How long does it take to learn Arabic?
Grossly Simplified answer:
3040 Hours
Obvious answer: it depends!
In order qualify this number, ‘learning Arabic’ must be defined. The easiest benchmark is a 3/3 score on the State Department Fusha test using the ILR Scale. (For a detailed analysis on what this score means, go to the ILR site.) When the State Department trains new Foreign Service Officers in Arabic, it always schedules 3040 hours of study spread out over two years of full time training.
The program is broken up as follows: A new officer starts with 8 months of full time study using alif-baa and the al-kitaab series. Each week the officer spends 25 hours in class with 2 to 6 students with 15 hours of homework. The goal of the first eight months is to reach the basic level of communication- a 2 in speaking (S) and a 1 in reading (R). Then, the officer spends another 44 weeks in Tunis with the goal of reaching a 3S-3R. That makes a grand total of 3040 hours. The reason this number has any validity is that the State Department has been training hundreds of native English speakers Arabic for decades. To compare, an average year of college study is 450 hours, assuming 5 hours of class and 10 hours of homework a week.
Unfortunately, 3040 can be optimistic. It assumes full time study, a year of immersion in an Arab country, classes of no more than six, and students who have a direct career and financial motivation to study diligently.
But don’t despair! The FSI says that a motivated and talented student can learn Arabic in less time, and the current program director informed me that while rare, students have reached a 3 in speaking after only the first 8 month course.
The most common standard used to measure students’ Arabic progress–in my experience–is the OPI, a phone-based test I’ve taken several times. I’ve also seen my own Arabic students take this exam, and one thing I think I’ve learned is that it’s a test that’s very possible to “game”–to trick into thinking you know more than you actually do. I know it doesn’t seem like that should be possible, but it is. Basically, at the lower levels, it seems that knowing how to discuss a few simple topics relatively well can get you a much higher score than you should get, given that you’re completely lost when the discussion moves away.
I’ve certainly seen some Arabic students advance much, much more quickly than average, but I doubt the State Department’s testing methods reliably measures this kind of advancement.
Sarah,
I totally agree with you. Actually here at the FSI a common complaing is that students who have been practicing for the test tend to get higher scores than students that have been studying via other means.
That being said, I think the full 2 year program would be enough to reach 3/3 ‘fluency’. As for the students that managed to get there faster, their reading was much weaker, and many times they already had a background in the language or reigon.
Have you taken the reading proficieny test? I found that was a lot harder to try and game.