One of the questions students frequently ask, is: How long does it take to learn Italian? It looks like a simple enough question, but you might as well ask: How long is a piece of string?
However irresistible this question is for you to ask, it cannot be answered simply, or possibly only by yourself. This is because it depends on several variables that only you know the answer to. For example:
- What level of Italian you wish to achieve
- What experience and skills do you have
- What level of motivation do you possess
- How long are you prepared to spend on studying
Having said that, indications of time have been calculated in terms of hours of study, so read on if you wish to get some numbers.
The good news
Italian is one of the easiest languages to learn for native English speakers. It is easier than German and belongs to the same category as Spanish and French and the other romance languages. If you are a British, chances are that you would have studied either French or Spanish and this also will help you to learn Italian faster.
Even if you have not studied those languages, many English words are similar to (or even the same as) the Italian version. In fact, some surveys state that as much as 60% (some sources say even 80%) of English words are derived directly or indirectly from Latin, and this means that you can guess the meaning of many Italian words just by knowing the English version.
I’ll give you a few examples here:
Alarm (allarme), bronze (bronzo), fiasco (fiasco), final (finale), irony (ironia), influenza (influenza), lava (lava), pastel (pastello), propaganda (propaganda), terracotta (terracotta), volcano (vulcano), etc.
More examples are listed in my blog Italian is the language of music where you can see how much Italian directly influenced much of the English lexis used today, related to theatre, music, musical instruments and so on.
What level to you wish to achieve?
This is a very important question, as if proficiency or native speaker is the level you aspire to, it will take about a lifetime to achieve. However, if you simply wish to enjoy your holidays in Italy, this is obviously much quicker. In order to reassure you, it is worth mentioning that fluency and native speaker level are very different and you can achieve a reasonable fluency without waiting a lifetime by achieving a B1 or B2 levels.
Italian for tourists
Some more good news… If you wish to study some Italian language for your holidays, it is possible to achieve this in one term of lessons. You can learn to introduce yourself, ask people some basic questions about themselves and, also, order at the bar or at the restaurant.
Just one year of tuition will take you even further adding more vocabulary and skills and therefore making you more confident when in the Country.
What is a B1 level? And why is important?
But when will you be able to feel confident to live in Italy and perform easily everyday tasks? As mentioned before, confidence is a very personal element. However, you might be able to achieve all this when you achieve a B1 level.
This is in fact, the minimum level required – for example – to obtain citizenship in Italy. It is a lower intermediate level, which implies that you can perform simple familiar tasks at home and at work. Examples of these are: dealing with your bank, talking on the phone to resolve familiar problems, arranging and taking a job interview, writing emails for work related to familiar items, etc.
How long will it take you to get to B1?
Again, this is very personal, but – according to CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) – it takes roughly about 350-400 hours of study time to get there.
You can break this down into about 3 to 4 hours of study time per week, over a couple of years. For instance, this could include your regular Italian course, your homework and perhaps some reading, watching or listening to something that you enjoy. Exposure to the language is as important as it can be fun.
The more enjoyable you make the task and the more you will be inclined to do it and to keep it up for longer. Let me know here (saying: more tips) if you are interested in more tips on how to do make your leaning more enjoyable and I can write about this in my next blog post.
So let’s get down to number crunching for all the levels.
Hours of learning needed for each level
How long does it take to learn Italian? Here is the answer from Cambridge.com:
| Level | No. of hours |
| Beginner
From A0 to A1 | 90-100 |
| Elementary
From A1 to A2 | 100-150 |
| Lower Intermediate
From A2 to B1 | 160-240 |
| Upper Intermediate
From B1 to B2 | 180-260 |
| Advanced
From B2 to C1 | 200-300 |
| Proficient
From C1 to C2 | 300-400 |
Source: http://www.cambridge.org
As you can see, it is easier to achieve the first few levels and it takes more time to progress later on.
How to get to your goal no matter what
No matter what your talent or experience is, the only failproof way to reach your goal, is to keep going. Not giving up at the first, second or third hurdle.
Setting goals is crucial so that you can ‘see’ your progress and feed your motivation.
Be patient, as learning Italian, like any other language, is like learning to play the piano. It is a complex skill that takes years to master. However, while you’re learning, you can still enjoy performing at your level and, especially, love and appreciate what you can do now.
Conclusions
To conclude, in my experience, the time required by different people varies quite a bit especially because of how inclined one is in making it part of their routine. And ultimately, student motivation and previous learning experience are key and together can expedite a student’s learning greatly. However, no matter what your experience and knowledge is, just don’t give up, it is that simple!
Happy learning!
Do you know your level of Italian?
If you don’t and you wish to find out, I can offer you a free call with me here.
