FSI language categories
· from English
What are the FSI language categories?
The FSI categories rank languages by how long the US Foreign Service Institute estimates English speakers need to reach professional working proficiency.
Category I languages like Spanish take about 24 to 30 weeks, while the super-hard Category IV, including Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, Korean and Arabic, takes about 88 weeks of full-time study. Vietnamese, Thai and Indonesian sit in between. The figures assume intensive classroom training of diplomats.
Examples
Category IV (about 88 weeks): Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic; Category III (about 44 weeks): Vietnamese, Thai, Tagalog; Category II (about 36 weeks): Indonesian, Malay
Kungfucius says: 88 weeks of full-time study for Japanese. The FSI is not trying to scare you, it is just honest.