Becoming proficient in Spanish is on a lot of people’s list of life goals, but how long does it take to learn Spanish? How difficult will it be? What does it mean to be “fluent” in Spanish? The answers depend on your eventual objectives as a learner, but Spanish is relatively easy to learn!
Whether you’re hoping to learn Spanish for travel, for business, or to live in a Spanish-speaking location, your timeline will determine your pace of learning. In general, the time needed to learn Spanish isn’t measured in weeks or years, but in hours spent focusing on language learning.
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Spanish language learning by level
The Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) for languages is a helpful tool for setting your goals. It breaks language proficiency into six levels.
- A1-A2, Basic User: Can perform simple and straightforward tasks on familiar topics
- B1-B2, Independent User: Can handle most activities in daily and academic life without difficulty
- C1-C2, Proficient User: Can use the language with ease, even in demanding and complicated situations
Keep in mind that you may never need to achieve a C2 level unless you’re planning to deliver a scholarly talk on a complicated and specialized research topic.
How difficult is Spanish to learn?
While all languages take effort to learn, is Spanish hard to learn compared to other languages? In terms of language difficulty rankings, the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) classifies Spanish as a Category 1 language, part of a group of languages most similar to English, including Dutch, French, and Italian.
The FSI estimates 600-750 class hours needed to reach professional working proficiency, which is significantly less than Category II languages like German (900 hours), Category III languages like Hindi (1,100 hours), and Category IV languages like Japanese (2,200 hours).
How long does it take to learn Spanish fluently?
The word fluent is fairly subjective, and refers to the effortlessness and smoothness with which one expresses themselves in a language. Even advanced speakers might feel less fluent in specialized topics that aren’t a part of their expertise.
Many people are looking for the fastest way to learn Spanish fluently, but it’s best to set goals based on what you want to be able to do with the language—rather than chasing a sometimes vague idea of being fluent.
Use this guide to set realistic goals that match the time you have to invest in learning Spanish. You might be able to do the following fluently after the listed hours of effective study, based on the CEFR and language learning schools around the world.
- Meet people and make basic small talk: 40-60 hours
- Travel and participate in straightforward exchanges: 90-150 hours
- Participate in the target culture while traveling: 200-270 hours
- Prepare to live your life in a Spanish-speaking area: 400-500 hours
- Conduct business effortlessly in Spanish without errors: over 750 hours
Learning basic conversations in Spanish
Estimates for achieving level A1 vary between 60-100 “classroom/guided study” hours. A1 is an adequate level if your goal is to have a very simple and straightforward conversation in Spanish. This level is enough to introduce yourself to a new neighbor, classmate, or acquaintance. If your conversation partner is patient and helpful, it’s also a good level for small talk and making very simple plans.
You can exchange simple information like:
- date, time, and weather
- names, ages, and personal identification
- Spanish words to identify and describe people and everyday objects
- things you have, need, and want
- likes and dislikes
This level shows your interest in the language and your efforts will often be much appreciated by a Spanish speaker. You can accomplish this level in under a year with a casual two hours per week of study, or in around a month if you dedicate yourself to learning Spanish as if it’s a part-time job, putting in 20 hours per week of learning.
While even this first level is rewarding, many learners want to go beyond in order to use their Spanish for other purposes. In fact, one of the fastest ways to learn Spanish is to meet a new friend who is willing to speak Spanish with you and help you get to the next level.
Learning Spanish for travel
How long will it take to learn Spanish if you want to travel? The time it takes to learn to speak Spanish for travel depends on how much of your interaction you’d like to achieve in Spanish, and how much help is available in your surroundings. If you’re visiting a popular tourist location, less may be required of you, but you can participate to some degree. Staying off-the-beaten-path will require more Spanish knowledge.
Level A2
Achieving level A2 takes an estimated 150 hours of guided study, according to Instituto Cervantes in Leeds, but could take longer depending on multiple factors. You can achieve this level in one year of studying at a casual three hours per week, or as little as a month of full-time study at 40 hours per week.
Level A2 will allow you to handle basic transactions, interactions, and Spanish phrases when traveling to a Spanish-speaking destination. At this level, you’ll be able to:
- order food
- shop
- make a reservation
- get emergency help
- read timetables
- understand basic signs
You’ll still need a lot of help from the people around you. As you might be fairly hesitant and can be easily confused, service providers accustomed to new Spanish learners may still switch to English to help you out.
Level B1
How long does it take to learn Spanish if you want to be a more independent traveler and participate fully in the language? Over 270 hours of guided study is expected to reach this milestone. You can study three hours a week for two years, or spend 3-4 months studying Spanish 20+ hours per week.
Level B1 is the level where you can handle more of these situations on your own and have a greater repertoire of phrases to prevent complication or confusion. This is best for travel to areas where it’s less common for service providers to speak your language. At this level you can also:
- Get recommendations and ask for help.
