How long does it take to learn 1,000 Spanish words?
Two numbers decide it: how many new words you take on each day, and how many times each one has to come back before it stays. The first is up to you. The second depends on how well you remember, and here it is computed from the review schedule this site runs.
New words a day
Meeting a word is not knowing it, but it is where the time starts. At a steady rate, meeting all 1,000 takes:
| New words a day | Days to meet all 1,000 | Weeks |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | 200 | 28.6 |
| 10 | 100 | 14.3 |
| 15 | 67 | 9.5 |
| 20 | 50 | 7.1 |
| 30 | 34 | 4.8 |
What review costs
A word you get right comes back after 1, then 3, then 8 days, and once the next gap would pass 21 days it counts as known. Answer right every time and that is 4 reviews over 12 days. Get one wrong and the word starts again, with shorter gaps from then on, so the share you get right decides most of the cost:
| Reviews you get right | Reviews per word | Days until known |
|---|---|---|
| 95% | 4.6 | 13 |
| 85% | 6.2 | 16 |
| 75% | 9.5 | 24 |
| 65% | 17.5 | 39 |
Each row runs 20,000 simulated words through the site’s schedule, answering right at that rate. Real memory is not a coin toss: words you have seen more often get easier. So read the rows as a range, not a forecast.
Putting it together
Reviews, not new words, are the daily cost. At 85% right, every new word brings about 6.2 reviews with it, and once the schedule is full the reviews each day settle at about that many times your new words:
| New words a day | Reviews a day, once running | Minutes a day (at 10 s a review) | Days until all 1,000 are known |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 31 | 5 | 216 |
| 10 | 62 | 10 | 116 |
| 15 | 93 | 16 | 83 |
| 20 | 124 | 21 | 66 |
| 30 | 186 | 31 | 50 |
The first two weeks are lighter, while the schedule fills up. The last column adds the time the final words need to settle to the days spent meeting them.
Starting where you are
If you know some of the 1,000 already, you don’t need to learn them again. The test estimates your vocabulary, and your plan starts above it, so the days go on words you don’t know. On your progress page the daily goal counts reviews, not new words. It goes up to 60, which at 85% right carries about 9 new words a day.
In one sentence
At 15 new words a day, about 83 days, with around 16 minutes of review on most of them.