" I don’t think time necessarily guarantees your going to learn a language. I know people who’ve been studying languages for a long time but they’re still horrible because they are learning it the wrong way."
What do you mean by “for a long time”?
Months and years don´t count. Statements like “I´ve been studying Linguanese for 8 years” are completely meaningless,
Some people study for 3 hours a day, in that case, “8 years” means “8,800 hours”,
Some people study for 3 hours a week, in that case, “8 years” means “1,200 hours”.