The fastest way to learn Hungarian is to spend most of your study time on Hungarian you can mostly understand. That kind of Hungarian 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.
Hungarian is written almost the way it sounds, so read along while you listen to the short stories on Plain Hungarian or Fluentbox. Listen to each one twice, 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 episodes marked by level on Hungarian with Sziszi, or a cartoon in simple Hungarian such as Boribon, 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 weekly easy readers from Easy Hungarian, and listen to Hungarian With Dori talk about everyday topics. Listen to each one a second time 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.
Listen to Magyarul tanulóknak, a weekly show in Hungarian about history, books, sport and the news. Almost every foreign film and show released in Hungary is dubbed into Hungarian, so watch one you already know, 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 Hungarian films and series without subtitles, and read the news on Telex. 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 Hungarian novels and newspapers, and talk about them, for their own sake.
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 Hungarian?
Hungarian 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 Hungarian in the third of its four groups for English speakers, with Finnish, Estonian and Turkish.
| Language | FSI group | Full-time weeks |
|---|---|---|
| Spanish | Category I | 30 |
| German | Category II | 36 |
| Hungarian, Finnish | Category III | 44 |
| Japanese | Category IV | 88 |
The University of Pécs takes beginners through levels A1 and A2 in an intensive first semester of 400 contact hours, and up to B2 in a second semester of 400 more. Here is how long those take at different amounts of study a week:
| Study per week | Pécs A1–A2 (400 hours) | Pécs A1–B2 (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 Hungarian on your own counts too.
What Slows Learners Down
- Reading s the English WayIn Hungarian, s sounds like the sh in share, and sz sounds like the s in say. Listen while you read, so you learn each word with its real sound.
- Case Tables AloneHungarian nouns have 18 cases, so ház (house) can also be házban (in the house) or házból (out of the house). Most endings have two or three forms that match the word's vowels, and a table of them is hard to use until you have read each one in many sentences.
- Content Far Too HardA Hungarian film where you know one word in five teaches you very little.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Hungarian app should a beginner choose?
If you are serious about learning Hungarian, start with Bubblegum. Poppy writes lessons at your level about things you like. Our Hungarian app comparison covers courses, tutors and speaking apps too.
Can I learn Hungarian in three months?
You can learn enough Hungarian 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 Pécs's 400-hour first semester for A1 and A2.
How much should I study Hungarian each week?
Aim for three to five hours a week of Hungarian 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 Hungarian hard for English speakers?
Yes, by the Foreign Service Institute's measure: Hungarian 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 Hungarian stresses the first syllable of a word. Most of the time goes into the words and the endings, which you pick up fastest from Hungarian 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 Pécs, Hungarian Language Courses: Preparatory Courses (400 contact hours through A1 and A2, then 400 more to B2)
- Wikipedia: Hungarian language (18 noun cases, endings that match the word's vowels, spelling that follows pronunciation)
- Wikipedia: Hungarian alphabet (the sounds of s and sz)
- Wikipedia: Hungarian phonology (stress on the first syllable)
- Wikipedia: Dubbing (Hungary)
