Six months, 14 days, 2 years, a lifetime. How long does it take to learn a language? That’s one of the questions we’ll be answering on today’s podcast as we comment on your recent feedback.

Voice message from Jesus from Getafe, Madrid
As XusuallyX – usual
‘As usual’ is used in relation to something – It was business as usual.
‘Usually’ is an adverb of frequency – I usually go to work by bus. (often, regularly etc)
Is there a formal word for ‘you’ in English? – No! But we do have other ways to express formality.

A voice message from Monica from Valencia.
10 TV series to improve your English: https://www.inglespodcast.com/382
Pronunciation of ‘series’, ‘US’, ‘spy’ and ‘weird’
I am a XhighX fan (big, huge fan)
‘I have been watching a lot of series during the last 5 years’ (good use of present perfect continuous)
XGo aheadX – Keep on doing what you’re doing.

Recommended TV series from Monica:
The End of the F@%+king World
Shameless (US version)
The Americans

A voice message from Christopher who’s interested in learning more about phrasal verbs

A Brief History of Phrasal Verbs – AIRC331
Phrasal Verbs You Can Separate – AIRC215
20 Phrasal Verbs that English Students Should Know – AIRC98
10 more phrasal verbs that you should know – AIRC144
Phrasal Verbs with TAKE and GET – AIRC125
Prepositions and phrasal verbs for a digital world – AIRC367
Phrasal Verbs with special guest Marie – AIRC54
Prepositions at the end of questions and phrasal verbs – AIRC51

Voice message from Laura from Venezuela, currently living in Chile
I would like (TO) suggest
pronunciation of ‘future’

XI would like to know how long is necessary in order to a common person to be learn a new languageX – How long would it take for an average person to learn a new language.

How long does it take to learn a language?

Facts about language learning http://www.inglespodcast.com/286

What’s the best age to start learning English?
How many languages can a person learn?
What does it mean to ‘know’ a language?

Which language? How difficult is the target language? Does it have a different alphabet or sound system?

What level do you want to get to?
Common European Framework of Reference for Languages has a scale from A1 (beginner) to C2 (mastery or proficiency).

https://www.coe.int/en/web/common-european-framework-reference-languages

What’s your attitude to language learning?

‘Tourist English’ is A1. That could take 80-100 hours of study.
‘Working knowledge’ (A2-B1) is about 200-400 hours
A ‘higher level of fluency’ (B2-C1) could take 550 to 900 hours.

The US has a system called the Interagency Language Roundtable Scale which runs from Level 0 (no proficiency) to level 5 (native/bilingual proficiency).

Remember. Craig and Reza have been living in Spain for over 20 years and still make mistakes in Spanish. As we learned as adults, not as children, it’s highly unlikely we’ll ever speak like a native speaker. That’s normal! Don’t worry.

…and now it’s your turn to practise your English.
Send us a voice message. https://www.speakpipe.com/inglespodcast
Send us an email with a comment or question to craig@inglespodcast.com or belfastreza@gmail.com

Visit our online store: https://store.mansioningles.net/

Thank you to all of you who are helping us by supporting this podcast on Patreon. Join our Patreon program for as little as $1.20 per month (including VAT) and you get instant access to recent transcriptions. https://www.patreon.com/inglespodcast

Welcome to our new Patreon supporters who have joined us this month:
Mik Olm
Juan David Guerrero
Uziv Uziv
Israel Arguello
Andrei Coman
Jon
Gloria Rodas
Juancho Cuyás
Adrian Caraballo
María

On next week’s episode: Is it too late to save the planet?

If you enjoyed this podcast, please tell your friends.

The music in this podcast is by Pitx. The track is called ‘See You Later’

Photo by Hannah Wright on Unsplash