How long
How long does it take to learn basic conversation?
Basic conversation is a realistic first goal and a great motivator.
- Free forever plan
- No card needed
- 77 languages
Updated · by the 4ToSpeak team
Lesson preview
Step 4Estoy cansado.
I am tired.
- Order
- Translate
- Listen
- Speak
Say it out loud. Green landed, yellow was close.
Start freeWhat basic conversation covers
- Greetings and introductions.
- Ordering food and asking prices.
- Directions and time.
- Saying you do not understand and asking someone to repeat.
How to get there
Learn whole sentences, say them aloud daily and revisit yesterday's. Add one real conversation a week as soon as you can, even a five-minute one.
How many words for basic conversation?
Roughly 500 well-chosen words, learned in sentences you can say.
Related guides
Related answers
How long
How long does it take to learn a language?
About 700 hours for the easiest languages and 2,200 for the hardest, for English speakers. See the timeline at 15, 30 and 60 minutes a day.
Read moreVocabulary
How many words do you need to speak a language?
About 1,000 well-chosen words cover most everyday conversation, and a few thousand give comfortable fluency. See the numbers by stage and how to choose which words first.
Read more
Free · no card · 77 languages
Now say it out loud
Reading teaches you what it looks like. Speaking teaches you to say it. Practise in full sentences, free, no card.