FSI Language Difficulty Calculator
How long does it take to learn a new language? Based on US Foreign Service Institute (FSI) data, calculate the weeks and years needed to reach professional fluency from English.
Time to Fluency
FSI Language Categories (for English speakers)
The Foreign Service Institute (FSI) groups languages by difficulty:
- Category 1 (~600 hrs): Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish
- Category 2 (~900 hrs): German, Indonesian, Swahili, Malaysian
- Category 3 (~1,100 hrs): Polish, Russian, Turkish, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Vietnamese, Thai
- Category 4 (~2,200 hrs): Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, Korean
FSI uses 30-hour classroom weeks. At 1 hour/day self-study, multiply weeks by 5.