The fastest way to learn Serbian is to spend most of your study time on Serbian you can mostly understand. That kind of Serbian 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.
- First Week
I can't read Cyrillic yet.
Learn Cyrillic 40 min. Listen 20 min.
Serbian Cyrillic has 30 letters, including Ђ, Љ and Џ. Learn them first, and listen to easy Serbian while you do, so the sounds start to feel familiar.
- 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 dialogues with audio and a translation, and listen to each one twice. Watch the simple stories on Comprehensible Serbian, then review the words you saved 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. Read the short stories on Duostories, which are written in Latin letters, 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.
Listen to the beginner episodes of Unlock your Serbian, where two teachers talk about one topic each week. Listen to each lesson 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.
Switch to the advanced episodes of Unlock your Serbian, which cover the same topic as that week's beginner episode. Watch quiz shows such as Слагалица on RTS Planeta, the streaming app of Serbia's public broadcaster, because each question stands on its own.
- Level 5
I read complex topics but rare words slow me down.
Read and watch 50 min. Speak 10 min.
Listen to the news on SBS Serbian, and watch RTS shows 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 Serbian 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 Serbian?
Serbian takes about 1,012 class hours, or 44 weeks of full-time study, to reach professional fluency, according to the U.S. Foreign Service Institute, which does not list Serbian by name and counts it under Serbo-Croatian. That puts Serbian in the third of its four groups for English speakers, with Russian, Polish and Bulgarian.
| Language | FSI group | Full-time weeks |
|---|---|---|
| Spanish | Category I | 30 |
| German | Category II | 36 |
| Serbian (listed as Serbo-Croatian), Russian | Category III | 44 |
| Japanese | Category IV | 88 |
The University of Niš's Faculty of Philosophy teaches each level of Serbian, from A1 to C2, in 60 classes of 45 minutes. That is 45 hours a level, so A1 and A2 take 90 hours and A1 to B1 take 135. Here is how long those take at different amounts of study a week:
| Study per week | Niš A1–A2 (90 hours) | Niš A1–B1 (135 hours) | FSI professional fluency (1,012 hours) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3½ hours | About 6 months | About 9 months | About 5½ years |
| 7 hours | About 3 months | About 4½ months | About 2¾ years |
| 14 hours | About 1½ months | About 2 months | About 17 months |
| 28 hours | About 3 weeks | About 5 weeks | About 8 months |
These are class hours, so treat them as a rough guide. Time you spend understanding Serbian on your own counts too.
What Slows Learners Down
- Reading Only One AlphabetSerbian is written in both Cyrillic and Latin letters, and each newspaper or website picks one. Each Cyrillic letter matches one Latin letter, so learn the Latin letters soon after Cyrillic.
- Case Tables AloneSerbian 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 Serbian series where you know one word in five teaches you very little.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Serbian app should a beginner choose?
If you are serious about learning Serbian, start with Bubblegum. Poppy writes lessons at your level about things you like. Our Serbian app comparison covers courses, tutors and speaking apps too.
Can I learn Serbian in three months?
You can learn Cyrillic and enough Serbian to greet people, order coffee and talk about your day. At 14 hours a week, three months is about 180 hours, which is twice the University of Niš's 90 hours for A1 and A2 and less than a fifth of the Foreign Service Institute's 1,012.
How much should I study Serbian each week?
Aim for three to five hours a week of Serbian 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 Serbian hard for English speakers?
Yes, by the Foreign Service Institute's measure: it puts Serbo-Croatian, which includes Serbian, in its third group of four, so Serbian takes longer than Spanish or German and half as long as Japanese. Reading is the quick part, because each Serbian letter stands for one sound, so you can read a new word aloud once you know the letters. Most of the time goes into the words and the case endings, which you pick up fastest from Serbian 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.
The Serbian Cyrillic course and the Serbian lessons on this site are also free and need no account.
Sources
- Wikipedia, Serbian Cyrillic alphabet (30 letters)
- U.S. Department of State, Foreign Language Training (FSI language categories)
- University of Niš, Faculty of Philosophy, Serbian Language Courses (60 classes per level from A1 to C2; a class is 45 minutes)
- Wikipedia, Serbian language (Cyrillic and Latin used side by side; one letter per sound; seven cases)
- Unlock your Serbian: beginner (A1–B1.1) and advanced (B1.2–C1) episodes each week
- Duostories: Serbian stories
- RTS Planeta
- SBS Serbian
