Learning Spanish before moving to Spain: a 6-month plan

If you have six months to learn Spanish before moving to Spain, aim for A2 and book about 7 to 8 hours of guided study a week. A2 is the second of six levels on the CEFR, the European scale that runs from A1 to C2, and it covers simple, routine tasks on familiar matters.

This plan is for people relocating from zero or close to it. We built it from Cambridge's hours, Spanish legal texts and pages we read in November 2026, and you'll find more on the first months abroad on our page for people moving abroad. Treat the visa notes as background and confirm your own route with your consulate.

How much Spanish do you need to move to Spain?

Spain's non-lucrative visa doesn't test your Spanish, according to the two checklists we read, from the Spanish consulate in São Paulo and a US visa center. Your documents still need a Spanish translation. Those two lists don't cover every visa, so check yours.

Daily life sets a higher bar than the visa. ThinkSpain advises arriving with A2 at the very least, and Relocate.World's June 2026 guide says B1 to B2 is roughly where bureaucracy and work email stop being exhausting. Both are editorial advice, not rules.

Don't count on English to fill the gap. In Spain, 38% speak English well enough for a conversation, by their own account, in Special Eurobarometer 540 (fieldwork September to October 2023). The EU figure is 47%. Spain's share rose 16 points from 2012. Notes from Spain, an expat blog, warned back in 2009 that outside the coastal expat areas you shouldn't expect banks or landlords to speak English.

How many hours a week does learning Spanish in 6 months take?

Learning Spanish to A2 in 26 weeks takes about 7 to 8 hours a week from zero, based on Cambridge's estimate of 180 to 200 guided hours. B1 at 350 to 400 hours would take about 14 to 15 hours a week. Guided hours count lessons and tasks a teacher sets, so casual app time doesn't count in full.

Verdict: 8 hours a week is the realistic target for most people with a job, and 5 hours still covers basic exchanges by arrival.

The table is our arithmetic, and it has a limit: Cambridge wrote those hours for people learning English, so read them as a baseline for Spanish. Our Spanish guides and goals cover other targets if your move is further off.

What should you study each month before moving to Spain?

Study in the order you'll need things after landing: sounds and survival first, routine conversation next, real errands last. A workable 8-hour week is two 50-minute lessons, plus about 55 minutes a day of tasks your tutor sets, listening and vocabulary review.

1. Months 1 and 2: pronunciation, the present tense, numbers, dates and addresses. By the end, you can spell your name and give your address without notes.
2. Months 3 and 4: past tenses, polite requests and questions. Start with short news or weather clips from Spain, so the accent is familiar before you need it.
3. Month 5: role-play the rental viewing, the town hall, the bank and the phone contract. Have your tutor interrupt you, because real clerks do.
4. Month 6: run full errands from start to finish, including phone calls, and write down every phrase you had to ask for.

Speaking is the part to protect when time runs short. I'm learning English rather than Spanish, but my own problem was the same one: I could read and listen well, and I couldn't get sentences out. I credit my progress to speaking for most of every 50-minute lesson on Preply. I also practise out loud with ChatGPT's voice mode in morning traffic, and a commute works for rehearsing these role-plays too.

Which Spanish phrases do you need for paperwork in Spain?

Spanish paperwork phrases are worth learning early, because you can't postpone the appointments. Two words will follow you around: empadronamiento, your registration at the town hall, and cita previa, a booked appointment. These sentences use the polite register, which suits offices, landlords and doctors in Spain.

Verdict: rehearse these out loud with a tutor until you can also understand the likely reply, since the answer is the harder half.

Should you learn Spanish from Spain or Latin American Spanish?

Spanish from Spain is the better fit if you've already chosen Spain, but Latin American Spanish won't hold you back. People understand each other across both, and the grammar you learn in your first months is largely shared. Three differences are worth learning before you arrive.

The first is the informal plural. The RAE's Diccionario panhispánico de dudas says vosotros is the informal plural in most of Spain, while ustedes is the only plural form in the Americas, western Andalusia and the Canary Islands. The second is sound: most of Spain separates the s in casa (house) from the z in caza (hunting), while the RAE says the two merge across Spanish America, the Canaries and part of Andalusia. The RAE's site refused our direct requests, so we read these entries through search excerpts.

The third is everyday vocabulary. You'll see piso for a flat, where Latin America often says apartamento or departamento. Spain says móvil for a cell phone (celular in much of Latin America), ordenador for a computer (computadora) and coche for a car (carro or auto).

How much does a Spanish tutor from Spain cost?

A Spanish tutor from Spain costs $35 an hour on average on Preply, against $27 for Mexico and $25 for Colombia and Venezuela, according to Preply's Spanish tutors page on 5 November 2026. Over six months of two weekly lessons, that gap between Spain and Colombia comes to $520 before fees and taxes.

Verdict: pay for a tutor from Spain if your budget allows it, or hire one for months 5 and 6, when local paperwork matters most.

These are averages our arithmetic multiplies, not quotes, and Preply labels them per hour while a standard lesson runs 50 minutes. Preply has limits too. Plans start at 4 lessons per 28 days, unscheduled lessons expire at renewal, and you pay for the trial. Our Preply price breakdown covers the fees and our own sample of tutors. Preply's country filter uses country of birth, so ask a tutor where they lived and whether they know Spanish paperwork.

Skip the paid plan if you can't protect one weekly slot, or if a job in English is taking you to Spain for under a year. A free app and a list of survival phrases will do. Once you're there, conversation exchanges and public language schools cost less, so you can cut back on paid lessons.

Do you need a Spanish exam to live in Spain?

You don't need a Spanish exam to live in Spain on the visa route we checked, but you do need one for nationality by residence. Ley 19/2015 requires DELE A2 or higher plus a second test on the Constitution and Spanish society, known as the CCSE. Applicants from countries where Spanish is official skip the language exam.

Most newcomers have time. Article 22 of the Civil Code sets 10 years of residence as the standard, with 5 for refugees and 2 for nationals of Ibero-American countries, Andorra, the Philippines, Equatorial Guinea or Portugal, and for Sephardic Jews. If you're on the 10-year track, let daily life set your plan and sit the exam later.

If you're on a 2-year track, check the calendar now. Instituto Cervantes lists a DELE session with A2 on 5 March 2027, with registration closing on 20 January, and CCSE registration for 2027 opens on 23 November 2026. In New York, DELE A2 costs $130 in 2026, and Instituto Cervantes in Brussels lists the CCSE at €85. Our DELE and SIELE comparison explains why SIELE doesn't fit this goal.

Is Castilian Spanish enough if you move to Catalonia, Galicia or the Basque Country?

Castilian Spanish is the right place to start in any region, because the Spanish Constitution makes it the state's official language. Article 3 also makes other languages official in their own regions, as each region's statute provides, so Catalan, Galician, Basque or Valencian may appear on signs, forms and school notices.

Before you add a second language to your plan, find out how much you'll actually use it. If you have children, ask the school which language it teaches in. If you're coming for work, ask what your colleagues speak in meetings. Neither answer changes the first six months: learn Spanish first, then add the local language once you know what your week requires.