. I find it really hard to say the French words in a native way. And it seems to turn out to be a silly question which is asked by those people like me who feel frustrated and try to find an excuse for giving up language learning. Of course I don't want to be a lazy student any more. Practice more and no complaints.

It really depends on the language! Some languages are a lot easier to master based on your native language. For example, for English speakers it takes about 300 class hours to reach a conversational level of Spanish - to learn Chinese, it takes about 2000 hours to reach the same level. If you're learning a language that is very different from your native language, it will take much longer (or take much more effort). For me, I learned to speak conversational Chinese in about a year and a half. Best of luck!

I can't agree more.

How long did it took you to learn English ? One can learn the basics in few weeks, but it takes years to speak properly and a lifetime to master it ;-)