The problem with learning a language in 2-3 months

So I have joined this sub in the past as a beginner learning Chinese and now over 5 years later I can speak fluently. I see so many people with the goal to learn a language in 2-3 months and I feel like I need to tell them about my experience. <br>For the first 2 years I made very little progress and I was very close to giving up multiple times. However moving to China and surrounding myself with the language every day greatly helped and I would say that after 4 years I was able to have a conversation with a native speaker. I would still make many mistakes but the average Chinese person, including older people, could understand me. <br>Fast forward to today, I am studying a master's in Beijing in mandarin. I am the only foreigner in my class and I am treated as if I were Chinese. I feel like I fit in with my classmates. Am I fluent? I don't know but I feel like I can express myself freely in Chinese as I can in English. <br>The problem with learning a language is that in the first 3 months you might not feel like you are making progress. And when I say feel, I mean literally feel. There will be a point where you might not even notice it but you will be stuck in your own little world in this foreign language that you can't get out of. For example at some point I could watch Chinese TV shows and understand half of what they were saying without subs. That is a good milestone to reach but it took a long time to get there and i can't imagine giving up after 2 or 3 months when I wasn't even close to that point. Just want to tell people not to give up. It is a marathon and not a sprint.