How to learn German by yourself? Start with an easy and free online course!
We have adopted an objective and efficient approach to learn how to speak a language easily and quickly: we suggest you to start bymemorizing words, phrases and practical expressionsthat you can use in everyday life and that will be useful whentraveling.
Getting used to pronounce words out loud, numbers for instance, is an easy exercise that you can practice often and at anytime throughout the day.
It will help you to get used to the sounds of your chosen language and thus make it more familiar.
And once your vacation begins, in Berlin, Hamburg or in another city in which German is the official language, you will be surprised how familiar and easy to understand it will seem.
Furthermore, using a pocket dictionary is always useful, particularly during a trip. It enables you to find the translation of new words and enrich your vocabulary.
Why speak German while traveling?
This is the most spoken language in Europe
No less than 100 million people around the world master German. In addition to being Goethe’s mother tongue, it is the official language of several countries, including Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein and Austria, and it is also spoken in some parts of Africa and certain communities in north America. As you can see, speaking this language is firstly a way to access a diversity of cultures, but also a way to increase your business opportunities both in European and African countries and in some American communities.
The official language of the world's fourth-largest economy and the leading power in Europe is also the one of many classics of world literature such as the works of Goethe, the Grimm brothers, Thomas Mann and the winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature Heinrich Böll and Herta Müller.
A major language on the Internet
There is another reason why learning this language is useful: the Internet. We are in the digital age and domains with the ".de" extension (referring to Germany) is the most present on the web, just after the ".com" domains. Having access to such content can prove very useful when you want to expand your search capabilities or find information that is not widely known in other languages.
Germany's annual contribution to science and research is another interesting motivation. Did you know that every year one in ten books published in the world is written in this language? This country is among the leaders in research and innovation, occupying the third place in patent applications worldwide.
Germany's annual contribution to science and research is another interesting motivation. Did you know that every year one in ten books published in the world is written in this language? This country is among the leaders in research and innovation, occupying the third place in patent applications worldwide.
Make a success of your stay in Germany
Whether you are going to spend a few days with friends for a leisure trip or if you are on a business trip, nothing will be more useful to you than to be able to slip a few words in the language of your interlocutors, who will appreciate your effort and will be certainly more willing to help.
How to succeed in having good pronunciation within a week to a month?
It's easy: all the letters are pronounced
Thepronunciationof German is fairly faithful to its writing: you can rely on the texts to pronounce this language correctly. You will need to learn some rules to have a good accent (for example, to know where to place the tonic accent), but in general it will not be too difficult for you to understand, despite some subtleties on syllables like "sch" or the "-e " in the end of a word — subtleties that may make Germans laugh when they hear you, but will not prevent them from grasping the meaning of your words, neither from appreciating your efforts to learn their language.
We invite you to listen to the pronunciation of the letters by clicking on the following link: German alphabet with audio.
What are the best websites to progress quickly?
100% Autonomous Learning - Online Resources
→ German courses by Deutsche Welle (DW)
Level: beginner to advanced (A1 to C).
Services:Deutsche Welle (DW) is an international broadcasting service in German. You will not have anything to pay; everything is free. You will find a very rich and varied set of resources, such as vocabulary sheets with audio, videos, interactive exercises, evaluation tests and the best news in the language.
Our opinion: the quality and wealth of this 100% free website will allow you to go through all the stages of your learning without ever getting bored. This site is undoubtedly the best we can recommend you.
→ Deutsch lernen
Level: for people who already have the first notions.
Services: exercises and summaries related to grammar and conjugation
Services: exercises and summaries related to grammar and conjugation.
Our opinion : this site is very focused on writing and formal rules (verbs and conjugations, declinations, names and articles, adjectives, numbers, pronouns, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, passives...). It is not really advisable for complete beginners, but it will be very useful as soon as you have some basic grammatical knowledge. In fact, you will not find a better free resource to do exercises. And it is very pleasant to use.
Resources to go further
→ Online dictionary Reverso
Level: all levels.
Services: online dictionary.
Our opinion: the interest of this dictionary is not to provide only a simple translation, but also a whole "cloud" of results.
9.7/10 (974 votes)
Your comments are welcome!
