In today's world, many people who study a foreign language chiefly desire to speak it. It is important to estimate how well a person can expect to speak a language after studying it for a certain number of hours -- and conversely, how many hours it may take to reach desired fluency. The length of time it takes to learn a language varies based on the learner and the language.

To determine how difficult a language is to learn, most U.S. government agencies use the FSI Absolute Language Proficiency Ratings. Each rating designates a particular degree of mastery of the language for business and social purposes:

1. Elementary proficiency. The person is able to satisfy routine travel needs and minimum courtesy requirements.
2. Limited working proficiency. The person is able to satisfy routine social demands and limited work requirements.
3. Minimum professional proficiency. The person can speak the language with sufficient structural accuracy and vocabulary to participate effectively in most formal and informal conversations on practical, social, and professional topics.
4. Full professional proficiency. The person uses the language fluently and accurately on all levels normally pertinent to professional needs.
5. Native or bilingual proficiency. The person has speaking proficiency equivalent to that of an educated native speaker.

FSI researchers studied the performance of all their students during a three-year period, noting the ratings they received after various periods of training. Listed below are the results for the "easy" languages and for the "hard" languages, with Group 1 being least difficult, and Group 4 being most difficult.

Group 1

French
German
Indonesian
Italian
Portuguese
Romanian
Spanish
Swahili

Group 2

Bulgarian
Burmese
Greek
Hindi
Persian
Urdu

Group 3

Amharic
Cambodian
Czech
Finnish
Hebrew
Hungarian
Lao
Polish
Russian
Serbo-Croatian
Thai
Turkish
Vietnamese

Group 4

Arabic
Chinese
Japanese
Korean

In reality, if you are a language learner of average ability, and you undertake an "easy" language, it will probably take you about 240 hours to get to the first level of mastery in speaking it, and double that to get to Level 2. If you are slower than average at learning languages, allow 50 percent more time, if faster, 50 percent less.

These figures are based on a particular type of instruction: the FSI intensive course where one studies a language for six hours a day, five days a week, in a class of no more than 10 students, led by an experienced linguist and a well-trained native drillmaster. The school is a language-learning paradise, the students are highly motivated, and optimum results are achieved. Yet these estimates are reasonably valid for people who, like most of us, have no choice but to attend a conventional course that meets forty-five minutes a day or a couple of evenings a week.

No one can absorb knowledge steadily for six hours a day, week after week; some of the time in intensive courses is necessarily "wasted" in relaxing or daydreaming. Moreover, things that seem confusing one day sometimes clear up by the next, after they have settled into place in one's mind. This "incubation" factor favors a non-intensive learning schedule. In short, it is not certain that people who spread their language learning over a longer period necessarily require more total hours than those who concentrate. They may even require fewer.

Above all, anyone can learn a foreign language, but some people are quicker at it than others. Still, language learning is a serious commitment, and if one's aim is to speak it comfortably, this is likely to take the equivalent of six months of full-time study.

The Pimsleur Language Teaching Method

As noted earlier these FSI learning rates and achievement levels for easy and hard languages are based on learners being trained with a particular FSI Intensive Language Training Program. It is revealing to compare these results with results based on learners using the Pimsleur Self-instructional Language Comprehensive Programs, which consist of three coordinated levels containing 30 audio lessons in each level. Under the Pimsleur Method, learners accomplish one 30-minute lesson each and every day.

The Pimsleur method of language training is based upon the assumption that every natural language contains within itself all of the keys to unlock the code of that language. Therefore Pimsleur introduces the learner to any new language by exposing him to spoken language in actual communication. This practice permits the learner to actually hear precisely what he needs to hear in order to identify and to understand who is doing what to whom, when, why, and how! In this type of training the learner gains the most powerful aspect of language, which is to be able to hear statements, to understand the situation, and eventually to respond with his own choices.

All of this essential learning can happen only if the learner is allowed to concentrate on being "exposed" directly to the target language while it is actually in-use. The important principle in the development of communication skills is that learners progress from a compound linguistic system, in which the items of the second language are added to the native language, to form a coordinate system. In this coordinate system the two languages can function independently, as appears to be the case with pure bilinguals.

Pimsleur learners who follow the schedule of Pimsleur training will test out as follows:

Level I Pimsleur Instruction. 30 lessons. After only 15 cumulative hours, you will be at Intermediate-low spoken proficiency (FSI -1 rating), able to survive and cope in country; able to ask and answer questions dealing with everyday situations, and as well earn respect and cooperation for your fluency, your pronunciation, and courtesy.

Level II Pimsleur Instruction. 30 more lessons. After the second 15 cumulative hours, you will be at Intermediate-Mid spoken proficiency (FSI -1 rating), able to exchange information about yourself, your family or associates, and avoid basic cultural errors.

Level III Pimsleur Instruction. 30 more lessons. After the final 15 hours of the Comprehensive Program, for a total of 45 hours of training, you will be at Intermediate-High proficiency (FSI -1+ rating), able to participate in casual conversations and conduct everyday transactions with success and pleasure in your achievements.