## The range, and why it is so wide

150 to 350 hours is the commonly cited band from zero to A2. The spread exists because learners
are not identical, and two factors dominate: the language you already speak, and how you
distribute the hours.

## Your starting language

**Spanish speakers** have the largest advantage. Portuguese and Spanish share roughly 89% lexical
similarity and closely parallel grammar. A Spanish speaker can often reach A2 in 80 to 120 hours
of focused study.

**Italian, French and Romanian speakers** benefit from Romance cognates and similar structures.
Expect roughly 130 to 200 hours.

**English speakers** have a moderate advantage through shared Latin and French vocabulary, but
the grammar differs substantially. Typically the full 200 to 300 hours.

**Speakers of Mandarin, Arabic, Hindi, Japanese or Korean** generally need the most: 300 to 400
hours is realistic.

## How you spread the hours

**Intensive, 15 to 25 hours a week:** A2 in 2 to 4 months. Fast, and unsustainable alongside a
job.

**Regular, 5 to 10 hours a week:** the sweet spot for most working adults. A2 in roughly 4 to 8
months. Material consolidates between sessions, which helps retention.

**Casual, 1 to 3 hours a week:** slow but not hopeless. At 2 hours a week, 12 to 18 months or
more. The risk is forgetting between sessions, so a share of your time goes to relearning.

## Not all hours are equal

An hour that targets your actual weaknesses is worth several hours of unfocused study.
Systematically building from A1 to A2 across all four skills beats piecemeal learning from
whatever turns up.

Add the exam format on top. Knowing the language and knowing the paper are separate skills.