In one year, a novice may learn English. Although not as quickly as some of the outrageous 15-day claims you read online, it is still very quick. If an adult starts out as a novice and learns for at least 5 hours a day, it typically takes them a year to become proficient enough to work in English. However, each person is unique.
Your progress in learning English will vary depending on a number of factors:
- Your current English proficiency
- Your required level of English (Hint: for most people, upper intermediate is enough)
- Which languages are you fluent in?
- If you reside in a nation that speaks English,
- How much you practise and how hard you study
- How well do you learn languages?
- Calculating the number of hours necessary to advance from your current level to the level you want is the best approach to determine how long it will take you to learn English.
Take an English proficiency exam to determine your current level. You will get a score on this exam according to the CEFR system, which comprises six levels from A1 to C2.
Choose the level of English writing course that you need. The majority of individuals need a B2 level to work in English, however this varies by employment and location. Following are some explanations of the CEFR levels and what each one may be used for.
Determine the number of hours it will take you to go from your current level of English to your desired level. Here is a little table for your use:
Standard of English (CEFR) number of hours spent in class 0 to A1 in 70 hours
150 hours from A1 to A2.
300 hours from A2 to B1
200 hours from B1 to B2.
200 hours from B2 to C1
200 hours from C1 to C2
Therefore, if you are a novice who needs to advance to a B2 level, you will need to take 70 + 150 + 300 + 200 = 720 hours of teaching. If you only know one language, and it’s a language quite distinct from English, add additional 50% to these figures (for example Chinese, Arabic, Japanese, Korean)
Calculate how many days it will take you to learn English by dividing the total number of hours. In the aforementioned example, if you took an hour-long English session each week, it would take you 720 weeks—almost 14 years—to master the language! It would only take you 102 days to learn English if you took an English immersion course that consisted of 5 hours of instruction each day along with an additional 2 hours of study and practise. That’s around six months, assuming you don’t take lessons on the weekends.
This quick guide should have assisted you in estimating how long it will take you to learn English. Also keep in mind that starting earlier will result in finishing sooner.