~900 hours to learn Indonesian
At a glance
- FSI estimate
- ~900 hrs
- Weeks (full-time)
- 36
- FSI category
- Category II
- Writing system
- Latin
The Foreign Service Institute estimates that a native English speaker requires approximately 900 hours of classroom instruction over 36 weeks to reach Professional Working Proficiency in Indonesian (ILR Speaking-3 and Reading-3 levels). This represents a moderate time investment compared to more distant languages. Indonesian belongs to the Austronesian language family, which is linguistically distant from English, yet the language benefits from a relatively straightforward Latin-based writing system that presents minimal difficulty for English speakers.
Several factors influence learning speed beyond classroom hours. Indonesian's grammar is considerably simpler than English in many respects, lacking verb conjugations and complex case systems, which can accelerate progress. However, the unfamiliar vocabulary and different sentence structures require sustained effort. These FSI estimates assume full-time, intensive study in a classroom setting. Self-study at a casual pace typically requires substantially more time to achieve equivalent proficiency levels.
What makes Indonesian easier or harder
FSI difficulty tracks how far a language sits from English. Indonesian is in the Category II tier, written in the Latin script, from the Austronesian (Malayo-Polynesian) family. A closer family and a familiar script generally mean fewer hours; a different script or grammar adds time.
Common questions
How many hours does it take to learn Indonesian?
Why is Indonesian rated this way?
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| FSI category | Category II |
| Canonical hours (tier) | ~900 class hours |
| Canonical weeks (tier) | ~36 weeks full-time |
| Languages in this tier | 5 |
Who speaks Indonesian
| Native speakers (L1) | 78.0M |
|---|---|
| Language family | Austronesian (Malayo-Polynesian) |
| Primary regions | Indonesia |
| Writing system | Latin |
Speaker counts, language-family and region data from Wikipedia (Ethnologue figures), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Why Indonesian is rated this way → · How to approach learning Indonesian → · See its difficulty tier →
Hours and weeks are the canonical FSI figures for Category II, from the US State Dept FSI list (public domain), verified June 2026. How we compile this — confirm against state.gov on an operator pass before relying on it.