What is the easiest language to learn? FSI data

For a native English speaker, the easiest languages are Danish, Dutch, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, French and Swedish. The US Foreign Service Institute (FSI) expects 24 to 30 weeks of full-time classes, or 552–690 class hours, for them. The hardest group (Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean) is listed at 88 weeks. Esperanto is not in the FSI list; studies suggest it needs a fraction of those hours, but the evidence is old and thin.

#What does the FSI say?

The table follows the FSI's own page, "Foreign Language Training" on state.gov, checked on 9 November 2026. It lists the time that usually takes a student to reach a score of 3 on the Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) scale in speaking and listening combined. Level 3 is "general professional proficiency".

Older copies of the table, such as a Wikibooks page, give 600–750 hours for category I because they assume 25 class hours a week. The current FSI page assumes a typical week of 23 class hours plus 17 hours of self-study; the weeks and categories are the same in both.

#What are the limits of the FSI figures?

• Only for English speakers. The categories measure distance from English. They say nothing about how hard Spanish is for a Japanese speaker.
• Intensive diplomat training. Students are Foreign Service staff in full-time classes of about 23 hours a week, plus self-study. A hobby learner with 30 minutes a day will take much longer in calendar time.
• A demanding goal. Level 3 means working professionally, not ordering a coffee. A basic conversation takes far less.
• Rough averages. The FSI says the actual time varies with natural ability, earlier language-learning experience and time spent in class.

#Why are some languages easier?

Researchers point to the same few factors:

1. Distance from your own language. Shared vocabulary, similar word forms and similar grammar mean less to memorise. A study of adults learning Dutch found that lexical and morphological distance between their first language and Dutch explained 47.7% of the variation in test scores (Schepens, Van der Slik and Van Hout, Language Learning, 2016). An earlier economic study of immigrants to the US and Canada found that the greater the linguistic distance from English, the poorer the proficiency in English (Chiswick and Miller, 2005).
2. Regular grammar. Fewer irregular forms and endings to learn.
3. Writing system and sounds. A new script, tones or unfamiliar sounds add work. The FSI puts Arabic, Chinese, Japanese and Korean together in the top group, although these languages differ greatly from each other.

We found no reliable, sourced ranking for learners whose first language is not English, so we do not give one. The principle still holds for every reader: look at how close your own language is to the one you want to learn.

#Where does Esperanto fit?

The FSI does not rate Esperanto, and we know of no modern study that followed adult learners to a defined level. The estimates that exist (Thorndike in 1925–1931, a Hungarian school study in 1962–1963, a 2018 review of English classroom studies and others) all point the same way, towards much less study time than a national language. The most quoted figure is about 150 hours. Applying the proportion from Esperanto-USA ("at most a quarter") to category I gives roughly 140–170 class hours (our calculation, not a measurement).

The sources, limits and a study-time table are on How long does it take to learn Esperanto?. In short: treat these numbers as an order of magnitude, not a promise. What makes Esperanto regular is documented: one sound per letter, no irregular verbs and a set of word-building rules (see Esperanto vs Spanish and English). The cost is that it opens fewer doors: far fewer speakers than Spanish or Dutch. Whether learning Esperanto first makes the next language easier is a separate question, covered in Does Esperanto help you learn other languages?

#Other languages people ask about

• Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Portuguese, Romanian: all in the FSI's category I, as above. The FSI gives French and Spanish 30 weeks, the others 24.
• Indonesian: category II, about 36 weeks, which is longer than the Romance and Germanic group but well below Japanese or Arabic.
• German: category II, about 36 weeks, a step above its relatives Dutch and Norwegian in the FSI's estimate.
• Toki Pona: a minimalist invented language with about 120–137 words. It is quick to start, but expressing precise ideas takes skill; see Esperanto vs Toki Pona. Other invented languages are in the list of constructed languages and Esperanto compared with other constructed languages.

#Common questions

#What is the easiest language for English speakers?

By the FSI's time estimates, the shortest are Danish, Dutch, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Romanian and Swedish at 24 weeks. French and Spanish are in the same category but are listed at 30 weeks.

#What is the easiest language to learn overall?

There is no language that is easiest for everyone, because difficulty depends on how far the language is from the ones you already know. The best-documented rankings are for English speakers only.

#Is Esperanto easier than Spanish?

Studies of beginners, mostly children and old school experiments, found Esperanto quicker to learn than national languages. There is no FSI-style measurement for adults, so the size of the gap is not known.

#Why do Japanese and Arabic take the longest?

For English speakers they differ in writing system, sounds, vocabulary and grammar, so little carries over from English. The FSI lists them in the 88-week group.

#How many hours is 24 weeks at the FSI?

At the FSI's typical week of 23 class hours, 24 weeks is 552 hours of classes, plus about 17 hours of self-study each week.

#Sources

• U.S. Department of State, National Foreign Affairs Training Center: Foreign Language Training (checked 9 November 2026)
• Wikibooks: Language Learning Difficulty for English Speakers (second source for categories and weeks; older hour figures)
• Schepens, Van der Slik and Van Hout: L1 and L2 Distance Effects in Learning L3 Dutch, Language Learning 66 (2016)
• Chiswick and Miller: Linguistic distance, a quantitative measure of the distance between English and other languages (2005)
• How long does it take to learn Esperanto? (this site, with its own sources)