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Learning how to speak German can feel like embarking on an exciting journey of a thousand miles. As with any journey of such length, it’s easy to become overwhelmed. However, with the right approach and consistent effort, you can break the journey down into much more manageable steps.
Whether you’re learning for travel, work, or personal growth, German opens doors to new cultural experiences, professional opportunities, and connections with over 100 million native speakers worldwide. By following these 10 steps on how to learn German, you’ll find the experience of learning a new language not only achievable but also deeply rewarding.
1. Make a plan for how to learn German
To start a successful language learning journey, you have to figure out exactly where you’re headed, why you’re headed there, and how long it’ll take to get where you want to go. This is because an ill-defined target is notoriously difficult to hit, and there’s no sense wasting your precious time trying to do so.
Before you start studying German, clarify your purpose for learning the language and how much time you’d like to dedicate to studying.
Define your linguistic purpose
Consider for a moment: why do you want to learn German? Do you have a week-long trip planned to Berlin and want to be able to order at a restaurant, or do you have business relationships in Germany with whom you’d like to communicate?
There are countless reasons to learn German, and each comes with requirements for length of study time and necessary vocabulary. How long does it take to learn German for you? Define for yourself why, and for what scenarios, you want to learn German so you’ll be much better equipped to set up a study schedule that matches your goals.
Set a realistic study schedule
It probably won’t come as a surprise that learning German for travel will take much less studying time, around 90 hours, than more immersive purposes like living in Germany, which takes around 350-500 hours.
Once you’ve defined why you want to learn German, you can figure out how many hours of study time you need and break those hours down into a weekly schedule that fits your realistic time constraints and needs.
Here are a few examples of studying schedules based on different language learning purposes:
- Travel (approximately 90 hours)
- 3 hours per day, 3 days a week: 2.5 months
- 1 hour per day, 5 days a week: 4.5 months
- 30 minutes per day, 7 days a week: 6.5 months
- Living in Germany (350-500 hours)
- 3 hours per day, 3 days a week: 10 months to 1 year
- 1 hour per day, 5 days a week: 1.5 to 2 years
- 30 minutes per day, 7 days a week: 2 to 3 years
- Business and work (500-800 hours)
- 3 hours per day, 3 days a week: 1 to 2 years
- 1 hour per day, 5 days a week: 2 to 3.25 years
- 30 minutes per day, 7 days a week: 3 to 4.5 years
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Language courses, like those offered online by Rosetta Stone, provide a structured, proven path to language mastery that can be beneficial for those who struggle to learn on their own. Free online resources, like how to learn German language articles and German grammar reference books, help give you a solid database of information to fall back on when grammar has you feeling confused and lost.
3. Learn the German alphabet and pronunciation
Now that you’ve defined your purpose for learning German and developed your realistic schedule for studying, where do you start with the language itself? Well, expressions are made up of words, and words are made up of letters—so start with the German alphabet! Memorizing each letter of the German alphabet, what each letter is called, and their unique pronunciations will give you a solid foundation from which to build the rest of your linguistic path. Make sure to spend some extra time getting used to umlauts and how they alter the sound of vowels!
4. Master common German phrases
When German letters become comfortable to recognize and sound out, you can put this knowledge into practical use by memorizing common German phrases. Starting off your vocabulary skills with very simple phrases like guten Tag (hello/good day) makes German easy to learn in these beginning stages and provides immediately useful fluency skills you can use in everyday German communication. These common phrases also help you practice your German alphabet pronunciation skills, which will come in handy as you learn longer and more complex terms and sentence structures.
Some examples of great starter phrases to learn include:
- Ich heiße… = My name is…
- Wie geht’s? = How are you? (informal)
- Vielen Dank! = Many thanks!
Be on the lookout for simple phrases like this while you’re first dipping your toes into German vocabulary!
5. Build core vocabulary
Expand your pool of conversational topics by developing your core vocabulary once simple German phrases become easy to remember and pronounce. Memorizing common German words and German nouns, especially those that align with your purpose for learning German—like colors, numbers, and family members—gives you practical language fluency knowledge you can use to start building German sentences.
