Learn German: Start Here, Not With an App
You want to learn German. Wunderbar. What happens in your first week decides whether this takes two years or ten, so let us get the first week right.
Step 1: Find out where you stand
Most learners either overestimate themselves and drown, or underestimate themselves and repeat a year out of caution. My free level check takes about 20 minutes, covers reading, listening, pronunciation, speaking and writing, and tells you exactly where to start. Complete beginner? Then you already know your level, and it is a fine one to start from.
Step 2: Decide how you learn
Evening classes work if your evenings are free and your classmates are lucky. For everyone else there is learning online, at your pace, on your schedule. It has its own traps though, four of them, and I laid them out in learn German online without wasting your time.
Step 3: Pick one course and stay
One structured course beats five brilliant resources that do not know each other exist. How to tell a course from a content library is its own small science: how to choose an online German course. Spoiler: mine passes the checks, but read them anyway. Trust is good, checks are better.
Step 4: Build the habit before the ambition
Twenty focused minutes a day beat a heroic Sunday session, every single week. Start smaller than feels impressive. The learners who reach C1 are not the motivated ones, they are the consistent ones. Motivation is weather, habit is climate.
Is German even hard to learn?
Not for English speakers, whatever the memes say. The two languages are cousins: shared roots, same alphabet, overlapping grammar. The cases fit in one table. The full argument is in is German hard to learn for English speakers, spoiler here too: no.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where should a complete beginner start with German?
With the A1 course, and skip the level check: if you know you are starting from zero, zero is your level. Everyone else takes the free 20-minute level check first so they do not repeat a year out of caution.
Is German hard to learn?
Not for English speakers, whatever the internet says. English and German are cousins: shared roots, same alphabet, overlapping grammar. The full answer is in my article on whether German is hard to learn.
How long does it take to learn German?
That depends entirely on your daily study time. With daily practice, one to two years to a solid B1 is realistic. Without a daily number, every prediction is astrology. The long answer: how long until I am fluent in German.
