How much time does it take to learn a new language?

When it comes to the specific hours needed to reach fluency, using the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) difficulty rankings are essential. They rank languages based on difficulty and list the exact hours needed to learn them. Their table rankings are shown below, and are based on the difficulty for an English speaking person.

When it comes to the specific hours needed to reach fluency, using the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) difficulty rankings is essential. They rank languages based on difficulty and list the exact hours needed to learn them. Their table rankings are shown below and are based on the difficulty for an English-speaking person.

Category I: 23-24 weeks (575-600 hours)

Languages closely related to English, such as Norwegian, Danish, Dutch, French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, and Swedish, are considered Category I languages. These languages typically require around 575-600 hours of study to reach fluency.

Category II: 30 weeks (750 hours)

Languages similar to English fall into Category II. German is an example of a Category II language, and it usually takes about 750 hours to achieve fluency.

Category III: 36 weeks (900 hours)

Category III includes languages with linguistic and/or cultural differences from English, such as Indonesian, Malaysian, and Swahili. These languages typically require around 900 hours of study.

Category IV: 44 weeks (1100 hours)

Languages with significant linguistic and/or cultural differences from English are placed in Category IV. These include Albanian, Armenian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Finnish, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Lithuanian, Persian (Dari, Farsi, Tajik), Polish, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, and Vietnamese. Reaching fluency in these languages generally takes about 1100 hours.

Category V: 88 weeks (2200 hours)

The most challenging languages for native English speakers are in Category V. Arabic, Cantonese (Chinese), Mandarin (Chinese), Japanese, and Korean are exceptionally difficult and typically require around 2200 hours of study to reach fluency.

2,5 years to learn French, Italian and Norwegian

Based on this estimate from FSI, we understand that the hours per week that a student is able and/or willing to put in studying is essential. FSI presumes that the student studies full time – 25 hours per week. Most of us don’t have that much time available, because we have a normal day time job, family commitments, etc.

Let’s say, however, that you are willing to put in 5 hours per week (1 hour per day Monday-Friday, for example). Then learning Italian, French or Norwegian – all of them a category I language – will take 120 weeks or 30 months. That’s equivalent to 2,5 years.

What FSI's estimation means

The Foreign Service Institute (FSI) estimates that the hours indicated are the time required to reach a "Professional Working Proficiency" level, which is generally considered to be around a B2 level on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). Reaching this level means you can handle most day-to-day conversations and professional interactions with ease, although some complex language usage may still pose challenges.

Enjoying the journey at A2 and B1 levels

It's important to note that even before reaching the B2 level, you will be able to enjoy and benefit from your language skills. At the A2 level, you can handle basic conversations and express simple ideas, while at the B1 level, you can engage in more detailed discussions and handle everyday situations more confidently. Each step forward in your language learning journey brings its own rewards and satisfaction.