How long does it take to learn a language

Language learners often ask, how long does it take to learn a language? There is no simple answer to this question. There are a few factors that determine how long it will take you to learn a language:

1. Your language learning goal: First, you need to determine your language learning goal. Do you want to be able to simply converse with the locals or become fluent in the language? If you just want to understand a few basic phrases and read the street signs while you are travelling, several days may be enough. But if you’d like to become proficient in the language, researchers of second language acquisition have estimated that it takes between 5 to 7 years for an ESL student to be at the same level as his or her native-speaking peers.
2. Your commitment: You also need to ask yourself how dedicated you are in learning the language. How much time will you devote in learning it? Will you attend a regular class session? Will you study on your own through books and online references? Will you regularly watch movies in the language you are learning? Will you spend a few months in the country where the language is spoken natively? 40 years of research shows that language immersion is the best way to gain proficiency in any language. So if you have the opportunity to participate in a language immersion program abroad and live with a host family while you’re there, consider it.
3. The language: If you already speak Spanish, it will be (relatively) easy to pick up Portuguese. If you already know another Romance language, you can learn Italian at 80% off the price by taking advantage of the strong similarities in grammar and vocabulary with Spanish, French and Portuguese. If you speak Chinese, it will be much easier for you to learn Japanese.

All these things can significantly affect the duration of learning a language. If you’re still asking “how long does it take to learn a new language?” I’ve added a graph below that shows the number of weeks it takes to advance from one level to another. The orange area assumes a student pursues a standard language course consisting of 20 class-hours per week, while the green area assumes a student pursues an intensive language course and studies a language 30 hours weekly.