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
French |
about 600 hours or 24 weeks |
Italian |
about 600 hours or 24 weeks |
Portuguese |
about 600 hours or 24 weeks |
Romanian |
about 600 hours or 24 weeks |
Spanish |
about 600 hours or 24 weeks |

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
German |
750 hours or 30 weeks |
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
Indonesian |
900 hours or 36 weeks |
Malaysian |
900 hours or 36 weeks |
Swahili |
900 hours or 36 weeks |

Tier 4: Languages that are profoundly different from English
Polish |
1100 hours or 44 weeks |
Croatian |
1100 hours or 44 weeks |
Latvian |
1100 hours or 44 weeks |
Estonian |
1100 hours or 44 weeks |
Hungarian |
1100 hours or 44 weeks |
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
Arabic |
2200 hours or 88 weeks |
Chinese |
2200 hours or 88 weeks |
Japanese |
2200 hours or 88 weeks |
Korean |
2200 hours or 88 weeks |
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.