Rhina: Omg! This is absolute gold. These resources are going to help me so much! Thank you! Do not worry :P I'm not always this excited about some vocabulary and sound samples, but right now I began my university journey! As someone who wants to study tech in Germany I recently started my language journey. Which is absolute incredible, but my books still need to be delivered so at home I kinda have no resources, except the internet, to intensify my German knowledge. So here I am! Learning from your site :) That's where my excitement comes from! THANK YOU!
Idhwen: HI!! I'm Idhwen, and I'm just starting to learn German. I found this site VERY helpful.Thank you! :D
Rohel Aijaz: Hallo! Ich bin Rohel. I'm from Pakistan and I started learning German a few months ago. I came upon this website and I really appreciate your efforts. It's too user-friendly. I'll continue using this website.
Kristie: We use this in our classroom! It would be nice if we could slow the pronunciation of the German words down...
Cindy : It was so much fun learning how count, colors and so on.It was helpful that I can hear the word pronounce as often as I need to. Are there other vocabulary lessons? It was much more fun than duolingo. Thanks
Alexander: It would greatly help if an audio pronunciation of the German words could be provided. It will go a long way to help
Dasilva Lorenco: CONGRATULATIONS 4 YR JOB: I lived, worked and studied English language (Non academic curse)in Cambridge/UK and I consider yr job very didactic and v/ interesting 4 everyone to start a new language. I agree with with the concept basic of basics to start because if you dont understand the basic words and expressions WHY we start immediatly learn grammar? ....The Classic process ist very borring to start if you need the language immediatly ....and became just a frustrating time.Greating for all yr time!Im John/ Mainz/ DE
stebra90: Hi.Upon visiting your site, I thought I had found a solution, to improve my German.A voice then says "Guten Tag" -- and I am informed that this is "Hello".Even with my very mediocre and rusty German, I know that "Guten Tag" means "Good Day", and doesn't mean "Hello".I couldn't imagine a worst start.Auf Wiedersehen.Loecsen :The expressions given in each language are not literal translations from another language; they are the expressions that would normally be used in particular situations that people find themselves in when traveling. The translators, all of whom are professionals, have not always chosen the grammatically closest translation, because that would not necessarily be the one used most often when you’re there!
Jessica: Best thing ever my kids love it!
Faith Tobi: Great site, great job! i visited your website for the first time today cause i wanted to learn German language for free and i found your website very helpful. well doneFrom Nigeria.
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FAQs
Is German pod 101 good? ›
In general, GermanPod101 is a solid way to learn German. The German course isn't as developed as some of the other languages that Innovative Languages offers, but there is enough content to achieve a conversational level in the language. There are more lessons for beginners and intermediate learners than for advanced.
Is A1 German Easy? ›According to the Goethe Institute's standard format, there are six levels of the German language: A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, and C2. The first level is A1, and many people believe that it is a very simple level in which there is nothing much difficult to learn.
What is German level A1? ›The Goethe-Zertifikat A1: Start Deutsch 1 is a German exam for adults. It certifies that candidates have acquired very basic language skills and corresponds to the first level (A1) on the six-level scale of competence laid down in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).
How do you answer questions in German? ›You can also use v heist iya v heist iya v heist eeeh if you are addressing more than one person in
Is German pod 101 free? ›You can sign up for a free account at www.germanpod101.com! You will have a free, lifetime account and a 7 Day Free Trial of Premium access.
Can Germans have A2 without A1? ›Yes you can. It is not necessary that one has to appear for the A1 exam first. One can appear for any of the German exam levels directly. I hope that my answer helps you.
How difficult is B1 German? ›Hi, B1 is the beginning of the Intermediate level as a Deutsch speaker. So, by this time you should be able to carry out basic level conversations and form simple sentences since you would have already completed A2. B1 takes you further deeper in verbs and complex sentence structure.
How many hours is A2 German? ›150 hours of lessons. A2: approx. 150 hours of lessons. B1: 300 hours of lessons.
Is B1 German fluent? ›The B Levels: Conversational
B1 German speakers have no problem understanding the main points of a conversation when clear standard German is used, especially when the topic is something familiar like school or work.
After completing level C1, you'll be able to: understand a wide range of demanding, longer texts, and recognize implicit meaning. express ideas fluently and spontaneously without much obvious searching for expressions.
