I was sitting in a cafe in Prague with my friend from Austria and her friend she just introduced me to from Russia. Isabella spoke German, English, and Spanish and Dmitrii spoke Russian, Czech, and English. And here I was an American who just spent the last few months living in Germany and didn’t have much to prove it beyond danke, bitte, tschüss, and schloss… I was pretty down on myself because I had hoped that even though I was a complete beginner in German I would at least have a strong foundation in the language to come home with. And comparing myself to Dmitrii who not only had learned Czech, which is one the most difficult languages to learn, and English (also not an easy one to pick up) but he had done it from Russian, which uses a completely different alphabet than us, and he did it all by himself. I really felt like I failed at my living abroad experience… It is one of those qualities I truly admire about Europeans, the number of languages they learn and can communicate with. For the most part, they at least have their native language and English. And yes they are brought up since children with it and beyond my three futile years of Spanish in high school, it really does make me quite jealous of them. Because when I am out traveling, I am so reliant and just have to hope that wherever I go the people have good English.
So when I returned to the States from my trip I was determined, I was going to learn German. There are so many resources out there that learning a language is so accessible and easy to get started, I didn’t have an excuse not to. And while I still consider myself a beginner in German, I am well on my way and have created the structures and practices that I truly believe in and will get me to fluency. Learning a language takes time, it is just a fact of the matter, so I had to let go of the pressure of trying to learn it to get to fluency as fast as possible. Now I am just enjoying and having fun with the learning process of studying and getting better at German. I have found the tools and practices that make me want to interact with the language daily (which really is the secret sauce) and makes learning German way less intimidating but a lot of fun. So for any other beginner in German, I share the 7 most effective, powerful, and practical tools I have found to master the language. Auf gehts!
Sign Up For A Class
Want to know the fastest way to learn a language? Sign up for the class. Especially if you are a beginner in German. There isn’t anything that takes away the intimidation factor of learning a whole language than by being taught by someone who already knows the language and knows how to teach it to others. The pressure is off you to get it right and now you just have to follow the instructions and lessons and let the learning process unfold for you. Being in the class keeps you accountable and active in the learning process- as much as we hate homework and textbooks, they really are effective. And trying to learn all the rules and grammar on my own has been near impossible without it being explained to me in a way that I understand and can grasp.
Nothing accelerated my German learning process more than when I got into a class, especially right at the beginning. And none of the other recommendations in this post can take the place of this one but should be used in addition to a class. The class truly is the ticket to a strong foundation in German. Finding a class is not too hard, pretty inexpensive, and lots are designed for working adults to learn outside of working hours. I found my class through a quick google search and was being taught by a college professor alongside other young professionals. And there are lots of ways to find one on one tutors if that is more your learning style. In any way you can, find a way to work with a German tutor or instructor that will lay out the basics, allow you to practice with another person, and keeps you easily accountable so that your progression is fluid.
Follow German Speakers on Social Media
Ok now, onto the more fun tools and tips… Luckily for us, we live in a world now that lets us connect with people from all over the globe. The world has been made so much smaller and people are more accessible now than ever thanks to social media. To learn another language it is recommended to interact with it every single day and most of us are already on social media every day so why not set up your feeds to help you easily hit your daily German goal? And lucky for us, with the rise of influencers and bloggers there are people from all over hopping on social media to share their lives and stories with the world. This is about as close as you can get to German immersion without actually living and talking with native speakers in person. If you are wanting to have conversational German, then this is one the best places to learn it.
I use Instagram because it has the function that translates captions in posts and stories and there are so many interesting people and pages to follow. I especially love following German travel influencers that give me a hit of wanderlust, inspiration, and learning all at the same time. My favorites include @nest.and.nomad and @jessiandmarkusdiaries– two couples living in vans driving all over Europe, as well as @lucafroehlingsdorf and @elenaundben– who each live on sailboats. Listening to them speak German everyday has helped me learn how to use German more naturally and conversationally as you would in everyday life as well as give me access to new vocabulary. At first, it was intimidating because they speak very quickly, but I have found that over time I am getting much better at reading their captions without having to translate everyday and picking up words as they speak. It has been such a fun way to learn lots more German! If you aren’t on social another amazing tool is using the extension called Readlang that will translate webpages into German or any other language you are interested in and then create lists and flashcards for you to log any of the words you don’t understand yet.
@nest.and.nomad
Watch German TV Shows and Movies
Watching German movies and TV Shows is another excellent way for the beginner in German to get regular German exposure and interaction. Netflix and Prime Video have so many German titles to choose from. I recommend watching them in German with English subtitles. My favorite German series and movies on Netflix and Prime Video include Oktoberfest, Babylon Berlin, Dark, Billion Dollar Code, Schumacher, The Defeated, Das Boot, and Generation War. A few of these have English mixed in which gives a nice break from reading subtitles the whole time. The more you expose yourself to listening and hearing it, the more you are likely to pick up and follow along in German.
