How Long Does It Take to Learn a Language?
Languages closely related to your native language are typically easier to learn. For English speakers, languages like Spanish, Italian, and French are generally faster to acquire than languages like German, Swedish, or completely different language families like Chinese, Japanese for Korean.
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Language Learning Time Comparison
Spanish, Italian, French: For English speakers, these Romance languages are considered among the easiest to learn.
German, Swedish: These Germanic languages share some similarities with English but have more significant grammatical differences.
Chinese, Japanese, Korean: These languages are considered "super-hard" for English speakers due to their significant linguistic and cultural differences, including different writing systems and phonetic structures.
With our interactive calculator you can estimate how much daily studying it will take for you to become fluent in these languages.
How We Calculate Language Learning Time
Our estimates combine data from multiple authoritative sources:
- CEFR Framework: European standards from institutions like the Goethe-Institut (German) and Alliance française (French)
- ACTFL Guidelines: American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages proficiency standards
- FSI Data: U.S. Foreign Service Institute's extensive research on language learning difficulty for English speakers
These estimates represent classroom hours and may vary significantly based on your learning method, motivation, and language background.