Attempt to go beyond flashcards by watching simple TV shows for German children or reading short, simple stories written in German. This gives you a more engaging route for reinforcing new vocabulary and enriches your learning experience with entertainment and cultural context.
Understand noun gender and articles
During your studies of German nouns, you’ll inevitably come across a concept that does not exist in the English language—gendered nouns. Every noun, from family members to types of chairs and fruit, has one of three grammatical genders assigned to it: masculine, feminine, or neuter.
The German language shows what grammatical gender a given noun has been assigned through many means, but primarily through German articles “the,” “a,” and “an.” Take some time as you expand your vocabulary to learn what grammatical gender a noun has been given, what articles to use for the noun, and how the gender of a noun can often be determined by the noun’s ending.
6. Master German conjugation
You’ll quickly find the need to incorporate verbs in your communication regardless of your reason for learning German. After all, movement is life! There are many ways German verbs can change in German conjugation based on factors like tense, person, plurality, and so on.
Familiarize yourself with how verbs conjugate in German so you can fill your expressions with action and movement accurately.
7. Mind sentence structure and grammatical case
Carry your studies forward once you have a good grasp of vocabulary and pronunciation by forming your own German sentences with German cases. The easiest way to start writing sentences is with the German nominative case. You’ll use this foundational grammar case for your first simple German sentences like Der Hund läuft (The dog runs).
Once you’ve gotten used to the nominative case, you can expand your sentences and communicate more complex expressions by studying the German accusative case, the German dative case, and the German genitive case. This can be an involved process, so take your time as you develop these skills in sentence structure and grammatical cases.
8. Tackle tenses in German
The next step on how to learn the German language is tackling grammatical tenses. German has several tenses that describe when an action or state of being is taking place. Start with Präsens (present tense) to learn how to communicate things happening in the “here and now.” It’s also the most commonly used tense in the German language, so you’ll have lots of opportunities to apply this knowledge going forward.
Once the present tense becomes second nature, you can move on to Präteritum (simple past tense) and Perfekt (present perfect tense) to express things that have happened previously or in the past. Next, take your studies to the future by studying Futur I (future tense) and Futur II (future perfect tense).
Finally, round out your knowledge of German tenses by mastering Plusquamperfekt (past perfect tense) to describe an action that had been completed before another action, as in the example Ich hatte vor dem Volleyball Fußball gespielt (I had played soccer before volleyball).
9. Engage with the language
With an understanding of German pronunciation, a wide German vocabulary, and mastery of grammatical essentials like case, tense, and conjugation, you’re free to really engage with the language itself!
Develop your German fluency skills in reading, writing, and listening by engaging with German media and joining online language learning communities. Watch famous German films like Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others) to build your listening comprehension, read popular German texts like fairy tales from the Grimm Brothers, and practice writing your own journal entries or short stories to reinforce grammar skills and vocabulary.
These actions not only enrich your language learning experience, they also provide excellent cultural context and slang terminology you might otherwise never encounter. It’s a great way to sound like a native German speaker!
10. Stay consistent and track progress
Consistency is key to mastering any skill, especially when exploring how to learn German. Be sure that your schedule is realistic and works for your daily life so you’re not stuck in a five hour study session trying to catch up. Keep track of your progress by setting achievable milestones like memorizing a set number of vocabulary words or having your first conversation in German. It’s important to review what you’ve learned as well, especially in aspects you find tricky to understand.
By staying consistent, tracking your progress, and reviewing what you’ve learned, you’ll see your fluency skills grow over time in measurable ways. This sense of achievement will keep you moving forward toward complete fluency!
Unlock new opportunities with Rosetta Stone
Learning German can open doors to new opportunities, whether for travel, work, or personal growth. By following the 10 essential steps of how to learn German, you can steadily build your proficiency and confidence in manageable increments. Consistency, practice, and tracking your progress are all vital to your success.
Rosetta Stone can support you every step of the way with personalized lessons, real-time feedback, and tools like the TruAccent speech recognition engine to perfect your pronunciation. Start your German learning journey today and make language mastery a reality with Rosetta Stone!