I've been trying to learn German since middle school with Frau Schultz in 1967.

I learned French until speaking it in my sleep in the summers of 1985 and 1986 in Montpellier and Villefranche. The idea that German is easier than French is ridiculous. 58% of English is Latin and only 26% Germanic. I speak every Latin language but Romanian.

https://medium.com/illumination-curated/life-is-too-short-to-learn-german-b561a5c8fc05

The key to French was to meet the right dictionary:

The French say that la meilleure façon pour aprendre une langue c’est coucher son dictionnaire, or the best way to learn a language is to sleep with its dictionary. I verified this technique empirically. On the Cote d’Azur the French have an institution called July. The husbands are at home working while the wives and children are at the beach apartment. France's annual vacations that begin separately can be very educational for young men like my late Italian friend’s son, a competent sailor with a family sailboat.

I had no boat, but Juillet à la Française is how I got adopted by two Marseillaise sisters in 1986 off the rocks in St Jean Cap Ferrat into a month living in an apartment in Villefranche-sur-Mer, next to Nice. If Americans had any idea what their workaholism and lack of government-mandated five-week vacations are really costing them, there would be a second American revolution.

https://medium.com/skilluped/a-polyglots-language-learning-roadmap-86f1961970c4