Use our free language learning time calculator to get a personalised estimate!
How long does German take to learn?
English speakers to German should know that they’re in for a… let’s just say interesting time. The study hours go something like this:
- Survival basics (A2) – 200
- Everyday conversations (B1) – 400
- Comfortable fluency (B2) – 800
- Near-native fluency (C1) – 1,400
You’ve probably heard that English is a Germanic language. That’s technically true; many words will feel familiar, and short, to-the-point sentences can almost sound identical.
But oh boy! Brace yourself for German grammar. It has a notorious reputation for being a bit of a beast. Rightly earned, I’d say. Four cases, nouns with three genders (no rhyme or reason to any of them – you have to learn them all by heart), verbs that break off mid-sentence and float to the end…
Don’t be afraid, though. It’s all learnable. It’ll just take a bit of time. All good, no rush.
For a number that’s tailored to your personal situation, play around with the calculator above. That’s what we built it for 🙂