How Long Does It Take to Learn Spanish?

For native English speakers, Spanish is one of the easiest languages to learn. They have similar sentence structures, grammar, and alphabets. While the pronunciations and conjugations take a bit of practice, many of the words are similar. The Foreign Service Institute reports that learners need approximately 24 weeks (600 hours) to become fluent in Spanish. So, how quickly you learn Spanish depends on the time you’re willing to put into it each day.

• 3 hours a day = fluency in 6 months
• 2 hours a day = fluency in 1.5 years

Measuring the qualitative aspects of a foreign language is based on these factors:

• Range
• Accuracy
• Fluency
• Interaction
• Coherence

There are different levels of fluency when it comes to learning a new language. It’s important to determine how far you want to take your knowledge and how you want to apply it while you dedicate yourself to learning.

1. Beginner: A1 – A2: Can understand simple conversation; requires simple and direct exchanges of communication
2. Intermediate: B1 – B2: Ability to have regular interactions of communication without too much strain or difficulty for either party
3. Advanced: C1 – C2: Advanced: Ability to understand with ease every communication heard or read.

In a globally connected world, learning another language enlarges your networking (be it social or professional) abilities and opportunities significantly. Organizations will offer larger salaries to bilingual employees.

Being bilingual also broadens your ease of travel in both North and South America. Visualize landing at the destination of your choice and being able to easily navigate your way through a country you have never visited before. Imagine having an emergency while simply vacationing in Cancun or Cabo and needing to articulate your emergency in another language. Being fluent has its benefits.

Forbes Magazine reports that Spanish is spoken by more than 559 million people globally. About 460 million of those people are native Spanish speakers. Spanish holds the second largest population of native speakers in the world. With this many world citizens speaking the language, it offers the opportunities to communicate with them for a myriad of reasons.

Business owners now have a much larger potential client base. Social media influencers can capture a significant portion of followers, strengthening their influential abilities. There is an advantage to tapping into multiple markets, because you are fluent in the language spoken by a significant portion of the population. In the United States alone, over 41 million people speak Spanish, making it the second-most prevalent language in the country.