What is A1 A2 B1 B2 C1 C2 German? ›
The European Framework of Reference for Languages divides language ability into six levels (A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2). Level A1 is the beginner level, B1 and B2 are roughly intermediate level, C1 and C2 represent a good to perfect language mastery, which comes very close to a native speaker, especially in C2.
How do you ask a German girl out? ›...
The Ins And Outs Of Asking Someone Out In German
- Ich mag dich. ...
- Du hast schöne Augen. ...
- Ich liebe dein Lächeln, es ist so charmant. ...
- Du tanzt gut! ...
- Du siehst gut aus! ...
- Du bist schön.
With close to 100 million native speakers in Europe, German is the most spoken language on the continent (after Russian, with 110 million). The six countries that have German as their official language, in alphabetical order, are: Austria, Belgium, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and Switzerland.
How do you ask a1 questions in German? ›German Lesson (6) - Asking Questions with Regular Verbs - A1
Does A1 certificate expire? ›4. Does my certificate expire? No, there is no expiry date for the certificate obtained (from Goethe).
How long does it take to go from A2 to B1 in German? ›| Assess your current level & test your German online! | Intensive course (20 lessons/week) | |
|---|---|---|
| A1 | beginner | 8 weeks |
| A2 | elementary | 8 weeks |
| B1 | intermediate | 8 weeks |
| B2 | upper intermediate | 10 weeks* |
Of the three different levels DSH-1, DSH-2 and DSH-3, the former is the easiest. When the DSH-2 level is reached (67%), the graduate can enrol in many different courses of study, as this means that he or she is admitted to almost all German universities.
Is A2 German enough? ›Levels A1 and A2: These levels provide you with basic knowledge of the German language. If you have no previous knowledge, attending an A1 course is highly recommended. Levels B1 and B2: Here is where you will learn German at an advanced level.
Can I learn German B1 in a month? ›The German B1 level, also known as the intermediate level, It will take you at least 80 hours per week (a total of 4 weeks) to finish your German B1.
Is A2 German hard? ›German A2 exam pattern is quite simple. As it's a language, there are 4 modules- Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking. It is a 60 points exam and you have to score a minimum 36 points (60%) to pass the exam.
Is B2 German enough? ›
B2 is the first level that means that you can speak really fluent and understand 80% of the situations that you find yourself in repeatedly. You can prepare yourself for the exam and even see a sample of the language level here.
How hard is B2 German? ›99.9999% of all of the work that goes into your exam grade should come before you even sign up for the exam. No amount of cramming can make you B2 in a month. For me, it took 2 years of self-study to reach B2. And it's those 2 years—not the 2 weeks of prep I did for the exam—that earned me great scores.
Can I learn German in 1 year? ›It is estimated that a total of 30 weeks or 750 classroom hours are necessary to learn German. But you could complete those 750 hours in a matter of months or over the course of many years.
Can I reach B1 in German in 3 months? ›In all, that comes to about 200 hours total, meaning that to reach a B1 level in German in 3 months, you should study the language for about ~2 hours and 10 minutes each day. It's a high goal, but if you have sufficient motivation, you can definitely reach it.
Can I get a job in Germany if I know German? ›Knowledge of German improves your employment chances in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and other central and eastern Europe parts. Many companies in these regions are willing to employ someone who can speak German fluently, not to mention the additional ability to speak English.
What level of German is required to work in Germany? ›If you´d like to work in Germany you´ll get by if your German is on level B1/B2 (online test). The certificate issued by GLS is recognized by many employers and even some universities in Germany. More about the GLS German language certificate.
Can you become fluent in German in 3 years? ›You don't. Unless you're a Marvel Superhero-level prodigy at learning languages. Sure, you can cram the important bits of grammar etc. and a very rudimentary vocabulary during a bit over two months—but chances are you'll forget most of that pretty much the moment after you took whatever test you're trying to pass.
Can I learn German in 3 months? ›You need more than 3 months to be fluent. But even with such a short time, if you adjust your strategy, you can actually learn German and get really close to being fluent.
How long does it take to get to B2 in German? ›How much time do you need to learn German to a B2 level? A quick google search shows that The Foreign Service Institute (FSI) suggests that you need about 750 hours to get to this level.
