How long does it take to learn a new language?

Most people believe that learning a new language is difficult, but is that really the case? Have you ever wondered how long does it take to learn a language? The answer might surprise and motivate you to take on a new challenge so that you can expand your employment opportunities, connect with people from other countries, and deepen your cultural awareness.

• Your attitude and motivation: Everyone who has been forced to learn a new language in school understands the role personal attitude and motivation play in learning. If you look forward to each and every study session, you’re far more likely to memorize new vocabulary and understand difficult grammar points than someone who dreads studying. 
• Your language background: Some languages are so similar that their speakers can easily understand one another. Czech and Slovak (and to a lesser extent Polish) are great examples. On the other hand, some languages are so distant (English and Chinese) that they require learners to internalize a completely different way of thinking about the world around us.   
• Your learning style: All language learners are different. Some enjoy practicing their conversational skills in small groups, while others prefer to study alone. That’s why it’s important that the learning method you select matches your preferred learning style. Only then you’ll be able to enjoy your study sessions and remain motivated until you reach your goal.
• Study frequency and duration: To commit vocabulary to memory and learn grammar, you need to repeatedly review everything you’ve learned over a long period of time. There are many language learning apps that promise outstanding results while requiring minimum commitment from their users. Such apps virtually always don’t deliver on their promises.
• Your objective: When someone asks us, “How long does it take to learn a new language?” we always ask, “How well?” It can take as little as a few hours to learn a handful of conversational phrases, but achieving fluency is an entirely different ball game. 

The data presented below reflects a study held by FSI (Foreign Service Institute) of the US government. Again, this is probably the most accurate data regarding how much time takes for a native English speaker to become fluent in a particular new language.

The FSI has over 800 language learning courses in more than 70 languages with more than 70 years of experience in training US diplomats and foreign affairs employees.

Tier 1: Let’s start with the languages that are most closely related to English

Romance Languages

But most of the languages above are highly easy to learn for very good reasons:

• use the same alphabet as English
• comparable stress and intonation patterns
• already share a number of vocabulary words

Tier 2: Similar to English

Even though German is the most Germanic language of them all, it doesn’t come very naturally to learn for native English speakers.

The grammar is more complicated and difficult to understand, hence German gets a tier 2 difficulty score, but of course, there are other Germanic languages out there that are much harder to master, like Icelandic.

Tier 3: Languages that may have cultural and linguistic differences compared to English

Tier 4: Languages that are profoundly different from English

Above are just a part of the European languages classified as tier 4 FSI. The list goes on with other languages from all over the world, like Mongolian, Nepali, Thai, Xhosa, Zulu or Hebrew. All of them taking about 1100 hours or 44 weeks to become fluent in.

Hardest language to learn for English speakers

All of the tier 5 languages are highly sophisticated and complex compared to English having an average learning curve up to 4 times the period it takes for the average English speaker to learn Dutch for example. So arm yourself with a lot of patience and plenty of determination.

Based on all the data and testimonies English speakers made over the years, the hardest language to learn award may go to Japanese due to thousands of characters you need to memorize while having three different writing varieties.

Tier 5: Extraordinary level of difficulty

 But don’t let all these statistics scare you! People around the world are learning and assimilating new languages every day. Besides, these are still human languages; it’s not like you need to decipher an alien dialect. All of the above are languages made up of humans, and with enough determination and willpower, you can learn any language on this list.

The answer to how long it takes to learn a language depends mostly on you. It is the question you should be asking. Some people have a knack for learning languages. But for most of us, learning a language takes time, effort, dedication, and hard work, regardless of how it is done.

It is always better to be realistic about how much time you can spend learning.

All these estimates and research are only a guideline, and it doesn’t consider several other factors.

Learning any language is not walking in a park, and it does take a lot of time, but it is entirely achievable.

Keep learning. 

Good luck!!!