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Guides · CEFR & hours
How many hours does it take to learn a language?
The short answer: for an English speaker learning a closely related language like Spanish or French, reaching a comfortable conversational level (CEFR B2) takes roughly 500–600 hours of total practice from zero. German takes around 600–750. Distant languages like Japanese, Chinese, Korean, or Arabic take 1300–1800 hours for the same level. Everything below is nuance — and the nuance matters.
What CEFR levels actually mean
The CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) describes ability through can-do statements — what you can actually do in the language — rather than grammar checklists. Six levels, in human terms:
| Level | In plain words | What you can do |
|---|---|---|
| A1 | First steps | Introduce yourself, understand simple phrases, ask and answer basic questions. |
| A2 | Everyday basics | Handle simple daily situations — shopping, family, work. Read simple texts. |
| B1 | Travel & daily life | Get by in most travel situations, describe plans and experiences, explain opinions briefly. |
| B2 | Fluent conversation | Talk with native speakers without strain, understand the core of complex texts, write clearly on many topics. |
| C1 | Professional fluency | Use the language effortlessly for work and study; catch irony, metaphor, and implied meaning. |
| C2 | Near-native mastery | Understand virtually everything; express fine shades of meaning with precision. |
Language distance changes everything
Hour estimates depend heavily on how far the new language is from the one you already speak. For English (and most European-language) speakers, languages roughly fall into four groups:
- Group I — closely related: Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese. Fastest to learn.
- Group II — related with harder grammar: German. About 20% more time.
- Group III — significant differences: Russian, Polish, Greek, Hindi, Finnish. About 50% more time.
- Group IV — different family and writing system: Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Arabic. Three to four times more time.
Cumulative hours by level
Approximate total practice hours from zero — including lessons and self-study — for an average learner:
| Level | Spanish, French (I) | German (II) | Russian, Greek (III) | Japanese, Chinese (IV) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A1 | 60–80 h | 80–150 h | 120–180 h | 150–300 h |
| A2 | 150–200 h | 200–300 h | 250–350 h | 450–600 h |
| B1 | 300–350 h | 350–500 h | 450–600 h | 750–1100 h |
| B2 | 500–600 h | 600–750 h | 750–950 h | 1300–1800 h |
| C1 | 700–800 h | 800–950 h | 1000–1200 h | 2200–3000 h |
| C2 | 1000–1200 h | 1000–1200+ h | 1500+ h | 3000–4500+ h |
One trap to avoid: official institutes publish guided learning hours — time with a teacher. Real progress needs roughly one to two hours of self-study for every guided hour, which is what these totals already include. An hour passively sitting in class is not an hour of language work.
Why progress feels slower every year
The levels look like six equal steps. They are not. Going from A1 to A2 can take about 100 hours; going from B2 to C1 takes 300–500+. C1 needs an active vocabulary of 8,000+ words versus roughly 1,500 at A2, plus cultural context that only accumulates with exposure.
This is why so many learners hit the famous B2 plateau and feel stuck: the visible day-to-day progress shrinks even though learning continues. Slower progress at higher levels is the system working normally, not a personal failure — the single most useful thing you can do about it is make your practice visible, so the hours you are putting in stay real to you.
Honest caveats before you plan
- Your starting language matters more than any table. A Ukrainian speaker learning Polish may need a fraction of the hours an English speaker needs. Treat estimates as a starting point and adjust them for yourself.
- Skills grow unevenly. You can read at C1 and speak at A2 if you never practice speaking. A single level label hides your real strengths and gaps — track skills separately.
- Self-assessment is noisy. Perfectionists underrate themselves; optimists overrate. If a certificate matters to you, take a real exam; for everything else, can-do checkpoints are enough.
How to actually use these numbers
Use hours as a guide, not a debt. Pick your next milestone — not the final destination — and treat its hour range as a rough practice target you are free to edit. Then track your real practice: every lesson, podcast, book, and conversation. Watching genuine hours accumulate is what carries you through the stretch where progress stops being obvious week to week.
If you want the tracking to take care of itself, that is exactly what we built Sorrel for — a language learning diary that logs practice in seconds, shows your skill balance, and frames CEFR milestones as a practice guide, never an exam. And if you are new to the habit itself, start with our guide on how to keep a language learning diary.
Make your hours visible
Sorrel is a free language learning diary for iOS. Log real practice, watch it add up toward your next milestone.