people whose 2nd language is English and started learning it

>>18691714
Less than a year unless you're a brainlet

>>18691714
It may take longer to lose your accent.

Joseph Conrad, Jerzy Kosinski Vladimir Nobokov and Tom Stopard are just four people who came to English as adults and not only spoke fluently but became major writers in perfect English.

>>18691817
Vladimir Nabokov moved to Britain as a child.

>>18691838
So did the other two, but I was bending the truth to make a point.

>>18691714
Linquist here.

Depends on what your first language is.

But a consistent statistic is 4 years if you study academically, 8 months if you are absolutely immersed.