How Long Does It Take to Learn Chinese?
Quick answer
How long does it take to learn Chinese? The US State Department lists 88 weeks of full-time class, or 2,200 class hours, for an English speaker to learn Mandarin. At the end, you can take part in most talks about daily life and work. Spanish and French take 30 weeks on the same list.
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Mandarin takes about three times as long as Spanish
The State Department's Foreign Language Training page sorts languages into four groups by how long its students take. Mandarin is in Category IV, the group its page calls super-hard for English speakers. A study week there is 23 hours in class and 17 hours of study on your own. Here is each language's name in Chinese, with its time on the list.
| Mandarin | Pronunciation | Meaning | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| 普通话 | pǔtōnghuà | Mandarin Chinese, 88 weeks | |
| 粤语 | yuèyǔ | Cantonese, 88 weeks | |
| 日语 | rìyǔ | Japanese, 88 weeks | |
| 韩语 | hányǔ | Korean, 88 weeks | |
| 越南语 | yuènányǔ | Vietnamese, about 44 weeks | |
| 德语 | déyǔ | German, about 36 weeks | |
| 西班牙语 | xībānyáyǔ | Spanish, 30 weeks | |
| 法语 | fǎyǔ | French, 30 weeks |
How hard is it to learn Chinese? Tones and characters take the time
Mandarin has four tones and a neutral tone. The tone is part of the word, so the wrong tone gives you a different word. You read and write Chinese in characters, called 汉字 (hànzì). Pinyin spells the sounds in Latin letters, so you can start to speak before you can read.
| Mandarin | Pronunciation | Meaning | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| 声调 | shēngdiào | tone | |
| 妈 | mā | mom (tone 1, high and flat) | |
| 马 | mǎ | horse (tone 3, low) | |
| 汉字 | hànzì | Chinese characters | |
| 拼音 | pīnyīn | Chinese sounds spelled in Latin letters |
The grammar is the easy part
Chinese verbs do not change for past or future, and nouns usually have no plural form. You show the time with a word like 明天 (tomorrow) or 昨天 (yesterday). The verb 去 (qù, go) stays the same in all three lines below.
| Mandarin | Pronunciation | Meaning | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| 我去北京 | wǒ qù Běijīng | I go to Beijing | |
| 我明天去北京 | wǒ míngtiān qù Běijīng | I will go to Beijing tomorrow | |
| 我昨天去北京了 | wǒ zuótiān qù Běijīng le | I went to Beijing yesterday (了 shows it is done) |
Start with phrases you can use today
These phrases tell people you are learning and ask them to help you.
| Mandarin | Pronunciation | Meaning | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| 我在学中文 | wǒ zài xué zhōngwén | I am learning Chinese | |
| 我会说一点中文 | wǒ huì shuō yīdiǎn zhōngwén | I speak a little Chinese | |
| 请说慢一点 | qǐng shuō màn yīdiǎn | Please speak more slowly | |
| 请再说一遍 | qǐng zài shuō yī biàn | Please say that again | |
| 这个用中文怎么说？ | zhège yòng zhōngwén zěnme shuō? | How do you say this in Chinese? |
Frequently asked questions
How hard is it to learn Chinese?
The US State Department puts Mandarin in its hardest group for English speakers, at 88 weeks of full-time class. The four tones and the characters take most of that time. The grammar helps you, since verbs do not change for past or future.
What does learn mean on this list?
The weeks are the time to reach level 3 in speaking and listening on the US government's language scale, called the ILR scale. At level 3 you can take part in most formal and casual talks about daily life, social topics and work. Level 1 on the same scale is simple talk, face to face, about things you know well.
How long does it take if I study one hour a day?
The State Department's Foreign Language Training page counts 2,200 class hours for Mandarin. At one hour a day, or 7 hours a week, that is about 314 weeks, or 6 years. State Department students also study 17 hours a week on their own, so class hours are only part of their time.
Is Cantonese faster to learn than Mandarin?
Not on this list. The State Department puts Cantonese and Mandarin in the same group, at 88 weeks each.
Do I need to learn characters first?
No. Pinyin spells each sound in Latin letters with a tone mark. You can learn to speak with pinyin first and add characters later.
How can SubjectCards help me learn Mandarin?
The SubjectCards iPhone app teaches Mandarin, and each card shows the characters with pinyin. The audio on every card is Google Cloud text-to-speech, made the first time you play it, and Mandarin uses a Standard voice. Every card is free to read. Pro costs $39.99 a year with a 7-day free trial, or $6.99 a month with no trial.
Where do these numbers come from?
The weeks and hours come from the State Department's Foreign Language Training page on state.gov. The level 1 and level 3 wording comes from the ILR speaking scale on govtilr.org. The tone and grammar facts come from two Wikipedia pages, Standard Chinese and Chinese grammar. We read all four pages on October 21, 2026.
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