How long does it take to learn Spanish fluently?
Everywhere you look, you’ll find answers to this question that are either unhelpful, exaggerated, or downright misleading. So today, I’m going to provide you, a definitive answer to this question once and for all, as well as demystify some of the conflicting opinions you may have heard or read on this subject.
But first, The definition of fluency- When you say you want to learn Spanish, then I assume you want to eventually become fluent.
Everyone seems to have their own definition of what fluency really means, but it can generally be boiled down to two different levels:
Conversational Fluency
You can understand about 95% of what you hear or read about everyday topics. For more complex or technical subjects, you don’t understand as much but you can still get the gist of what’s going on.
You can comfortably hold a 1-on-1 conversation at a normal speaking pace and you can usually get your ideas across regarding a variety of topics without having to repeat yourself or stop to think too much. Your pronunciation is clear and accurate, and you’re easily understood by native speakers.
Native-level Fluency
You can understand 99-100% of anything you hear or read, regardless of the subject matter. This includes all jokes and cultural expressions. You can express yourself spontaneously and precisely in complex situations involving groups of native speakers. You can accurately communicate emotions and subtle shades of meaning.
Your pronunciation is perfect. You can hold a 2-hour conversation with a native speaker and afterwards they wouldn’t be able to tell that you didn’t learn the language from birth. In my opinion, the majority of people wanting to learn Spanish should aim for “conversational fluency” because it is very achievable for everyone.
Everyone seems to have their own definition of what fluency really means, but it can generally be boiled down to two different levels:
Conversational fluency allows you to enjoy most of the benefits of knowing how to speak Spanish. Such as being able to travel with confidence to a Spanish-speaking country, communicating with a loved one, or using Spanish in a work setting. Frankly, most people are never going to reach “native-level fluency” because it takes exponentially more work to get there, and the added benefits of which may not be worth it.
Believing a statistic like this is just as damaging to language learners as the unrealistic promises we talked about earlier.
One of the most important things for a beginner is to start learning Spanish with a positive, confident mindset. However, figures like the 1,200 hours quoted by FSI paints the goal of learning Spanish as a daunting, massive undertaking. Rather than doing people a favour by telling them what to expect, it intimidates and discourages them from wanting to pick up Spanish in the first place. Learning Spanish isn’t a walk in the park, but it is not nearly as difficult as the FSI is making it out to be. Most of us lead busy lives with work, school, family and social obligations taking up much of our time. Yet we should try to learn Spanish with a moderate level of intensity because few people have the patience to wait 4 years or more to learn a language.
And in the end, what's paramount is your commitment and a diligent schedule!
If you can dedicate more than 1 hour a day, then that’s fantastic, but the more time you spend, the more difficult it will be to maintain that pace consistently.
If this sounds like too much of a commitment to you, then ask yourself, are you busy for the sake of being busy? Most people waste a lot more time than they realize, and occupy themselves with “activities” that keep them busy but don’t accomplish what’s truly important to them. Freeing up an hour a day isn’t as hard as you think.
If you start out as a beginner and spend an average of 1 hour per day working on your Spanish, you should be able to reach conversational fluency within 8 – 12 months. That translates to roughly 250 – 350 hours of time spent.
This assumes that you are taking lessons with a Spanish teacher at least 2 times per week, and spending the remaining time doing homework, and reviewing what you learned. This is by far the most efficient way to learn Spanish.
