Learning a new language is a great skill to gain regardless of your career. It is a well-marketable skill that will place you above the competition. Most professionals are making the switch towards learning a new language, whether that be Spanish, French, English, Mandarin, or others. If you are looking to gain this valuable skill, next you may be wondering how long does it take to learn a new language?

Thankfully, in this article, we will delve into this very question and even look at the best tips to learn a new language quickly.

How Long Does it Take to Learn a New Language?

To answer this question first, we have to look at the three top variables that will affect your learning rate: your attitude, learning methods, and the language you want to learn.

If you take these all into account, you can easily estimate how quickly you can grasp a new language fully.

1. Your Attitude

As the saying goes, your attitude determines your altitude, and it rightfully applies here as well. Your attitude towards learning a new language defines how quickly your grasp fluency. So what does your attitude comprises?

  • Your eagerness to put time into practicing and honing your skills, i.e., your work ethic.
  • How you are confident and emotionally mature to make mistakes and learn from them
  • And your love for the language

If you target these aspects, then your attitude towards learning a new language will change drastically, so will the time to master it.

2. Your Learning Methods

Naturally, the learning methods that you employ to study a new language will play a major role. With the right instruments, you will be able to grasp a new language at a rapid pace.

Due to the movement towards more fun and adaptable teaching methods, you no longer have to learn in a classroom, but rather online by a trained and professional language tutor. You could also listen to podcasts, watch movies, and learn a few songs in that language. All of these are exciting ways that you can adjust to your busy schedule.

But here is the crucial question? Which language learning methods are the most effective?

  • Online language tutor using the Bellieu Method
  • Practicing with language peers
  • Listening and grammar exercises
  • Watching movies with subtitles
  • Listening to music
  • Imitating native speakers

3. The Language

As we all know, the difficulty level can vary depending on the language. So, in other words, you will have to take into account the language you want to learn as it will hugely affect how quickly you learn it. To make this easier for you, the FSI (Foreign Service Institute) has compiled a short list of languages and their difficulty levels. We also added an estimate of how long it will take to master them.

Level 1: Easy ( 24-30 weeks)

French
Spanish
German
Italian,
Portuguese

Level 2: Intermediate (36 weeks)

Bulgarian
Hindi
Greek
Burmese
Persian

Level 3: Difficult (44 weeks)

Amharic
Cambodian
Finnish
Hebrew
Hungarian
Polish
Russian

Level 4: Very Difficult (88 weeks)

Arabic
Chinese
Japanese
Korean

However, don’t let the difficulty level of these languages deter you from immersing yourself in them. Rather, use it for goal setting and assessing the number of time and effort you will need to invest.

How to learn a new language fast?

Now that you have an approximate time taken to gain fluency in your new language, you may be looking for the best ways to learn a new language fast. Because, as stated before, your methods and attitude also play a massive role in how quickly you meet these goals.

Here are a few tips and tricks that you can add to help speed up the process. It is essential that you tailor them to your busy schedule.

  1. Have the right attitude to learn
  2. Create a daily schedule of activities
  3. Find the perfect language learning tutor to help guide you on this journey
  4. Purchase or borrow the right books and learning materials
  5. Listen to songs, YouTube videos or language podcasts in your downtime
  6. Try to immerse yourself into the culture by trying new dishes, talking to native-speakers, visiting the country
  7. Meet and converse with others online who are in the same boat as you.

With these new and exciting learning tactics, you will definitely attain fluency in no time!

Are you Ready to Get Started?

Knowing how long it takes to learn a new language is just the beginning. Use it as a driving force to actually taking the first step towards becoming fluent and being competitive in your career.

The time it takes to learn a new language varies widely and so use these factors to push yourselves beyond your limits. So make sure you have the right attitude, use the best tools and methods, and keep working on it. It’s all in your hands.

Want to start your language learning journey? We are here to guide you on this new and inspiring path. Feel free to contact us!