Describe a language you would like to learn

The language I'd like to learn is Japanese, and I have a fairly unromantic reason for it. I chose it because of work. My company deals with two Japanese suppliers, and everything goes through translators, which slows everything down and — more importantly — loses the tone. I've sat in meetings where I could tell something had been softened in translation and I had no way to check. How would I learn it? Not the way I learned English, which was mostly by accident over fifteen years. I'd want to be deliberate this time. Speaking from about week two, before I know anything, because with English I waited until I felt ready and that cost me years. A tutor once a week rather than an app, because an app never tells you you're wrong in a way that stings. And I'd learn the writing system early, even though everyone says it's the hardest part, because I've noticed that with English my reading carried my speaking for a long time. How would it help me? Directly, at work — I'd stop being dependent on someone else's summary of what was said. But there's a second thing. I'm curious whether learning a second foreign language is easier because you know how, or harder because you're older. I'd quite like to find out which.