Learn English From Scratch: A Realistic 6-Month Plan
No "fluent in 3 months" promises — a structured 6-month plan that takes you from zero to a working B1 level if you put in 45-60 minutes a day.
Tilingu Team· May 25, 2026
The honest version: you can reach a useful B1 level (everyday conversation, reading news, writing simple emails) in 6 months with consistent daily effort. Faster than that is rare without immersion.
Month 1: Survival vocabulary + sounds
Goal: 300 high-frequency words + recognising every English sound.
The 300 words cover survival: numbers, days, common verbs (be, have, do, go, want), common nouns (food, places, family).
Spend 10 minutes a day on pronunciation — listen and repeat. Get the IPA basics.
No grammar yet. Just words and sounds.
Month 2: Basic grammar + 500 more words
Goal: simple present, simple past, basic future, plus 500 more high-frequency words.
Don't memorise grammar rules. Read 1 example sentence, then write 5 of your own.
Add words while reading short graded readers (Cambridge English Readers level A1).
Month 3: 1,000 word mark + listening
Goal: 1,000-word active vocabulary + 15 minutes daily of comprehensible listening.
Children's podcasts, slow-news English. Don't worry about understanding everything.
Start having 5-minute conversations with an AI or language partner.
Month 5: Real-world input
Goal: read short news articles. Watch TV shows with English subtitles.
1,500-word vocabulary.
Notice idioms; don't try to memorise them all.
Begin sustained writing — a short journal entry every day.
Month 6: Consolidation + bridge to B1+
Goal: hit B1 confidently. ~2,000 active words. Conversational on familiar topics.
Daily reading + listening + 10 minutes speaking.
Take a level test to confirm.
How to actually stick with it
45-60 minutes daily is the minimum. Less than that and progress is invisible.
Same time every day. Routine beats motivation.
One source, finished, before adding another. Don't bounce between 5 apps.
Weekly milestones, not daily ones. Some days will be slow. The week matters.
Where to start today
Take the free level test to confirm you're really at zero (or already higher). Then set Tilingu to General mode and add 10 words a day. The system handles scheduling, you handle showing up.