How long does it take to be more fluent in Japanese?

[sasuke12]

Hey I'm just asking and I'm a black man and I am interested in the Japanese culture. And I am studying the language like I only know a few basics. So im just trying to get fluent in it so that someday when I go visit or live in Japan like in Osaka or Nagoya I want to be able to communicate with people and to be able to watch the TV dramas without the subtitles. Thanks For the Answers!

[Manda]

That depends on a NUMBER of factors.
-how much you know
-how fast you learn
-what so you know

In general, Japanese is complicated in many ways, but simple in many others. It all depends on you personally.

[Bat-Man300]

Black man? Ok....

Anyways, Japanese takes time. I am almost fluent.been studying at my college for 2 years and did study abroad in the summer. Requires many hours of studying. Here are some good books to purchase.

Genki 1 & 2
Basic kanji 1,2, & 3

[hirame]

I was in Japan for 3 years when I was in the Navy. i had a girl friend whom I lived with when I was off the ship and the ship was in port. I thought that I was doing pretty good. But, not "fluent." When I got back to the states I taught Japanese and had roommates from Japan. I thought that I was doing pretty good. But, I tried some phrase that I had learned from a book "Goenryo naku" in the wrong situation and nobody could understand me. Still not fluent. I spend another seven years perfecting my accent. I worked in places where I could speak Japanese. (sushiya and a Japanese bakery) and still not fluent. Now, it is something like 30 years later and still I study 3 or 4 hours a day and I am getting better at reading in Japanese. But, I haven't spoken much to anyone for a long time and I have lost my good accent. I am beginning to see how much more there is to "fluent."
Years ago I was watching movies and dramas without subtitles. I found that the subtitles got in the way of the Japanese that the actors were speaking. I read them and I didn't need to listen.
When you say fluent you are talking about much more than knowing a few handy phrases in Japanese that you can do well.

[no]

It will take awhile, I've almost been studying for a year and can create basic tweets. I've ever started following my favorite voice actresses/actors on Twitter and have had them reply to me

I try to surround myself all day with Japanese stuff anime, studying etc.

On a weekend, I'll get up and maybe about 30 mintues later I'll start watching Japanese stuff. While brushing my teeth, I have anime on

I can form basic sentences now, enough to get an idea across but no where near fluent.

I just started studying kanji last month and know 1-10, the one for a hundred and one thousound :/ Not much, I know hiragana and a lot of katakana.

For anime, it "takes" 2 years roughly with no subs and actual shows about 4.

It depends on how you much you wanna learn the language, do you have motivation? Me, yes. I have anime and myself never giving up.

Go to RanAbvideo on Youtube, she'll help you. She's my teacher.

Just note, there are a lot of forms in Japanese for a verb you'll need to memorize. They have four verison's of "if" and you need to know when to use them.

It takes roughly 8 years to have a complex conversation. For a basic one, a year and half or so which is where I am at.

It depends on the person and how much you wanna learn it.