Learning a Language - How Many Hours Does it Take?

How long does it take to learn a language? I get asked this often. Another frequent question is whether it is a good idea to learn more than one language at a time. Here I answer these questions.

Timelines:
0:18 Can you learn 2 languages at the same time?
0:52 It takes a long time.
1:48 US Foreign Institute Language Difficulty Rankings.
3:02 What are your objectives in language learning?
3:32 How much time Russian and Czech took me?
4:28 How many hours does a language require?
5:23 How much time Chinese took me.
5:53 How much time you should spend studying per day.
7:12 Reaching the comfort level is not the end.
8:08 Do what you enjoy.
9:02 Listening, reading and grammar.

[Thelinguist]

I carry my language learning with me on my iPhone. There I can access my lessons in LingQ, and do my flashcards.

[Thelinguist]

It is the deliberate focus on gammar that is inefficient. I have done a few videos on the subject. Get on over to LingQ to work on your Spanish. But yes we do need to refer to grammar from time to time.

[Thelinguist]

It all counts, but I find it better when we can understand at least half of what we are listening to, that is why I usually combine listening with reading the transcript the way we do at LingQ.

[centuryfiles]

I look up to you sir! I’m 16, trilingual, and I aspire to learn more ways to speak with and connect with lots of people of different backgrounds

[jeanettekeegan]

Steve, I’ve listened to quite a number of your pod casts? Thank you for your candid and honest way you deliver.

[Thelinguist]

@marchuckvalentine Certainly not a waste of time, in fact a good thing to do. It is just that in my case I add a hundred words a day to the list of words that I am learning, and many more words are added incidentally by listening and reading. I could not review them all in Anki. I do review my words and phrases in LingQ, but only occasionally. I do not have the time to review them all and still read and listen as much as I do.

[Vatorie]

I want to say thank you Steve Kaufmann  for all your videos and advice. They've been a big help and really inspiring for me. I have been studying Italian for a week now and every day I have been putting 3-5 hrs a day or even sometimes 8 hrs. I've never studied another language before and every time I did try to study Italian I would study it wrong and drop it right away. Hopefully I'll be able to speak it one day. Grazie!

[Thelinguist]

It is a long story, but mostly a lot of reading and occasionally visiting Spain over many years.

[Tehui]

For the last few weeks, I've started listening to my target language via podcasts when I'm traveling to work and doing other things. I don't know if I learn new words this way, but I do know that when I hear familiar words that they become more embedded into my long term memory.

[majidd]

خیلی ممنونم از شما استیو،
شما اطلاعات خوبی به زبان آموزان میدید.

[Thelinguist]

@Boonweezy I have never had that experience. I work through a text that is more or less at my level. I listen and over time more and more of the target language becomes clear. i have never heard of anyone reacting the way you describe. Why not get on our Forum and describe your experience and see what others have to say?

[thuannguyen-thai]

Bravo. This is the topic I absolutely prefer to.

[quantus]

This is a great video. I've watched a lot of your more recent videos, but this I think is actually a gem and one of your best. Some many great pieces of info in this video.

[danielrebecca]

I don't mind taking a year to reach a level of comfort, as I believe this will allow me to fully enjoy more engaging content, which in turn will facilitate my language learning process. Currently, I watch material in my target language, but at times it can feel strange, as I understand it but cannot explain how. I hope that, as I become more proficient, my understanding will improve and I will find greater enjoyment, enabling me to enter a deeper state of flow.

[choukrimarzouki]

it took me two years to learn english at a medium level (b1).
My aim is to achieve b2 level in one more year.
In my experience, if you want to learn fluent english, Spanish, or Italian, it takes time. You must spend between one and two hours a day during 3 years.

[bogdanflagshoes]

I'm learning russian and spanish and I'm having a blast

[omarperezprada]

You are human being fantastic, Inspiring, My English Skill have been improving sustantially from that I listening you. Thanks Totals

[Thelinguist]

@pheeria If what you say is true you are a prodigy.

[Thelinguist]

@andriusrepsys I agree with both sentiments.

[JasonEyermann]

IF you learn the language correctly. It took me 10 years to learn french because I did it wrong like learning only word lists and grammar for the first 6 years. I learnt 95% of my french in the last 2 years with a lot of the thanks to lingq and yabla websites.