Intermediate level in just 4 months?!
So exciting!
Let’s look at some math.
I have been learning Ukrainian by myself since June 2, 2025. That is 66 days to be exact with an average of 45 minutes of study per day (53 hours). I also did 65 hours of study over a 2-month period in 2024.
In total, I’ve studied 118 hours.
That’s 45 minutes or so per day over a 4-month timespan (i.e., 2 months of study last year and 2 months this year).
Here’s a summary of how I’ve spent those hours.
My current level is...
My level is all over the map in a sense, but I’m roughly at high-beginner, almost low-intermediate level. I’m quite pleased with this. It’s worth noting that I have had to rely on self-assessment since there are no Ukrainian tutors who work for me at the Calgary Language Nerds. However, I do plan on training a Ukrainian tutor to do a formal assessment in the future.
Pronunciation: ~90% score
Speech rate: ~40 words per minute
Vocabulary size: ~880 word families
Accuracy: ~80% correct
Cases: 3 cases
I do use all 7 cases in Ukrainian, but I make too many mistakes and avoid words I don’t know how to decline
Tenses: 3 tenses
Translation reliance: ~5%
Comprehension rate: ~150 words per minute
Why this excites me.
First of all…
I have never progressed this fast, nor have I ever had this much fun. And this is my 6th language! It gives me confidence in the language learning methods I’ve been developing for the past 2 years.
Second of all…
I think I am ahead of Foreign Service Institute estimates on how long it takes to learn Ukrainian. According to them, it takes 1012 class hours + 748 self-study hours (1760 in total) to reach a high-intermediate level.
At my current rate of progress, I will reach a low-intermediate level in another 100 ish hours. I would then estimate another 200-400 hours to reach high-intermediate, for a total of 400 to 600 hours.
That’s a lot less than 1760.
Third of all…
All short-term tests with current CLN students indicate that others can experience a similar rate of progress as me. Long-term test are still underway. I’ll likely learn faster than the average person since I am indeed an experienced language learner. However, even if someone learns 2x slower than me, they’ll still beat the FSI estimates by a large margin. That would be pretty wild!
In other words, the mission is on track.
I decided 2 years ago that I wanted to create a program that reliably leads to fluency. So far, everything seems to be on track. Woot! Obviously, there is so much left to be done. Positive indications 2 years is not sufficient proof, at least not in my books. Got to stay focused till the end!
A final anecdote.
Yesterday, I had my first conversation lesson in Ukrainian since last year. I hired the same tutor as before. I felt so proud of how well I spoke! My tutor even said, “Azren, you are NOT a beginner anymore! Your grammar is quite good, you understand me when I talk at a natural pace, and are able to respond to my questions.” Her comments have motivated me to keep studying. I want to keep improving, week after week. I don’t want to backslide.
Thanks for reading!
Azren
Calgary Language Nerds owner
https://azrenthelanguagenerd.com