If you start out as a beginner and spend an average of 1 hour per day working on your Spanish, you should able to reach conversational fluency within 8 – 12 months. That translates to roughly 250 – 350 hours of time spent.
This assumes that you are taking lessons with a Spanish teacher at least 2 times per week, and spending the remaining time doing homework, and reviewing what you learned. This is by far the most efficient way to learn Spanish.
This learning plan averages out to about 1 hour a day and should fit into anyone’s schedule, whether you’re a busy professional, or full-time student.
If you want to learn on your own without a teacher, then that’s perfectly fine too. You’ll just need to make sure you get enough conversation practice via language exchanges or meetups, and be very disciplined about studying on your own. It will take a lot more time than if you were learning with a teacher, but it is still possible to become fluent within 1 year.
For that, I’ve created this very roadmap that guides you through the process of going from zero to conversationally fluent. Keep up with the lessons to learn more abour how to learn spanish the best way!