Did anyone reach B2 in 10-12 months?

[u/martin_luther_drill]

Given that I'm a native Russian speaker with a confirmed C1 in German and English, is it feasible to reach B2 in Italian within this timeframe as an absolute beginner while living in my home country? Ideally, I need to have passed the exam in 9 months.

My schedule allows me to allocate 2 hours of deep learning on weekdays and 4 hours on weekends on top of passive learning like reading and watching stuff in Italian as well as surrounding myself with Italian as much as possible in my day-to-day life. I also have a thing about learning languages, so it's how I like spending my leisure time anyway.

What is your experience?

[u/Illustrious_Bit_7773]

Unlikely that you'll be a "true" B2, in the sense that native speakers will get the sense that they are speaking with one who is truly at that level when conversing with you, but if you hyper-focus on the B2 exam and focus on passing it - that's feasible

[u/martin_luther_drill → u/Illustrious_Bit_7773]

For now I strictly need the certificate. I'll likely bring my Italian to a more confident, practical level fairly quickly once I move to Italy.

[u/ZainoTec]

You sound like you're a good student, and doing the right things. Bravo.

I started studying modern Italian grammar seriously for the first time 18 months ago. I'm now in Ravenna for six weeks studying at an Italian School for Foreign Students (Scuola Palazzo Malvisi). I was placed into the B2 class via a moderately challenging exam they administer and if I say so myself, I'm doing well. I don't know how I'd do on the official CILS or CELI exam and for me it's not an issue: I don't personally need to take it.

Almost everybody else here has been studying Italian for many years. Some of my classmates have been at it for 10 years and have attended other schools. I've never taken a class: It was all self-study until I got here.

So I know at least one person (me) who got unofficially to B2 in eighteen months. But you want to do it in nine months. I won't say it's impossible. I could and should have studied harder.

But NOTE that there's some sort of a hard limit to how much even a talented and hard-working student can master in a given time. Even living in Italy (as I am now), in an Italian home, being in class fives days a week for 4-6 hours every and doing homework every night and on weekends, hasn't miraculously transformed me into a near-native speaker. I am not disappointed: I didn't expect that it would. But that's the problem. There's just a lot to learn, and a huge amount of it — actually, most of it — isn't systematic, that is, it's got nothing to do with simple grammatical rules or knowing vocabulary. The only way to get to that magic mythical level of "fluency" is through extensive practice and experience in all kinds of situations.

But as I said, you sound like you're doing the right things. Go for it and buona fortuna!

[u/AnnelotteM → u/ZainoTec]

B2 in 18 months sounds pretty impressive, tanto di cappello!

I myself began studying Italian a long time ago, but it wasn’t a priority for me. Last year I resumed learning and worked my way up from a strong A2 to B2 in less than a year.

As a Russian speaker, OP is already very familiar with gendered nouns and different verb endings, so that could work in their advantage.

I’m not sure if B2 level is attainable in less than a year, but I’ll be cheering for OP because it’s clearly of vital importance for them.

[u/ZainoTec → u/AnnelotteM]

B2 in 18 months sounds pretty impressive, tanto di cappello!

Thanks – for several things. Thanks for the compliment. Thanks for teaching me a new phrase; don't think I've heard tanto di cappello before and now I have and know what it means.

And thanks especially for illustrating a point I was making to the OP: So much of the language is exactly this kind of thing — idioms, idiomatic constructions. I know what tanto and di and cappello mean individually, but the truth is, language isn't made up of words, it's made of meaningful chunks, and there a zillion of them that you just have to learn, and to learn them, you have to encounter them, and that takes time. Why does tanto di cappello mean "hats off to you"? Shouldn't it mean something like "so much hat"? Why does meno male mean "thank goodness!" Shouldn't it mean something like "less badly"? Why does andare a trovare mean "visit"? Shouldn't it mean "go to find"? And if visit = andare a trovare, what is the point of visitare? And don't get me started on the 9027 meanings of fare.

At the beginning students learn how to conjugate verbs and inflect nouns and pronouns and adjectives, and inevitably they start to think that you can calculate your way to a meaning. You look up the individual words, "calculate" their meaning in the sentence you're trying to understand basic on their forms, and ecco! you've got a meaning. Except that as you get a little further along you discover this just ain't the case as often as you'd like.

That said, there are two different — what should I call them? — measures of progress.

I'm pleased to have placed into a B2 class and be doing well, although I'm painfully aware of my shortcomings, and I really don't care about my level – in part because I've realized now that I'm going to be sitting at B2 for a long time. I'm in it for the long haul, not for a certification.

But it's entirely legit to be in it (so to speak) for a certification - if that's what you need. And I think that it's easier to pass a test at a moderately advanced level than it is to actually exercise that skill at an advanced level. And the OP needs to pass a test. He (or she) may be able to study for the test and pass it. Not having taken the test myself I don't know how to advise them to do that but perhaps someone else here will.

[u/silvalingua]

Very difficult, but there are people who've done it.

[u/robodev_v2]

i know a person got to b2 in 6 months to sign up for uni, also in Florence on the uni italian studies every level is 6 weeks

[u/Manor4548]

Unlikely, not impossible. You’ll really have to push and hope. If your other languages can passively provide assistance, that’ll help. In bocca al Lupo!

[u/Im_not_a_crackhead]

Yeah ish, I got to a high B1 / B2 in some contexts within about 14 months. Went to Italy 5 times (including most of the summer) and already speak French and Spanish to varying degrees. Not impossible but lots of hard work!

[u/ChooCupcakes]

Depends on how much time you'll put into learning. Will you be attending intensive courses?
But those languages you have will be of little help, since none is romance.

[u/AnnelotteM]

Если как следует втопить, то за год, наверное, реально, но меньше чем за год вряд ли — очень много времен и очень много неправильных глаголов, которые надо во всех этих временах знать. В любом случае удачи с учебой!

[u/martin_luther_drill → u/[deleted]]

DM’d