The Best Tips and Tricks to Learn German

Learning languages is a lot of fun. There’s nothing like discovering a new culture by speaking the language its people speak.

For many people, they have several “dream” languages they would like to learn, and one of their favourites is German.

Like anything in life, learning a language is a process that demands effort and a big chunk of your time. It won’t happen overnight, and you’ll probably find yourself on the verge of giving up many times.

However, you shouldn’t give up. If it’s something you want to learn, German can be yours if you stay dedicated enough.

The German language, in particular, is rich in syntactic and grammatical detail, and it’s a language used in many countries around Europe, like Switzerland and Austria.

Some people want to learn German to travel to the country and settle there. Others want to find work or study there.

Whatever your goals are, there are various tips and tricks that can make the process of learning German much easier.

Let’s go over a few of them now.

1. Set Language Benchmarks:

At first, you don’t even know the alphabet of the language. It’s a good idea to start there.

Then you get good at that, and you need to move on to something more difficult. This is where learning the pronouns, verbs, and various nouns begins.

It’s quite a big jump for many people who have never been exposed to German before, but it’s a necessary step.

This goal-setting mindset will help keep you focused on making continual progress when learning German. It also keeps you honest because you have to focus on things you’re not really good at.

Once a foundation is established, people turn their attention towards reaching standard levels of proficiency such as B1, B2, C1, and C2.

B1 and B2 are where your focus begins to shift towards mastering basic writing and speaking skills.

C1 and C2 are where high levels of fluency are required, and this is where people either hit their limits or progress beyond that.

Each level comes with its own set of unique challenges.

These are all goals you can work on achieving, which again keeps the process of learning German interesting and exciting.

2. Interact with Native Speakers:

The world is a big place, but the internet has made it significantly easier to connect with people from all over the globe.

This is great news for language enthusiasts because it means they now have the opportunity to interact with native speakers of the language without going to the target country.

Use any mobile apps, websites, and social media channels you can find to meet Germans residing in Germany. Try to befriend them, chat with them daily in German, and absorb all the nuance they exhibit when using it.

Interacting with native speakers is one of the best and fastest ways to power through learning barriers that stand in the way of mastering German.

3. Master Article Usage:

Anyone who has spent some time learning German will immediately notice that there’s a lot of focus on using articles.

Articles and the vocabulary you use in German go hand in hand, so pay attention when using them. Try to go beyond “Haus” and “das Haus” because these are the bare basics.

It also helps to learn and remember the plural case of each word you come across since they’re also paired with articles.

4. Use Words In Their Context:

Ever wondered why you can’t seem to remember a list of words you read to yourself from a dictionary during the day when learning German? Is it because you have memory problems? Or is it because you’re not good at learning languages?

The right answer is neither. It’s because you’re learning words out of their context. When reading a new vocabulary from a dictionary, you need to remember that each word is used in a certain context.

In other words, you need to understand the context to make the word stick in your memory and begin using it naturally.

This process requires you to read and listen to a lot of German. Writing helps, but it’s secondary to the first two when you’re still not fluent enough.

Context helps when learning grammar rules, such as the article-noun rule or differentiating the masculine from the feminine in German.

It also helps when, as we said, you want to recall a word you read in a newspaper or a short story and use it right.

5. Treat Prepositions Right:

Prepositions are those pesky little words that cause a lot of pain and confusion for language learners all over the world.

Whether it’s English, Arabic, or German, you need to take the time to master preposition usage, or at least, reach the stage where it’s not so confusing to understand the semantics behind each one.

The good news here is that if you’re an English native or have a lot of proficiency in English, German prepositions are not so evil.

For example, the rule of prepositions that function like articles exists in both languages, so you’ll often come across many prepositions that modify the meaning of the verb.

Another easy way to save yourself time when dealing with prepositions is to remember the following: each preposition has a certain case for it.

This means you’re likely to find a certain preposition followed by the same case after it all the time. When you understand both, it becomes easier to use them in normal, everyday German.

A common mistake to avoid when learning prepositions in German is to blindly memorise each word out of context. Again, it’s important to always remember context to supercharge your learning.

6. Immerse Yourself in The Culture:

We mentioned conversing with native speakers online. You also have access to German websites, German social media, German books, and German everything if you look hard enough.

It’s such a well-known language that you can probably find a way to immerse yourself in it easily.

A good place to start is by listening to a lot of German news. Listening is the foundation for all language skills that follow, so it makes sense to start there.

You’ll quickly learn a lot of idioms, key phrases, and collocations that you might otherwise miss out on if you follow a more traditional passive learning method.

Another one is when playing video games. For example, turn your language settings to German. Video games are a great immersive experience, and they help you stay motivated by learning German in a new way.

Other suggestions include reading up on German history, how the German language developed and evolved over time, and the many historical figures that contributed to making Germany what it is today.

The overall idea here is to get exposed to as much German as possible. It’s how you get fluent and stay that way over years and decades.

In Conclusion:

Learning a new language is not easy. If it were, people would learn dozens of languages and get fluent in them fast.

German is no different from any other language. It requires you to get specific. This means learning each aspect of the language well and consolidating your progress before moving on to bigger goals.

When you take care of basic grammar, prepositions, and vocabulary, it becomes much easier to build a foundation where reading and writing become possible and natural.

This process takes years, so if you want to become near-native in German, you’re in for the long haul.