I also encourage you to download a Chrome extension from Netflix called Language Learning with Netflix that will put captioning on any Netflix title so that you can compare the translation with the original audio and text. It even includes a dictionary so that you can pick up new words as you watch. Now you can use movies that you already know and love to teach you even more German!
YouTube
YouTube is also such a valuable resource when it comes to learning anything and gaining information for free. Recommended by my German professor, I watch Easy German on YouTube to supplement his material with their videos. They go over lots of grammar rules and conjugations that is easy for a beginner in German to follow along with as well as have many other German instructional videos like cultural traits and distinctions. They speak in German with English subtitles because again, the more exposure you have to hear it, the more familiar it will get. This is just one language learning channel, but of course, there are loads more out there. So take full advantage of the learning opportunities here on this free resource. Listening and reading German is great and will definitely help you out, but I have found that without getting the context behind the structuring of the language, I can only get so far on my understanding. Getting the instruction and explanation to the language truly is how you are going to build the foundation for your learning and begin to get comfortable with structuring the language for yourself. Even short lessons from YouTube videos will aid so much in the structuring, understanding, and getting the hang of German.
Use German News
Another great, easy, and practical way to get in daily German exposure is starting to read and listen to German news. I use https://www.nachrichtenleicht.de (also recommended from my professor) to get my German news. This news outlet is specifically great for the beginner in German because it is written simply and with shorter sentences. The actual translation of the website means “news light.” News in Slow German is a podcast designed to give the news to German learners and offers transcripts of the translations of the episodes to help you keep up with the program. Slow German is another podcast that is designed for the German learner and covers German cultural, society, and history topics. Listening to German podcasts are great if you are driving, walking, or doing any other activity that you might want some background noise for. Familiarity, exposure, and immersion are the name of the game here and the more and more times you can find enjoyable ways of interacting with the language the faster it will come.
Get on the Apps
Get on the apps! Duolingo, Babbel, and even Rosetta Stone make German application super easy and accessible with their apps. Most have free versions that give you lots of valuable content and of course additional resources when you subscribe. I don’t love using the apps as the main source of instruction when you are a beginner in German, but they are great for practice and application. They are like your strength training because unless you are regularly practicing and applying and building your new language muscles, progress is hard to obtain. Even better would be regular interaction with German speakers but unless you either are living in one of those countries or have native speaking friends it is hard to do. Using the apps at least gives you the practice of memorization, building out sentences yourself, and grading for accuracy. If you want the language to become seamless and fluent for you, challenge yourself with language application until it becomes like muscle memory.
Travel to German Speaking Countries
The most fun tip of them all! If you are really serious and dedicated about getting German down, get over there. When I think back on my time living there and wonder why I didn’t pick up as much of the language as I would have liked, I believe it was because I had no context or foundation to begin with. I was not set up for success the first time because I had no way to internalize and contextualize all I heard and saw. There was no foundation to build from. Now I believe that because I have spent the time to build a strong foundation for my German, another trip over there with full immersion will propel my progress.
When you are there, don’t be afraid to challenge yourself. Though most Germans, Austrians, and Swiss can speak English, please don’t rely on that. From all my own experiences with German speaking friends, no one will be offended if you mess up, they will be delighted that you are even trying! They don’t care if your sentences are not correctly gendered or if you mistake the dative or accusative case; they are going to be happy to correct you and help you get it right. If you ask them, the only reason they know it is because of the number of times they’ve used it. Trying with real world practice is how you take your language learning skills from just knowledge to real life with confidence, comfort, and ease. If you are wanting any inspiration for a German trip, check out my many blog posts for all the best experiences for your travels!
I have come such a long way since I was that girl with basically no knowledge of the language and Google Translate out the entire time I was living in Germany. Afraid to talk to anyone, especially those in the grocery store (I knew they could see right through my quiet bitte and danke and straight to my illiterate Americanness). One of the silver linings to my Covid experience is that it gave me the space and time to dive deep into my language learning goals and with the help of all the tools and teachers I have listed in this post I am well on my way from being a complete beginner in German to understanding and speaking it confidently and I know it can be the same for you. I even dream in German sometimes now (hopefully it is sinking deep into my subconscious). Commitment, consistency, persistence, exposure, enjoyment, and patience really are the main ingredients for language learning. And all the tools I have listed here can be translated to any language you are interested in learning. Learning German or any language is a long game, but a really fun one once you have all the right strategies to play it. Ich wünsche dir viel glück mit deiner lernen!