- Have conversations with locals about very familiar topics.
- Understand the main idea of radio or television programs.
- Comprehend announcements and more complicated signs.
- Ask for clarification and repetition to be sure you’ve understood.
You can survive a lot of common interactions and make some friends without switching to English, but you can expect to feel a lack of vocabulary, still have some trouble with some Spanish grammar, and need a sympathetic partner in order to maintain a longer conversation. This is a fantastic starting point for a study-abroad program to take your Spanish to the next level.
How long does it take to learn Spanish for daily life?
A B2 level of Spanish, achievable in around 420-500 hours of classroom study, demonstrates the ability to live, study, and work in the target language with minimal difficulty, although you’ll be most comfortable in familiar and repeated contexts. You’ll be able to:
- Understand radio, television, and movies in detail.
- Understand dialogue in standard Spanish.
- Have everyday conversations with native speakers without needing too much help.
- Defend your opinions and point of view.
- Discuss advantages and disadvantages of a choice.
- Write formal letters or leave important messages with clarity.
- Handle all transactions of daily life, including unexpected complications that may arise.
- Fill out forms for official documents such as taxes.
You may still search for words or need to correct yourself at times, but you can generally communicate without hesitation. Your language might break down with more advanced demands, such as technical or specific jargon, convincing a group to take a course of action, or using the Spanish subjunctive mood.
However, you are easily understood in spite of your errors. Because you can listen to radio stations, podcasts, and songs in Spanish, you can continually learn Spanish while driving or during other activities.
Learning how to conduct business in Spanish
While any level of Spanish can prove useful in a business context, how long does it take to learn Spanish fluently if you’re in charge of important negotiations or transactions? The C1 level takes over 600 hours of guided study and puts you in control even in higher-stakes situations. This would allow you to communicate:
- without any misunderstanding between parties
- fluently, without hesitation to search for words
- with social and cultural knowledge to treat all parties with respect
- on specialized and technical topics related to your business
- with very rare errors
The Foreign Service Institute gives the estimate of 600-750 class hours in order to achieve “General Professional Proficiency” and means that you have enough understanding of vocabulary and grammar to:
- Participate in most conversations on practical, social, and professional topics.
- Understand the basics of standard Spanish including specific or technical topics.
- Read with fluency with almost flawless comprehension, including on unfamiliar topics.
While 750 class hours may sound like a lot, broken down into specific time tables, it’s equivalent to:
- about five years at three hours a week
- less than a year at 20 hours per week
- around 20 weeks of full-time study at 40 hours every week
While you may be hoping to find the fastest way to learn Spanish to reach this goal, other factors will affect your timeline, including your environment, knowing how to learn Spanish in a way that works best for you, and other demands on your time, energy, and motivation.
Learning how to teach Spanish
If you’re interested in sharing your passion for the Spanish language with others, college-level study is a typical pathway to becoming a certified teacher, usually requiring a minimum of:
- four-year bachelor’s level program to teach at the middle or high school level
- master’s degree to teach basic university courses
- doctoral degree and/or specialized coursework to teach upper-level university Spanish
This education combines with your experience and scores on certification exams to qualify you for a variety of positions.
In addition, if you’re already an educator, many teachers in the US find that a basic understanding of Spanish helps them connect with their students and share the experience of being a language learner. Even if you can only achieve level A1, you can model important skills to your English Language Learners, and continue to learn from them.
How long will it take to learn Spanish as a professional translator?
Translators (written content) and interpreters (spoken language) must have expert language proficiency, a distinguished C2 or native level, in a language in order to understand with ease virtually everything they hear, read, or view.
At this level, an interpreter needs almost instant control of precise vocabulary, nuance, and cultural shades of meaning, even as they simultaneously interpret the message to the other language. There are university programs and other certification programs for speakers of more than one language that prepare you for this career.
Even “perfectly” bilingual speakers who already have native-level speech in more than one language will need to study specialized linguistics to be highly competent translators, and this can take between one and several years beyond the initial language proficiency to get certified.
Discover the fastest way to learn Spanish for you
Estimates of hours to learn Spanish are based on averages and assume guided/classroom study free of interruption. You also need to take into consideration factors such as:
- access to Spanish in your environment
- having family members or friends who regularly speak Spanish to you
- your natural aptitude for language learning
- your proficiency in your native language
- your motivation level
- having learned a Romance language already, such as French or Italian
- the effectiveness of your study methods
Rosetta Stone is designed with these factors in mind, providing you with authentic contexts, a dialed-in base of needed vocabulary, and support on multiple levels. Use the all-in-one app for learning on the go, attend live lessons or meet with expert tutors, and get feedback on your accent with the TruAccent speech recognition engine.
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