The phrase "pick up a language" is correct and can be used in written English.
You could use it when you are referring to learning a new language, especially if you mean to do it quickly and without much previous experience. For example, "I decided to pick up a language this year, so I've been taking French lessons."
Rather than having kids pick up a language like Python or Java (as you would in a college or AP Computer Science class), Code Studio teaches the underlying concepts in programming through the manipulation of blocks of logic that, when stacked together in a particular order, move a character around a scene or draw a shape.
The police supply pizzas whose boxes include listening devices; these pick up a language which the police finally identify as Albanian.
You can pick up a language just for fun and then find that you're living and breathing foreign words.
Try to pick up a language just for kicks; or maybe because a subject your learning about has original sources in the native tongue.
Dr. Hale's knack for quickly picking up a language and conversing in dozens of them earned him an international reputation.
Immersing yourself in a different culture, experiencing new social and political structures, and picking up a language are all CV gold, not to mention the chance to study at world-class institutions.
Consider picking up a language if you haven't already - it not only keeps your brain active, but it is extremely useful.
Some people find it easy to pick up a second language.
The fact that I was in a French-speaking city also helped me to pick up a new language, adding an extra dimension to my experience.
"The Global Student" takes a somewhat Panglossian view of study abroad — it seems to assume that anyone can pick up a foreign language in a semester or so — and along the way makes some dubious assertions.
But she is 57, an age when it is not easy to pick up a new language, let alone one as devilishly complex as Estonian, which is far different from Russian.
