· 5 min read
How Long to Learn Romanian? Official Hours
By Language Lab editorial team
How long does it take to learn Romanian? The US State Department figure, what it means at 5, 10 or 20 hours a week, what takes the time and what goes quickly.
Is Romanian hard to learn? No — it is one of the shortest courses on the US State Department's list for English speakers: 24 weeks of full-time classes, in Category I, languages close to English. The category runs from 552 to 690 class hours, and Romanian sits at the short end. At ten hours a week, 552 hours is about 55 weeks; at twenty, about 28. Romanian is a Romance language that shares approximately 70 percent of its vocabulary with the other Romance languages. The time goes on a small case system, three genders and word stress that can change meaning. The figure describes a high level, a speaking and listening score of 3 on the Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) scale, so everyday conversation comes well before it.
The official figure
The US State Department publishes how long its English-speaking students usually need to reach a speaking and listening score of 3 on the Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) scale. Romanian is listed at 24 weeks, in Category I, which the Department describes as languages close to English. Category I as a whole runs from 552 to 690 class hours, and Romanian is at the 24-week end of it. The Department describes a typical week as 23 hours in class and 17 hours of self-study, and notes that actual time varies with ability, prior language-learning experience and time in the classroom. An archived version of the page previously published this list under the name Foreign Service Institute (FSI), with identical class-hour totals to the current one.
| State Department category | Class time | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Category I | 24–30 weeks (552–690 class hours) | Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch |
| Category II | About 36 weeks (828 class hours) | German, Indonesian, Swahili |
| Category III | About 44 weeks (1,012 class hours) | Russian, Polish, Greek, Turkish, Thai |
| Category IV | 88 weeks (2,200 class hours) | Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean |
What that means at your pace
| Hours per week | Weeks to cover 552 class hours |
|---|---|
| 5 | About 110 |
| 7 (an hour a day) | About 79 |
| 10 | About 55 |
| 20 | About 28 |
The weeks are simple division. Count hours, not days or months: the same total can fill one intensive year or several relaxed ones.
What takes the time in Romanian
- Stress, which can fall on any syllable; varying it can change the meaning.
- Cases: one for the nominative and accusative, one for the genitive and dative, and a rarely used vocative.
- Three genders, including nouns that are masculine in the singular and feminine in the plural.
What goes quickly
- Vocabulary shared with Italian, French, Spanish and Portuguese.
- The Roman alphabet, with a few diacritics.
- Subject, verb, object word order.
Shorten the calendar, not the hours
No method reduces the total much, but a poor one wastes it. A 2013 review of ten learning techniques, led by John Dunlosky, rated two as high utility: practice testing and distributed practice. Rereading and highlighting were rated low.
- Test yourself on earlier material before starting anything new.
- Spread study over the week instead of one long session.
- Speak aloud every day.
- Follow one structured course in order.
Language Lab's Romanian course is built around voiced real-life scenarios with an AI tutor, so the hours you put in include speaking hours.
Frequently asked
How long does it take to learn Romanian?
The US State Department lists Romanian at 24 weeks of full-time classes for English speakers, at the short end of a Category I range of 552 to 690 class hours. At ten hours a week that is about 55 weeks.
How long does it take to learn Romanian studying one hour a day?
Seven hours a week covers 552 class hours in about 79 weeks.
Can I learn Romanian in three months?
Not to the State Department's level. Three months at ten hours a week is about 130 hours, against 552. It is enough for a useful start.
Is Romanian a Slavic language?
No. It is a Romance language descended from Latin, with vocabulary borrowed from its Slavic neighbours.
What level does the State Department figure describe?
A speaking and listening score of 3 on the Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) scale, reached by full-time students in a typical week of 23 class hours and 17 hours of self-study.
What is the fastest way to learn Romanian?
Follow one structured course in order, test yourself, spread your study over the week and speak every day.
Sources: US Department of State, National Foreign Affairs Training Center, Foreign Language Training; UCLA Department of Slavic, East European and Eurasian Languages and Cultures, Background Information (Romanian); BBC Languages, European Languages: Romanian (archived); Dunlosky et al., Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 2013. Checked on 13 October 2026. Photo: Peleș Castle, Sinaia, Myrabella / CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons).
