>>1786629I
did an exchange in Japan and I speak Japanese, the answer is no. After the first five months I began to understand everything said at me as well as overhear conversations, but I couldn't respond. I stopped needing to translate things to english in my head. Only after that point did my speaking begin to develop, and I slowly learned the grammar by copying and trial/error. The way the brain learns languages, it's always listening first, then speaking, and usually writing comes last. A good sign of when your brain really begins the internalization process is if you ever begin to have dreams with Japanese in them, either someone speaking it or you speaking it. *Note that my time to pick it up will differ from yours since I was completely immersed and had no choice but to learn it in order to communicate/survive.