“The only way to really learn a language is by living in a country where they speak it”

Just kind of need to vent. Every time I tell people that I’m trying to learn French, they always say this at some point in the conversation and it’s really starting to frustrate me. It feels like they’re telling me “it’s not even worth it to try if you can’t go live where the language is spoken”. Sure, I won’t ever sound like a native speaker or be able to conduct business in French, but my goal is just to be able to have conversations in French eventually without getting totally lost. I feel like that’s attainable even if I can’t live there?

I’d love to hear from anyone else trying to learn a language while not living in a country where it’s spoken. How’s it going?

For background: I’m an American and I’ve been on a French learning journey for about a year. I took it in school when I was younger, and now I have a weekly speaking lesson where I just attempt to hold a conversation with a native speaker (it’s a very humbling experience lol, I stumble and pause a lot). I use duo lingo and I frequently listen to podcasts and radio in French. I really love to visit France and have some friends that live there.