German Language

Want to learn the German language? German is known to be one of the hardest languages to learn. No doubt, German grammar and vocabulary aren’t always easy-to-understand. But don’t give up! No language is easy. So if you really want to learn German fast, you can achieve your goal even studying by yourself.

German and English come from one language group, the West Germanic language family. Even though they differ a lot, there are some similarities that can serve as a starting point for your German learning journey.

To help you get started with learning German, we’ve prepared a step-by-step guide. It’s packed with useful sources and tips that you can start using right away.

Keep reading to learn more or discover online German classes on Preply.

Even before you choose the preferred learning method or find study materials, you need to take a step back and analyze WHY you want to learn German. Determine your main goal and write it down so that it’ll motivate you on the way to language fluency.

Specify your goal as much as you can and don’t forget to set an exact time frame. Here’s a list of reasons that could be your reasons WHY:

• To enroll at the [Name of German university] in two years;
• To land a job in a German IT company in Frankfurt next year;
• To learn to speak German fluently with German-speaking family members;
• To speak with German business partners without an interpreter within six months;
• To travel to Germany and talk to locals fluently.

Find your main goal, and you’ll discover that German language learning isn’t as hard as you previously thought. Studying with a professional tutor who guides you through the learning process makes language learning even easier.

Here at Preply, we have a team of certified tutors who can create a personalized lesson plan based on your main goal, level of knowledge and schedule. You’ll get private lessons provided online via the user-friendly video chat whenever it’s convenient for you. Just try and see how effective it can be to learn German online.

Begin with analyzing the difference between German and English alphabets. In fact, the similar vowels and consonants sound different in these two languages. Learn the sounds first so that you can learn the words later and pronounce them correctly.

You can find the alphabet online and hear the right pronunciation of each letter. Pay special attention to the letters with an umlaut (Ä, Ö, Ü), as it completely changes the way a letter is pronounced.

Besides, notice how vowels or consonants sound alone, as two vowels or consonants used one after another could sound different than either of them used alone.

In order to get started and thus have your first basic conversation in German, learn some significant German greetings such as:

• Hallo! — Hello!

• Hallo! Wie geht’s? — Hello, how are you?

• Guten Morgen! — Good morning!

• Guten Tag! — Good afternoon!

• Guten Abend! — Good evening!

• Danke sehr! — Thank you very much!

• Tschüss! Bis zum nächsten Mal. — Goodbye! See you next time.

• Ich heiße [Name]. — My name is [Name].
• Ich spreche nicht sehr gut Deutsch. — I don’t speak German very well.

We’ve made a list of 57 basic German expressions you’d like to learn. Just print it to repeat the words every single day. Also, you can opt for apps like Duolingo or Rosetta Stone to learn the basics from your device regularly.

Once you understand the basic German expressions, you’ll be able to start a conversation with a native speaker easily. But if you want to keep the conversation going and find out more about a person you’re talking to, you need to know some key German words. Try to learn new words in context so that you can quickly memorize them. Keep things interesting by learning idioms and slang.

When it comes to learning German for beginners, grammar would be the hardest part. No doubt, the grammatical part can be quite tricky at the beginning. But there are almost no exceptions to the German grammar rules, which makes it easier to remember them.

What about sentence structure? Structurally, German is very similar to English, so it won’t be so difficult to understand the rules.