How Long Does it Take to Improve My English?
Sabrena Doherty 
If you would like step-by-step instructions on how to improve your English by yourself, download our free guide HERE.
Many people ask how long it takes to reach fluency. The short answer is - there is no exact answer. Sorry! However, we can use some indicators to give us a good idea of how long it will take and how much time you need to dedicate to it.
In this blog post, I outline how you can calculate how long it will take you to improve to the level you want or need to.
First of all, let's talk about what you mean when you say you want to improve your English.
What is your goal? What level do you need to obtain?
For example, do you need to be able to write and reply to emails in English or do you need to speak to and understand native speakers in meetings?
These are different objectives and, as such, require different levels of fluency.
So it is important to define what level you need. How can you do this?
You can estimate what level you need by looking at the CEFR guidelines.
What are the CEFR guidelines, I hear you ask?
The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (I know, a tongue twister!) is ´An international standard for describing language ability. It describes language ability on a six-point scale, from A1 for beginners, up to C2 for those who have mastered a language´(https://www.cambridgeenglish.org/exams-and-tests/cefr/).
The official chart can be found here: https://www.coe.int/en/web/portfolio/self-assessment-grid .
As you can see from this chart, it outlines the different skills and how they correspond to the levels. Looking at this chart, you can see what level you need to be to reach your objective.
For example, if you need to be able to deal with most situations in English, join conversations on topics that are familiar, of personal interest or pertinent to everyday life (e.g. family, hobbies, work, travel and current events), then you need to reach a level B1, according to the CEFR.
A quick note on fluency - there is no agreed consensus on what fluency is. But generally, to be fluent, you can speak without having to pause or stop too much to think of what you want to say. Improving your fluency, in my humble opinion, means to improve the flow of speaking - you are stopping and pausing less to think of how to say something - combined with making fewer mistakes.
So if your objective is to be fluent - you need to decide how fluent you need to be. Again, you can use the CEFR guide to help you in this (in the spoken interaction and production sections).
The second thing you need to know is what level you are currently at - this way you can see how far you have to go.
For example, if you are level B1 and you need to be able to speak fluently in meetings with native English speakers, you would need to increase to at least level B2 in your speaking and listening skills.
So, how can you find out what level you are at?
- You can study the CEFR and see where you are on this.
- You can take an online level test (remember that these do not check your speaking level, and may not check your understanding)
- You can ask a professional to level test you - maybe you already have an English teacher. If not, this is a service we provide (contact us at the link below).
Now that you know your level, and what level you need to be, you can calculate how many hours you need to reach your objective.
As a general guide, it takes about 200 hours to move from one level to the next. I say generally because it depends on so many factors - moving from A1 to A2 is usually faster, and moving from intermediate to advanced can often take longer.
It also depends on your study methods - the more involved you are in how you learn, the more quickly you will improve. The guidelines for learning hours needed from the CEFR are on the following table:
Common European Framework Guided Learning Hours (from beginner level)
CEFR Level | Cambridge English Exam | Number of Hours (approximate) |
C2 | C2 Proficiency - previously known as Cambridge English: Proficiency (CPE) | 1,000—1,200 |
C1 | C1 Advanced - previously known as Cambridge English: Advanced (CAE) | 700—800 |
B2 | B2 First - previously known as Cambridge English: First (FCE) | 500—600 |
B1 | B1 Preliminary - previously known as Cambridge English: Preliminary (PET) | 350—400 |
A2 | A2 Key - previously known as Cambridge English: Key (KET) | 180—200 |
A1 | A1 Starters/Movers - previously known as Cambridge English Starters/Movers (YLE) | 90-100 |
Source: https://support.cambridgeenglish.org/hc/en-gb/articles/202838506-Guided-learning-hours
As you can see from this chart, the hours needed can vary a lot.
(NOTE: The hours on this are given from a beginning level - for example, level C2 takes 1,000 - 2,200 hours - this means from the time that you begin to learn the language, from zero knowledge.)
So, how long will this take you? Using the level you have now, and looking at how many hours more you need to reach the level you want to be, you have a range of hours. For example, to increase from B1 level to B2, you need from 100 to 250 hours.
What I normally advise students to do is choose a medium-high point, just in case. Let´s say in this case 200 hours.
The next step is to know your deadline, the date you want to (or need to) achieve this level. If you do not already have a deadline, you should decide on one. This is a great way to motivate you.
So, for example, if you need to improve from level B1 to B2 in 6 months, you will need to spend (200 hours / 26 weeks) 8 hours a week improving your English.
Before you start panicking and feeling overwhelmed, you need to realise that there are many ways to improve your English, not just attending classes or moving to an English-speaking country.
Basically, the key to improving as quickly as possible is immersion. You need to adapt your life to incorporate English as much as possible. The more active you can be in this, the more quickly you will improve. We detail how to do this in our short, but powerful, eBook, ´The Ultimate Guide to Improving Your English´.
In this eBook we guide you, step by step, to a personalized plan to improve your English.
We help you create a detailed schedule that takes into account your busy lifestyle, your preferred ways of learning, and your current interests.
Most importantly, we DON´T tell you to go to classes for 8 hours per week!
If you want to have an effective plan to improve your English this year, get the eBook here: The Ultimate Guide to Improving Your English.
FINAL TIP:
One major thing that I need to tell you about improving your English - don´t be afraid of making mistakes. Because you know what? You will! But you will not improve if you don´t practice! And anyway, to be honest, in my 10 years of teaching, I can honestly say that I have not met one non-native speaker that hasn´t made a mistake (or probably native speaker hah!).
So if your objective is to speak perfect English, that´s fine, but you will need to readjust your deadline because this takes a long time and a lot of dedication. Instead, make your goal realistic - the primary objective of language is to communicate.
If you can express yourself and be understood, and then understand what people say to you, this is effective communication and should be your primary goal. Then you can continue to work on making fewer mistakes, improving your vocabulary and grammar, and becoming more fluent when you speak.
But remember that learning a language is a process, and your level of improvement is directly related to how much time and effort you put into learning, as well as concentrating on learning the correct way.
Good luck on your language learning journey!
Resources used in the video:
eBook The Ultimate Guide to Improving Your English.
https://www.coe.int/en/web/portfolio/self-assessment-grid
https://www.cambridge.org/elt/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/How-long-does-it-take-to-learn-a-foreign-language.pdf https://rm.coe.int/CoERMPublicCommonSearchServices/DisplayDCTMContent?documentId=090000168045bb52
https://support.cambridgeenglish.org/hc/en-gb/articles/202838506-Guided-learning-hours
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