The fastest way to learn Lithuanian is to spend most of your study time on Lithuanian you can mostly understand. That kind of Lithuanian 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 short stories on Duostories, which come with audio and questions, and listen to each one twice. Listen to the beginner episodes of Lithuanian with Paulius, 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 Fluent Fiction, which tells each story again sentence by sentence with English in between, 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 the news in easy Lithuanian on LRT Paprastai or 15min Lengvai, where the stories use short, simple sentences. Talk about what you read for longer.
- Level 4
I understand most content but miss some nuance.
Read and watch 45 min. Review 5 min. Speak 10 min.
Watch the intermediate episodes of Lithuanian with Paulius on YouTube, and turn on Language Reactor to see a translation beside the Lithuanian subtitles. Watch a film or series on LRT Epika, one episode a week.
- Level 5
I read complex topics but rare words slow me down.
- Level 6
I read at near-native level.
Read and watch 50 min. Speak 10 min.
Read Lithuanian novels and newspapers, and talk about them, for their own sake. When a word puzzles you, look it up in lietuviuzodynas.lt, an online dictionary with example sentences.
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 Lithuanian?
Lithuanian 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 Lithuanian in the third of its four groups for English speakers, with Latvian, Polish and Russian.
| Language | FSI group | Full-time weeks |
|---|---|---|
| Spanish | Category I | 30 |
| German | Category II | 36 |
| Lithuanian, Latvian | Category III | 44 |
| Japanese | Category IV | 88 |
Vilnius University's Department of Lithuanian Studies teaches beginners in a semester course of 256 academic hours, with a target level of A2. Its next two groups aim at the first and second halves of B1, so a beginner reaches B1 after three semesters, or 768 academic hours. Here is how long those take at different amounts of study a week:
| Study per week | Vilnius University A2 (256 hours) | Vilnius University B1 (768 hours) | FSI professional fluency (1,012 hours) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3½ hours | About 17 months | About 4¼ years | About 5½ years |
| 7 hours | About 8½ months | About 2 years | About 2¾ years |
| 14 hours | About 4 months | About 12½ months | About 17 months |
| 28 hours | About 2 months | About 6 months | About 8 months |
These are class hours, so treat them as a rough guide. Time you spend understanding Lithuanian on your own counts too.
What Slows Learners Down
- Guessing the StressLithuanian stress can fall on any syllable, and everyday writing does not mark it. Learn each word with its sound, or paste a text into Kirčiuoklis to see where the stress falls.
- Case Tables AloneLithuanian 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 HardEasy Lithuanian can be hard to find, so it is tempting to start with films. A film where you know one word in five teaches you very little, and a children's show on LRT is an easier start.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Lithuanian app should a beginner choose?
If you are serious about learning Lithuanian, start with Bubblegum. Poppy writes lessons at your level about things you like. Our Lithuanian app comparison covers courses, tutors and speaking apps too.
Can I learn Lithuanian in three months?
You can learn enough Lithuanian to order food and introduce yourself. At 14 hours a week, three months is about 180 hours, which is less than the 256 academic hours Vilnius University gives beginners to reach A2.
How much should I study Lithuanian each week?
Aim for three to five hours a week of Lithuanian 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 Lithuanian hard for English speakers?
Yes, by the Foreign Service Institute's measure: Lithuanian 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 Lithuanian has no words for "a" or "the". Most of the time goes into the words and the case endings, which you pick up fastest from Lithuanian 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)
- Vilnius University, Department of Lithuanian Studies, Lithuanian Semester Course (256 academic hours a semester; Group 1 for beginners, target level A2; Groups 2 and 3, target levels B1.1 and B1.2)
- Omniglot: Lithuanian language, alphabet and pronunciation (stress marks only in dictionaries and where clarity is needed)
- Wikipedia: Lithuanian accentuation (stress is free and can occur on any syllable)
- Kalbu (Vytautas Magnus University): Kirčiuoklis
- Wikipedia: Lithuanian declension (Lithuanian officially has seven cases)
- Wikipedia: Lithuanian grammar (there are no articles in Lithuanian)
- r/LithuanianLearning: Lithuanian Learning Apps & Resources That Have Helped Me (fewer learning tools than other languages)
- LRT Mediateka: children's shows
