Learning is an individual process. How much time you need to attain a certain level depends on various and individual factors: your commitment, your time input, and your taking advantage of additional practice resources.
Should you already have studied one or more languages, you may learn German faster. It makes a big difference if you participate in a language course in your home country or in Germany, where you will be exposed to the German language outside the classroom.
As a rough guideline, we estimate it will take the following amount of instruction to complete each language level:
A1 : approx. 60-150 hours (80-200 TU*)
A2 : approx. 150-260 hours (200-350 TU*)
B1 : approx. 260-490 hours (350-650 TU*)
B2 : approx. 450-600 hours (600-800 TU*)
C1 : approx. 600-750 hours (800-1000 TU*)
C2 : approx. 750+ hours (1000+ TU*)
* TU = Teaching Unit; a teaching unit consists of 45 minutes of instruction.
Learn more about the CEFR Language Levels A1-C2