© FSI’s Experience with Language Learning
The following language learning timelines reflect 70 years of experience in teaching languages to U.S. diplomats, and illustrate the time usually required for a student to reach “Professional Working Proficiency” in the language, or a score of “Speaking-3/Reading-3” on the Interagency Language Roundtable scale. These timelines are based on what FSI has observed as the average length of time for a student to achieve proficiency, though the actual time can vary based on a number of factors, including the language learner’s natural ability, prior linguistic experience, and time spent in the classroom.
Category I Languages: 24-30 weeks (600-750 class hours)
Languages more similar to English.
- Danish (24 weeks)
- Dutch (24 weeks)
- French (30 weeks)
- Italian (24 weeks)
- Norwegian (24 weeks)
- Portuguese (24 weeks)
- Romanian (24 weeks)
- Spanish (24 weeks)
- Swedish (24 weeks)
Category II Languages: Approximately 36 weeks (900 class hours)
- German
- Haitian Creole
- Indonesian
- Malay
- Swahili
Category III Languages: Approximately 44 weeks (1100 class hours)
“Hard languages” – Languages with significant linguistic and/or cultural differences from English. This list is not exhaustive.
- Albanian
- Amharic
- Armenian
- Azerbaijani
- Bengali
- Bulgarian
- Burmese
- Czech
- Dari
- Estonian
- Farsi
- Finnish
- Georgian
- Greek
- Hebrew
- Hindi
- Hungarian
- Icelandic
- Kazakh
- Khmer
- Kurdish
- Kyrgyz
- Lao
- Latvian
- Lithuanian
- Macedonian
- Mongolian
- Nepali
- Polish
- Russian
- Serbo-Croatian
- Sinhala
- Slovak
- Slovenian
- Somali
- Tagalog
- Tajiki
- Tamil
- Telugu
- Thai
- Tibetan
- Turkish
- Turkmen
- Ukrainian
- Urdu
- Uzbek
- Vietnamese
Category IV Languages: 88 weeks (2200 class hours)
“Super-hard languages” – Languages which are exceptionally difficult for native English speakers.
- Arabic
- Chinese – Cantonese
- Chinese – Mandarin
- Japanese
- Korean
IELTS Academic mean performance by first language
| Reading | Listening | Writing | Speaking | Overall | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | 6.7 | 7.2 | 6.2 | 7.1 | 6.9 |
| Italian | 7.4 | 7.0 | 5.9 | 6.6 | 6.8 |
| French | 6.9 | 6.9 | 5.9 | 6.6 | 6.7 |
| German | 7.7 | 7.9 | 6.3 | 7.4 | 7.4 |
| Indonesian | 6.7 | 6.7 | 5.8 | 6.3 | 6.4 |
| Russian | 6.7 | 6.8 | 5.9 | 6.5 | 6.5 |
| Chinese | 6.2 | 6.0 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 5.9 |
| Japanese | 6.1 | 5.9 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 5.8 |
| Korean | 6.3 | 6.3 | 5.6 | 5.8 | 6.0 |
IELTS Academic mean performance by nationality
| Reading | Listening | Writing | Speaking | Overall | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canada | 6.9 | 7.2 | 6.1 | 7.2 | 6.9 |
| Italy | 7.3 | 7.0 | 5.9 | 6.6 | 6.8 |
| France | 7.1 | 7.0 | 5.9 | 6.6 | 6.7 |
| Germany | 7.7 | 7.9 | 6.3 | 7.4 | 7.4 |
| Russian Federation | 6.9 | 7.0 | 6.0 | 6.7 | 6.7 |
| Indonesia | 6.7 | 6.8 | 5.8 | 6.3 | 6.5 |
| Malaysia | 7.1 | 7.4 | 6.1 | 6.8 | 6.9 |
| Philippines | 6.8 | 7.3 | 6.1 | 6.8 | 6.8 |
| India | 5.9 | 6.5 | 5.8 | 6.0 | 6.1 |
| Japan | 6.1 | 5.9 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 5.8 |
| Korea, Republic of | 6.3 | 6.3 | 5.6 | 5.8 | 6.0 |
| Hong Kong. SAR of China | 6.9 | 7.1 | 6.0 | 6.3 | 6.6 |
| Taiwan, China | 6.3 | 6.3 | 5.6 | 6.0 | 6.1 |
| China | 6.2 | 5.9 | 5.5 | 5.4 | 5.8 |