The time it takes to learn a new language depends on four main factors: the study method, how much effort you put in, how exposed you are to the language, and the language’s difficulty level. For example, if you move to Brazil and start taking daily classes, you’ll learn Portuguese much faster than if you try learning Russian in the U.S. with weekly lessons.
That being said, there are a few studies that provide a general answer to this question. Although these are just rough numbers, it allows you to get an idea of how much time you’ll need to invest to reach a fluent level. Research from the FSI (Foreign Service Institute) indicates that it takes around 600 hours to achieve basic fluency for ‘easier to learn’ languages such as Spanish, Norwegian, or French. For more challenging languages, it can take from around 900 hours (for German) to 2,200 hours (for Arabic, Mandarin, or Japanese) to get to a proficient level. Does this mean you should spend all your waking moments studying a new language to learn it as quickly as possible? No!
How Many Hours per Week Should You Spend on Learning a Language?
There isn’t a universal answer to how many weekly hours you should spend on learning a language, either. We all have our own pace and study methods, meaning that everyone will have a different schedule when trying to become proficient in a new language. Consistency is the most important factor here, so it’s best to spend less time per lesson and study every single day, than it is to study a language for 10 hours one day and only come back to it a month later.
In general, people seem to agree that the best balance is studying between one to three hours on a daily basis, which translates into 7 to 21 weekly hours. This doesn’t mean that you need to spend all of this time memorizing vocabulary and learning grammar rules. Laidback activities such as watching a movie or listening to music are excellent ways to learn a language without overworking your brain.
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