The fastest way to learn Estonian is to spend most of your study time on Estonian you can mostly understand. That kind of Estonian 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.
Listen to short, easy stories with a transcript, and listen to each one twice. Work through Keeleklikk, a free web course made in Estonia for A1 and A2, 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. Listen to the Estonian Podcast, where some topics come in an easier and a harder version, 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.
Read and listen to Lihtsad uudised, ERR's weekly news in simple Estonian, and use Readlang to see what a word means. Listen to each story once more without reading along, and 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.
Watch a series on Jupiter, ERR's free streaming site, one episode a week, with Estonian subtitles when a show has them. Listen to bedtime stories on Õhtujutt, read by well-known Estonian actors.
- Level 5
I read complex topics but rare words slow me down.
Read and watch 50 min. Speak 10 min.
Listen to radio plays and Vikerraadio's talk shows on the Eesti Raadio app, and watch Estonian films on Jupiter without subtitles. 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 Estonian novels and newspapers, and talk about them, for their own sake. When a word puzzles you, look it up in Sõnaveeb, the language portal of the Institute of the Estonian Language.
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 Estonian?
Estonian 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 Estonian in the third of its four groups for English speakers, with Finnish and Hungarian.
| Language | FSI group | Full-time weeks |
|---|---|---|
| Spanish | Category I | 30 |
| German | Category II | 36 |
| Estonian, Finnish | Category III | 44 |
| Japanese | Category IV | 88 |
The Integration Foundation, which the Estonian state set up, teaches its A1 Estonian course in 100 academic hours and its A2 course in 150, so a beginner reaches A2 after 250 hours. Its courses from A1 to B1 add up to 500 academic hours. Here is how long those take at different amounts of study a week:
| Study per week | Integration Foundation A2 (250 hours) | Integration Foundation B1 (500 hours) | FSI professional fluency (1,012 hours) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3½ hours | About 16 months | About 2¾ years | About 5½ years |
| 7 hours | About 8 months | About 16 months | About 2¾ years |
| 14 hours | About 4 months | About 8 months | About 17 months |
| 28 hours | About 2 months | About 4 months | About 8 months |
These are class hours, so treat them as a rough guide. Time you spend understanding Estonian on your own counts too.
What Slows Learners Down
- Skipping Sound LengthEstonian sounds can be short, long or extra long, and a longer sound can make a different word, as in vere (blood) and veere (edge). Learn each word with its sound, so the lengths feel natural from the start.
- Case Tables AloneEstonian nouns change their endings across 14 cases, and endings learned from a table are easy to forget until you meet them in sentences.
- Content Far Too HardEasy Estonian can be hard to find, so it is tempting to start with films and novels. A film where you know one word in five teaches you very little.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Estonian app should a beginner choose?
If you are serious about learning Estonian, start with Bubblegum. Poppy writes lessons at your level about things you like. Our Estonian app comparison covers courses, tutors and speaking apps too.
Can I learn Estonian in three months?
You can learn enough Estonian to order food and introduce yourself. At 14 hours a week, three months is about 180 hours, which covers the Integration Foundation's 100-hour A1 course and about half of its 150-hour A2 course.
How much should I study Estonian each week?
Aim for three to five hours a week of Estonian 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 Estonian hard for English speakers?
Yes, by the Foreign Service Institute's measure: Estonian 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 Estonian nouns have no gender to learn. Most of the time goes into the words and the case endings, which you pick up fastest from Estonian 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)
- Integration Foundation, FAQ: possibilities and organization of Estonian language learning (A1 100, A2 150, B1.1 120 and B1.2 130 academic hours; 500 from A1 to B1)
- Wikipedia: Estonian language (fourteen cases; no grammatical gender)
- Wikipedia: Estonian phonology (three distinctive vowel and consonant lengths, as in vere and veere)
- Estonian Journal of Education (2022): Compiling a collection of reading texts for Estonian A2-level adults (adult beginners find it hard to find suitable texts to read)
