The fastest way to learn Javanese is to spend most of your study time on Javanese you can mostly understand. That kind of Javanese 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 the easiest picture books on Let's Read, where the pictures help you follow along and most books switch to English with a tap. Listen to Javanese speakers say common words and phrases on uTalk, and say a few out loud.
- Level 2
I can read simple sentences.
Read and listen 40 min. Review 10 min. Speak 10 min.
Read the free early readers on Bloom Library and the harder books on Let's Read, and look up only the words that stop you. Start short talks with a tutor or a friend.
- Level 3
I can read short stories and messages.
Read and listen 40 min. Review 5 min. Speak 15 min.
Listen to Cariyos Basa Jawi and Ari W. Kurniawan read Javanese stories aloud on YouTube, many with the words on screen, then listen once more without reading along. Talk about each story for longer.
- Level 4
I can read longer texts about everyday life.
Read and watch 45 min. Review 5 min. Speak 10 min.
Watch Tilik, a short film in Yogyakarta Javanese, with English subtitles, then watch it again without them. Add the short news reports from TVRI Yogyakarta, which are in polite Javanese.
- Level 5
I can follow complex topics, but miss some details.
Read and listen 50 min. Speak 10 min.
Read the news and short stories in Panjebar Semangat, a Javanese magazine from Surabaya, and listen to the radio plays of Sandiwara Radio Bahasa Jawa. Look up only the words that block the story.
- Level 6
I can follow detailed arguments and different writing styles.
Read and watch 50 min. Speak 10 min.
Read old court books, novels and magazines on Sastra.org, and talk about them, for their own sake. Watch Pojok Kampung, JTV's nightly news, to hear the Javanese of Surabaya.
Move up a level when the Javanese you read and hear starts to feel easy, and move back down if you lose the thread by the third line.
How Long Does It Take to Learn Javanese?
Javanese is not on the U.S. Foreign Service Institute's list, and its closest relatives there, Indonesian and Malay, take about 828 class hours to reach professional fluency. Both are in its second group for English speakers, with German, Swahili and Haitian Creole.
| Language | FSI group | Full-time weeks |
|---|---|---|
| Spanish | Category I | 30 |
| Indonesian | Category II | 36 |
| Russian | Category III | 44 |
| Japanese | Category IV | 88 |
| Javanese | Not listed | No estimate |
The University of Wisconsin–Madison's Southeast Asian Studies Summer Institute (SEASSI) teaches Elementary Javanese in eight weeks of classes, four hours a day from Monday to Friday, which comes to about 160 hours. It counts those eight weeks as two semesters of study. Here is how long 160 and 828 class hours take at different amounts of study a week:
| Study per week | SEASSI Elementary Javanese (160 hours) | Indonesian and Malay, FSI (828 hours) |
|---|---|---|
| 3½ hours | About 10½ months | About 4½ years |
| 7 hours | About 5 months | About 2¼ years |
| 14 hours | About 2½ months | About 14 months |
| 28 hours | About 6 weeks | About 7 months |
These are class hours, so treat them as a rough guide. Time you spend understanding Javanese on your own counts too.
What Slows Learners Down
- Only One Speech StyleJavanese uses different words to show respect, so eat is mangan with friends and nedha in krama, the polite style. Hear both styles from your first weeks.
- Material in IndonesianJavanese and Indonesian use different words for many everyday things, so rice is sega in Javanese and nasi in Indonesian. Some channels from Java, such as TVRI Yogyakarta, post in both, so check that a video is in Javanese before you start.
- Content Far Too HardA Javanese newscast where you know one word in five teaches you very little.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Javanese app should a beginner choose?
If you are serious about learning Javanese, start with Bubblegum. Poppy writes lessons at your level about things you like. Our Javanese app comparison covers courses, tutors and language exchange apps too.
Can I learn Javanese in three months?
You can learn enough Javanese to greet people, buy food and talk about your family. At 14 hours a week, three months is about 180 hours, which is a little more than SEASSI's eight-week Elementary Javanese course and about a fifth of the 828 class hours the Foreign Service Institute gives Indonesian.
How much should I study Javanese each week?
Aim for three to five hours a week of Javanese 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 Javanese hard for English speakers?
The Foreign Service Institute does not list Javanese, so it has no FSI group. Its closest relatives on the list, Indonesian and Malay, are in its second group, so they take longer than Spanish and less time than Russian. Polite Javanese adds its own words, such as dhahar, the most polite word for eat, which is kept for people you respect.
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 Wisconsin–Madison, Southeast Asian Studies Summer Institute (SEASSI): Elementary Javanese, eight weeks of four-hour weekday classes, the equivalent of two semesters
- Wikipedia: Malayo-Polynesian languages (Javanese, Indonesian and Malay)
- Wikipedia: Javanese language (Latin script, ngoko and krama, mangan, nedha and dhahar)
- Wiktionary: sega (cooked rice)
