How long it really takes to become fluent in English, and what you can do every day to get there faster

Your English lessons are 2 hours a week. But What About the Other 166? ⏰ ✅

The idea for this article came from two of my students asking me practically the same question this week. The first asked me if she would be able to hold a conversation in 20 hours and the second if she would be able to speak fluently by August. Both have a False beginner level (A1/A2). I answered them honestly, as well as I could. It depends on you.🫵

Before I begin any training with a new student I always explain the importance of motivation and personal work, between the classes.

🤝I tell them we are a team, working together. I provide the tools but they need to provide the effort, and it’s the combination of both which gives results. There’s no miracle in language learning. Half the battle is motivation and effort. 💪

Let me explain in more detail.

🔧 The Honest Answer

Twenty hours with a good teacher is a great start. It will give you structure, correct your mistakes, build your confidence, and show you exactly where to focus your energy.

But let’s be realistic here.

Twenty hours of lessons is not twenty hours of language acquisition. It is twenty hours of guided practice. It’s like a compass.🧭 It’s not the whole journey.

Because there are 168 hours in a week. If you spend 2 of them with me, that leaves 166 hours where you are on your own. And those 166 hours? That is where fluency is built… or lost.

🚗 You Can’t Outsource Language Learning

Think of it this way. If you want to get fit, you can hire the best personal trainer in the world. They’ll design the perfect programme, correct your technique, keep you motivated, and push you further than you would go alone.

But they cannot do the exercise for you.

They can’t eat well for you. They can’t sleep eight hours in your place. The transformation happens in the hours between sessions, in the daily choices you make when nobody’s watching.

Language learning works exactly the same way. Your teacher is your trainer. But you are the one who has to come, every day, even for just a few minutes, and do the work.

This isn’t a criticism. It’s simply how the brain acquires language. It needs repeated exposure over time. Not intensive bursts followed by silence.

⏱️ Why 10 Minutes a Day Beats 2 Hours on Sunday

I know you’ve heard this before. It’s common knowledge now that you need to do a little every day. But, most learners still think about language learning the way they think about housework. Something to do in one big session when they finally have time. And then not again until next week.

So let’s talk about why.

Your brain consolidates language during sleep. It builds connections through repetition across days, not hours. A learner who spends ten minutes every morning with English, reading a headline, listening to a short podcast, reviewing vocabulary, will progress faster than someone who does two hours on Sunday and nothing in between.

❓Why? Because each daily encounter tells your brain: this is important. Keep it. Gaps of several days send the opposite message, and the brain begins to clear out what it thinks you no longer need.

Frequency beats duration. Every time.

🌱 What Happens Between Lessons Is Where Real Acquisition Begins

Here’s something I notice consistently with my most successful students ( and what I did myself when learning Portuguese ) They don’t just come to lessons. They live with the language.

They notice an English phrase in a film and write it down. They change their phone to English. They listen to a podcast on their way to work, not to understand every word, but to absorb the rhythm of the language. They try to think in English for five minutes while making coffee.

None of this is difficult and you don’t need a textbook. But cumulatively, it’s transformative.

The lesson gives you the tools. What you do between lessons determines whether those tools become instinct or stay theory.

✅ Simple Things You Can Do Every Day

You don’t need hours. You need consistency. Here are some realistic ideas that fit around a busy life:

• 🎧 Listen to 10 minutes of English while driving, cooking, or walking . A podcast, a YouTube video, a radio station. Comprehension isn’t the goal at first. Exposure is.

• 📱 Change your phone or one app to English. You look at your phone dozens of times a day. Let it work for you.

• 📖 Read one short article in English a week. Not a novel. A headline, a blog post, a news summary. Something you’re genuinely interested in.

• ✍️ Write three sentences in English every evening. What you did, what you thought, what surprised you. Keep a small notebook. Your teacher will thank you. 😊

• 🎬 Watch one episode of something you enjoy in English, with English subtitles (not French or Portuguese ones). You’ll be surprised how quickly your ear adjusts.

• 🗣️ Talk to yourself. Really . Narrate your morning routine in English. Nobody can hear you and your brain will not know the difference between a real conversation and a practice one.

🎯 Reframing the Goal

So, will you be able to hold a conversation after 20 hours of lessons?

Honestly? It depends on those 166 other hours each week.

With lessons alone, you’ll make solid progress. You’ll understand more, make fewer mistakes, feel more confident. But the learner who combines good lessons with daily independent practice? They’ll surprise themselves within weeks.

The goal isn’t to be fluent by a fixed date. The goal is to make English a small part of every day, so that progress becomes inevitable rather than something you have to chase.

Fluency is not a destination you arrive at. It is a habit you build, one small encounter at a time.

👉 Ready to make your English lessons count, and build the habits that accelerate your progress? I'm Liz Aldam, an English teacher with more than twenty years of experience, working with adult learners online from France. I don't just teach English, I help you build the relationship with the language that makes real progress possible.

📲 Click the WhatsApp icon below and contact me. 😉

Liz Aldam – English Language Specialist

Phone: +33 6 16 90 60 38

Whatsapp: +55 (12) 98294-1433

© 2026. All rights reserved.

4 Pl. Claude Debussy, 95820 Bruyères-sur-Oise, France.

Developed by: Vasconcelos Marketing