How Long Does It Take to Learn Hungarian?
Many people have been using Duolingo daily for years, yet they still can't speak. Why is that?
Let's say someone spends 10 minutes a day on Duolingo.
Reaching A1 level from zero takes at least 160 hours.
Moving from A1 to A2 requires about 120-160 hours.
Advancing from A2 to B1 takes 160-200 hours.
That’s a total of at least 440 hours or 26,400 minutes.
At 10 minutes a day, that means 2,640 days or 7.2 years.
But even this is an optimistic estimate because:
Due to forgetting and the need for review, 440 hours won’t be enough for B1.
Duolingo alone is ineffective; it won’t get you to B1 - you must do other (more useful!) activities alongside it.
A Better Approach! 🙂
Let’s say you study one hour a day:
15 minutes of review in the morning
30 minutes of active learning during the day
15 minutes in the evening
This way, you’ll reach 440 hours in just 1.2 years. Sounds much more achievable, right?
And if you enroll in an intensive course (I highly recommend the Pécs Summer University), you can progress even faster!
Personally, if I were starting to learn a new language, this is what I would do:
I would study very intensively at the beginning, to get to a level where I could do a lot of things in the target language as soon as possible
I would start speaking from day one
I would get a great mentor who helps me choose the right materials and study methods. (Good language teachers know the best textbooks and resources, so they can recommend what actually works, helping you avoid wasting money on AI-generated books or scam courses.)
These are my thoughts, but I’d love to hear your opinion as a Hungarian learner! Send me a message on Instagram and let's chat!
Wishing you success in your language learning journey, and thank you for being here! 🌞