Professional Development Watercooler

How Long Does It Take to Learn a New Language? [Infographic]

learn-a-new-language
Written by Jessie Liu

Do you know English is actually not the most common language in the world? Only one-seventh of the world can speak English. If you want to start a conversation with other 6 billion people who can’t speak English, you’d have to learn their languages.

Learning a new language takes time and how long it takes will vary depending on how similar your mother tongue is to the new language. As you might imagine, for English speakers, languages like Arabic and Chinese take the longest to learn.

Also, keep in the mind that your own time will vary. The numbers in the infographic below are based on information from the Foreign Service Institute (FSI), and they based their numbers on a 25 hours study week.

Check out the infographic below to learn how long it takes English speakers to learn the most common languages in the world.

how long does it take english speakers to learn the most common languages in the world

About the author

Jessie Liu

Jessie Liu is a digital marketer, specializing in SEO, Digital Analytics, Content Marketing and Social Media. She helps lead TheJobNetwork’s content marketing efforts, including content strategy and promotion strategy. She believes in data-driven decision making. She recently adopted a Beagle mix puppy named Happy. Feel free to tweet her @jessiecliu for pictures of her adorable new puppy or just any marketing related stuff.