The fastest way to learn Czech is to spend most of your study time on Czech you can mostly understand. That kind of Czech is called comprehensible input. What you read and listen to should change as you improve, so the plan below shows what to do at each level and how to split an hour of study.
What to Do at Each Level
Find the level that sounds like you. Its bar shows how to spend an hour of study.
- Level 1
I'm just starting out or know only a few words.
Read and listen 35 min. Review 15 min. Speak 10 min.
Read short stories with audio, and listen to each one twice. Watch Comprehensible Czech, which tells simple stories with pictures and gestures, and say a few lines out loud.
- Level 2
I can handle simple exchanges.
Read and listen 40 min. Review 10 min. Speak 10 min.
Hide the translation and look up only the words that stop you. Watch the stories in slow Czech on slowczech and the slower Super Easy Czech street interviews, and start short talks with a tutor or a friend.
- Level 3
I follow conversations on familiar topics.
Read and listen 40 min. Review 5 min. Speak 15 min.
Watch the news in simple Czech on Short Czech News, or on Zprávičky, Czech Television's five-minute news for children, and listen to each story a second time without reading along. Talk about what you heard for longer.
- Level 4
I understand most content but miss some nuance.
Read and watch 45 min. Review 5 min. Speak 10 min.
Listen to Čeština s Michalem, a podcast of natural, unscripted Czech for learners. Watch a Czech series on iVysílání with Czech subtitles, one episode a week.
- Level 5
I read complex topics but rare words slow me down.
Read and watch 50 min. Speak 10 min.
Watch Czech films and the ČT24 news without subtitles, and listen to radio plays from Czech Radio. Look up only the words that block the story.
- Level 6
I read at near-native level.
Read and watch 50 min. Speak 10 min.
Read Czech novels and newspapers, and talk about them, for their own sake. When a fine point of grammar puzzles you, look it up in the Czech Language Institute's handbook.
Move up a level when your lessons start to feel easy, and move back down if you lose the thread by the third line.
How Long Does It Take to Learn Czech?
Czech takes 1,012 class hours, or about 44 weeks of full-time study, to reach professional fluency, according to the U.S. Foreign Service Institute. That puts Czech in the third of its four groups for English speakers, with Slovak, Polish and Russian.
| Language | FSI group | Full-time weeks |
|---|---|---|
| Spanish | Category I | 30 |
| German | Category II | 36 |
| Czech, Polish | Category III | 44 |
| Japanese | Category IV | 88 |
The University of West Bohemia's Institute of Applied Language Studies takes beginners to A2 in a half-year course of 400 contact teaching hours, and to B1 in a one-year course of 800. Here is how long those take at different amounts of study a week:
| Study per week | West Bohemia A2 (400 hours) | West Bohemia B1 (800 hours) | FSI professional fluency (1,012 hours) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3½ hours | About 2¼ years | About 4⅓ years | About 5½ years |
| 7 hours | About 13 months | About 2¼ years | About 2¾ years |
| 14 hours | About 6½ months | About 13 months | About 17 months |
| 28 hours | About 3 months | About 6½ months | About 8 months |
These are class hours, so treat them as a rough guide. Time you spend understanding Czech on your own counts too.
What Slows Learners Down
- Skipping the Long VowelsCzech marks a long vowel with a small line or a ring, as in á and ů, and it sounds different from the short one. Learn each word with its sound, so the long vowels feel natural from the start.
- Case Tables AloneCzech nouns change their endings across seven cases, and endings learned from a table are easy to forget until you meet them in sentences.
- Content Far Too HardA Czech film where you know one word in five teaches you very little.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Czech app should a beginner choose?
If you are serious about learning Czech, start with Bubblegum. Poppy writes lessons at your level about things you like. Our Czech app comparison covers courses, tutors and speaking apps too.
Can I learn Czech in three months?
You can learn enough Czech to order food and introduce yourself. At 14 hours a week, three months is about 180 hours, which is less than half of the University of West Bohemia's 400-hour course from beginner to A2.
How much should I study Czech each week?
Aim for three to five hours a week of Czech you understand, in sessions of at least 15 to 30 minutes. A longer session lets you get lost in a story, which teaches more than five minutes a day, and steady time each week matters more than a daily streak. Our post on deep sessions over daily streaks explains why.
Is Czech hard for English speakers?
Yes, by the Foreign Service Institute's measure: Czech is in its third group of four, so it takes longer than Spanish or German and half as long as Japanese. One part is easy, because Czech almost always stresses the first syllable of a word. Most of the time goes into the words and the seven cases, which you pick up fastest from Czech you understand.
Is Bubblegum free?
Yes. The lesson library is free for everyone, because we believe everyone should be able to learn. It holds lessons that other learners asked Poppy for. A new custom lesson costs us real money to make, so your first one is free, and Bubblegum Pro gives you unlimited custom lessons.
Sources
- U.S. Department of State, Foreign Language Training (FSI language categories)
- University of West Bohemia, Institute of Applied Language Studies, Intensive Czech Language Courses (400 contact teaching hours for A0–A2, 800 for A0–B1)
- Universal Dependencies: Case in Czech (seven cases)
- Wikipedia: Czech phonology (long vowels marked with an acute accent or a ring; stress on the first syllable)
