Introduction
A question that is asked the most when learning a language is “How much time should I spend to learn it fluently”? Spending time on a language to become fluent or gain some sort of expertise in the language depends on you. It depends on whether you are motivated or not, whether you are staying determined to your routine or not, it depends on how excited you are to learn. But most of the time, that’s not the only thing that matters. Because you can be very excited to learn something and start learning it, say for 2 hours a day, for two weeks and then feel burnt out. Then you would probably lose all your excitement and never learn it again. So, too much excitement is also bad for you. Or spending too much time learning Spanish is not the golden rule of learning it. According to the FSI, if one person spends three hours a day with Spanish, the 480 hours amounts to 160 days or less than six months. If another person spends one hour a day in Spanish, it will take 480 days, or around a year and a half. If you spend less than an hour a day, it will take much longer. However, these are just numbers and it depends on you how much time you take to learn Spanish. You could either learn it within a year if you want to, or it can even take you 10 years!
So how do you determine an estimated amount of time that you need to invest in learning Spanish? There are a lot of factors that you should keep in mind while finding the right answer to this question.
1. Your experience
Your ability to learn Spanish depends on whether you already have some knowledge about Spanish or not. Or whether or not you’ve learned other languages and are you fluent in them? Some People who are bilingual or multilingual are quick to catch up on any new language.
2. Your motivation to learn
This is the most important factor. You should have a strong motivation to learn the language that keeps you going at a regular pace without getting stuck or lost in the middle. Having a reason that motivates you is crucial. Be it your interest in the language or its requirement in a university/company that you wish to apply to in Spain. You have to determine why you want to learn Spanish and note it to remind yourself every time.
3. Time
One of the main factors determining how long it takes you to learn Spanish is the amount of time you invest in studying. If you’re ready to devote 2-3 hours in a day, you can learn Spanish faster than others. Studying for 4 hours per day, 5 days per week, you could complete 400+ hours in less than 20 weeks. Those who dedicate at least one hour per day to learning can achieve an intermediate level within two years. So make sure you plan accordingly and stick to your schedule.
4. Immersion
In a perfect world, you could travel to Spain and fully immerse yourself in their culture while attending language courses. Language students who practice a complete immersion method, with eight hours of practice per day, could learn Spanish at an advanced level in just a few months.
Golden Rule
All these things can help you figure out how much time and effort you need to invest in learning Spanish. But this will just answer the general question of how much time it will take for you to learn Spanish. The bigger question is “How much time SHOULD you actually spend”? “What is the ideal time you should be investing to learn Spanish?”
The Golden Rule of how much time you should spend EACH DAY.
It’s been said that you should spend not less or more than 30 minutes learning languages every day. Now you would say that if I spend more time, I’ll know more. This is the number one mistake that most people make when learning any language. They spend too much time on it. Spending too much time learning languages in the beginning can have a reverse effect on you. You might quickly pick up on a language, but you may lose all your interest as soon as you developed it. Too much of something is bad. So, if you want to be consistent in learning Spanish and want to learn it effectively in a proper way, spend 30 minutes a day, 7 days a week. No matter what, just make sure you devote just 30 minutes of your day to Spanish. If you do this every day, you will start seeing results, and you’ll also not feel worn out or bored, or demotivated.
Just be consistent. Make it a rule. 30 minutes a day.
Conclusion
Learning a language takes time. It may take a year, 2 years or even 20 years for someone to learn a language or not learn it at all. The time spent learning a language really depends on the person learning the language. Along with motivation, commitment, dedication, you need a lot of patience to learn Spanish.
The ideal time for learning Spanish or any other language is to spend 30 minutes per day learning it. If you do this without fail, you can easily learn and master the language without the apprehension of getting lost in the middle. So, go set your routine and fix a 30-minute window in your daily schedule only to learn Spanish and do nothing else during this time!
Happy learning!
