No.

Can I learn English in 24 months?

No.

32?

Stop asking. This is the wrong question.
And it’s wrong on so many levels:

1. First, what do you mean by “Learn English?” (a) Speak Fluently? If so, how do you define fluency, anyway? (b) Have a good, near-CAE operational command of the language? (c) Reach a B1ish sort of “I can get by” level?

2. 18 months. Fine. How many hours are we talking about? 100? 150? 300? If you enroll in a super intensive course, in 18 months you might average 300 – 350 contact hours, which means early B1 (low intermediate) in CEF terms. So, if your answered (c) above, yes, you can theoretically learn some English in 18 months.

3. “Theoretically”, of course, is the key word here. You’ll need time. Time to let the new stuff sink in, to digest it, to play with it, to get it wrong before you get it right. You’ll need time to stumble upon the new stuff on billboards, on TV and on internet memes before it’s finally “yours.” There are certain processes that you just can’t seem to rush and learning a language is one of them. After all, how long did it take you to master your mother tongue?

4. So, to reach C1, which to all intents and purposes is as close to “looks like I’ve made it” as you can get, you’ll need about 800 contact hours. About 8 years if you study English twice a week, 90 minutes per class. If you double that amount, about 4 years. But remember: you’ll need enough time to read for pleasure, do your homework, watch movies and interact with other speakers.

5. Still, I can’t guarantee you’ll “learn English.” There are so many variables at play: your attitude, your aptitude and the amount of out-of-class exposure you’ll have. So it all depends, really. You can’t quantify learning or set time frames like that. Sorry.

I bet these are some of the thoughts that cross our minds whenever a Student or potential student says (s)he needs to learn English fast and unearths the dreaded “How long will it take me to learn English?” question, which, as educators who know a thing or two about how languages are learned, we refuse to take seriously. Plus, if you’re a non-native speaker, you probably went through some of the same learning processes yourself and you’re acutely aware of the fact that learning a language is a lifelong enterprise, which simply can’t be macdonaldized like that. And don’t even google this term – I’ve just coined it.

So, from our perspective, “Can I learn English in 18 months?” is not a question that can be legitimately asked, let alone answered.

But from students’ perspective, it is.

And this is where things begin to get complicated. Let me try to address the flipside of this issue.

First, I’d like to narrow things down a bit. By “students” I mean adult students – not young learners or teens. And I am specifically referring to Brazilian students. “Does that matter?,” you may be wondering. Yes, I think it does. Let me explain why.

Last year, The Guardian ran an article which helps to explain, I think, the recent mushrooming of interest in Brazil’s new middle class. Here’s an extract:

“…the rise of a formerly poor social group that is now in the most powerful consumer stratum in the country. Brazil’s “C-class” – as they are categorised – have grown rapidly in size and influence over the past decade thanks to the growth of the Brazilian economy, widening credit lines and the government’s efforts to address income inequality. Since 2004, the government says, 32 million Brazilians have been lifted out of poverty. Last year, this helped the C-class – defined as those earning between 1,000 and 4,500 reals (£300-£1,400) a month – to constitute for the first time a majority of Brazil’s population of 196 million.”

The fact that in a global economy more and more people need to speak English is nothing new, of course. What is new, I believe, is the kind of student that has emerged because of the economic boom The Guardian described. At the risk of oversimplifying matters, I would describe these new middle class adult students as people who:

1. Are in their early-20s to mid-30s.

2. Need English to become or remain employable. Travel, culture and fun are secondary interests.

3. Need to learn English more than they might want to learn it. And they need to learn it fast.

4. May have never been to an English-speaking country.

5. May be relatively impervious to American / British culture.

6. Are mostly A1 / A2 when they start a new course, since they didn’t learn enough English as kids / teens and grew up with limited exposure to English – partly because of item 5 above.

7. May have limited literacy in L1 and a very feeble grasp of learning strategies and study skills.

8. Tend to be very career-oriented. They have no time to – in their words – “waste” on topics, situations, words, functions and grammar that they don’t perceive as directly relevant to their career goals.

9.  Tend to gauge their progress by the degree to which they are able to “get stuff done” at work.
 Fast.

10. Are not willing, for the most part, to spend more than 2 years in a language school. (By the way, I have actually had access to a fair amount of data to back this up.)

Not to mention the amount of pressure these students live under:

Us: Listen, you’ve missed four classes this month. I’m a bit worried about your progress.
Them: Sorry, I had to work overtime. I just couldn’t leave the office.

Us: Please try to be more punctual. You were 45 minutes late last class.
Them: I’m sorry. I was stuck in traffic. It took me nearly two hours to get here.

Us: You haven’t been doing your homework.
Them: When I get home from work, all I want to do is spend some quality time with my daughter. I’m sorry. She’s growing up so fast. I don’t want to miss that.

Us: You haven’t been doing your homework.
Them: I’m sorry. It’s this post-graduate course that I’m doing that’s driving me crazy.

Us: You haven’t been doing your homework.
Them: I’m sorry. The doctor told me I should avoid skipping lunch and that’s when I usually find the time to squeeze in my homework.

Us: Why are you quitting the course? You were doing so well!
Them: I took this proficiency test at work and the minimum score was 60. I got 57, so they stopped paying for this course.

Us: Why are you quitting the course?
Them: I made a fool of myself at a meeting and my manager gave me six months to improve. I love your classes, but I don’t think the work we’re doing here will help me get there fast enough.

These are all real-life snapshots that we can’t simply ignore. We’re not teaching English in a vacuum. As teachers, teacher educators and policy makers, part of our job is to look beyond the confines of mainstream ELT and understand how the country’s socioeconomic idiosyncrasies bear on what we do.

So, back to the question I posed at the beginning of the post:

Student: Can I learn English in 18 months?
Teacher: No, I’m afraid not.
Student: How about 2 years? That’s as long as I’m willing to invest in an English course.
Teacher: Listen, you’ll need at least 5 years, maybe more, plus the time for extra study.
Student: I can’t. I need to start learning Spanish in 2016.
Teacher: Well, _____.

So how do we fill in the gaps?

The easy way out, of course, is to say:

“I’m sorry. Learning takes time. We can’t work miracles.”

Sure it does. Sure we can’t.

But is there a middle ground?

Is there anything we can do in terms of content selection, course delivery and classroom processes that might accelerate students’ learning in any significant and academically responsible way? Or to use the late Dave Willis’ words, is there anything schools can do to offer programs with more surrender value?

Could the 18-month conversation perhaps end like this:

“Listen, you can’t become fluent in 18 months or 24 months. Period. But if two years is all you have, then my job is to help you make the most out of those two years.”

Which begs the question:

How?

This, I think, is a question worth asking, even if the answer proves to lie outside our comfort zones. Fortunately, there are a still a number of responsible educators and language institutes out there asking themselves this very question as I write.

Thanks for reading.