Trying to learn a second language is a pretty daunting task, especially for adults. But as many have proven, it’s doable if you’re willing to put in the time and effort.
So, just how long would it take for you to become fluent in Spanish, or perhaps German? Using data from the Foreign Service Institute (FSI), which sorts major languages into different categories based on their difficulty and the time an English speaker would need to learn them, Redditor Fummy has neatly laid the answers out for you in their color-coded map of European countries.
If you’re up for learning a new language, here’s a breakdown of how long you’ll spend mastering the lingo, including the FSI’s list of what languages belong to which category:
23-24 Weeks (575-600 Hours)
Languages:
AfrikaansDanishDutchFrenchItalianNorwegianPortugueseRomanianSpanishSwedish
30 Weeks (750 Hours)
Languages:
German
36 Weeks (900 Hours)
Languages:
IndonesianMalaysianSwahili
44 Weeks (1100 Hours)
Languages:
AlbanianAmharicArmenianAzerbaijaniBengaliBosnianBulgarianBurmeseCroatianCzech*Estonian*Finnish*GeorgianGreekHebrewHindi*HungarianIcelandicKhmerLaoLatvianLithuanianMacedonian*MongolianNepaliPashtoPersian (Dari, Farsi, Tajik)PolishRussianSerbianSinhalaSlovakSlovenianTagalog*ThaiTurkishUkrainianUrduUzbek*VietnameseXhosaZulu
(* Usually more difficult than other languages in the same category.)
88 Weeks (2200 Hours)
Languages:
ArabicCantonese (Chinese)Mandarin (Chinese)*JapaneseKorean
(* Usually more difficult than other languages in the same category.)
(via BoredPanda and My Modern Net)