How long does it take to learn German A1 to C2? ›Learners reach C2 at different rates depending on the other factors we'll discuss here, but expect nothing less than three years (and probably several more years). The Goethe Institut says you need to have studied German for at least 750 hours to get to this point.
How many hours is A1 in German? ›
The Goethe A1 exam course is usually for 2-3 months, depending on the class schedule and the type of course- Intensive, super intensive. The weekend course may last upto 6 months whereas the weekday course for half the time.
How long learn German fluently? ›So, how long do you need to learn German if you want to reach this level of fluency? According to the U.S. Foreign Service Institute (FSI), you'll need about 750 hours of study to become fluent in German. This means that if you study 12-15 hours a week, you'll be able to speak like a pro in just a year!
Is the A1 German exam hard? ›If prepared for well, the A1 exam is very easy to pass. The test is divided in to four modules: Lesen, Schreiben, Hören and Sprechen. Refer to proper study materials like Tipps und Übungen or Prüfungstraining A1 and you'll do well. Solve preparatory vocab exercises for there is no dictionary in the exam.
How many months does it take to learn A1 German? ›How long does it take to become fluent in German A1? According to the Goeth Institut and as mentioned earlier, it takes at least 2-3 months of learning German A1 on a daily basis. Although some of their courses have a weekend option or 3-day weekday lessons.
What is asked in A1 German exam? ›The Goethe-Zertifikat A1: Start Deutsch 1 exam comprises reading, listening, writing and speaking sections. The speaking section of the exam is completed in a group. The exam is administered and evaluated in the same way all over the world.
How do you complete A1 in German? ›...
Description
- Speak & interact in basic conversations.
- Understand simple sentences.
- Read short paragraphs.
- Write self-introductions & 3-4 line letters & E-Mails.
German A2 exam pattern is quite simple. As it's a language, there are 4 modules- Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking. It is a 60 points exam and you have to score a minimum 36 points (60%) to pass the exam.
What is A1 A2 B1 B2 C1 C2 in German language? ›Jens Olesen, a German tutor with over 20 years of teaching experience, explains. The three broad levels are A1/A2 ("Basic User"), B1/B2 ("Independent User"), and C1/C2 ("Proficient User"). Let's take a look at what you should be able to communicate at the various levels set out by CERF.
Can I learn German A1 by myself? ›Yes you can. It's very enjoyable to learn something on your own, since it gives you a fantastic sense of achievement. Learning German by yourself is a great way to take charge of your own learning speed and the way in which you decide to learn.
Is B1 German fluent? ›The B Levels: Conversational
B1 German speakers have no problem understanding the main points of a conversation when clear standard German is used, especially when the topic is something familiar like school or work.
What level of German is fluent? ›
C2 (Upper Advanced/Fluent)
This is close to native-level German fluency.
B2 is the first level that means that you can speak really fluent and understand 80% of the situations that you find yourself in repeatedly. You can prepare yourself for the exam and even see a sample of the language level here.
Does A1 certificate expire? ›4. Does my certificate expire? No, there is no expiry date for the certificate obtained (from Goethe).
How long is A1 German valid? ›Does the certificate/my exam expire? Goethe-Zertifikats A1 through C2 do not expire. Many institutions and employers, however, expect the certificate to be dated not more than two years ago.
How long does it take to clear German A1? ›| Assess your current level & test your German online! | Intensive course (20 lessons/week) | |
|---|---|---|
| A1 | beginner | 8 weeks |
| A2 | elementary | 8 weeks |
| B1 | intermediate | 8 weeks |
| B2 | upper intermediate | 10 weeks* |
It depends on how much you already know. If you currently don't know any German - passing A1 in 15 days is impossible. There are 19 units of 4 lessons each for A1. Try to complete atleast 2 units i.e 8 lessons daily for the 15 days leading to the exam.
Can I learn German A1 in a week? ›Yes, it is possible, that is if you have dedicated many hours of German language learning without distractions. Language experts mention that learning German beginner level (or German A1 level) takes at least 75 hours to fully grasp. That takes at least 10 hours or more a day to really finish your language lessons.
How hard is B2 German? ›99.9999% of all of the work that goes into your exam grade should come before you even sign up for the exam. No amount of cramming can make you B2 in a month. For me, it took 2 years of self-study to reach B2. And it's those 2 years—not the 2 weeks of prep I did for the exam—that earned me great scores.