How to Learn German From Home
Whether you’re relocating to Germany for work or taking a family vacation, learning the language is sure to make your trip more enjoyable. But not everyone has the time to attend German classes, or the budget for private tutors or immersive language travel. Thankfully, the internet has plenty of resources to help you learn to speak German from home.
For starters, you’ll need to get a handle on pronunciation. Some letters, such as the “u” in hamburger and schnitzel, sound very similar to English ones, while others are distinctly different — think the guttural “r” that rolls out of your uvula or the umlauts atop the vowels a, o and u.
You’ll also need to master German articles, cases and conjugation. The first two are easy enough, but the last one is a challenge because German has 16 different combinations of words that mean “the,” plus verb endings that change based on subject and tense.
Finally, it’s important to supplement audio lessons with reading practice. Try podcast transcripts or song lyrics and keep a notebook to write down new vocabulary and phrases. This will also help you strengthen your listening comprehension skills, which are key when learning a foreign language. Plus, it’ll give you a chance to see how the words are written in German. German lessons