With the increasing popularity of online resources and language-learning apps such as Duolingo (which I recommend avoiding like a starving mountain lion), lots of people have been asking themselves whether it is possible to learn German on your own.
From my own experience, I can say with 100% certainty that learning German on your own is not only possible, it’s the fastest, most effective way of all.
Language learning = language classes, right? Surely money can help us! You just pay the money, go to the classes, and the language will magic itself into your head! Paying hundreds or even thousands for a language course seems like a big deal, so we assume it’s guaranteed to work.
Sadly, this isn’t necessarily the case. The reason a language is a skill everyone wants is precisely because you cannot buy it. It takes hard work. Classes can only guide you. If you’re not engaged and don’t do the exercises and readings, you will not learn. Languages can’t be spoon-fed.
There is nothing inherently wrong with classes. They are fine if the teacher is competent and uses good materials, and the students are motivated and hard-working, but classes aren’t necessary and they aren’t efficient. If you are a motivated learner who visits the classes and does all the homework, then you may as well become an independent learner instead.
What causes language learning?
Let’s think about what causes people to learn languages.
If you talk to anybody who speaks a language fluently, whether natively or non-natively, I guarantee they will have had:
- Frequent exposure to the language over an extended period of time, in a way that was comprehensible to them.
- Regular practice expressing their thoughts in that language in a way that is grammatical and comprehensible to other speakers.
That’s it. Notice that neither requires a classroom.
Humans learn languages primarily through listening, and by building up slowly. Children first learn “Daddy”, then “juice”, “Daddy give juice”, “Daddy, give me juice please”, “could you pour me a glass of juice, Daddy?” and finally “Daddy, would you so kindly finance my course at the Goethe Institute?”
The key word is comprehensible. You need to be exposed to language slightly above your level. This allows your brain to form a mental image and fill in the gaps. The language creates the image, and the image creates the language!
What it feels like to learn automagically
Here’s a little story I’ve written to demonstrate my point.
It was a cold night, so we decided to light a sponk. My father brought some wood in, and carefully tinked it into the sponk, being careful not to burn himself. We were both very hungry, so we made a big tark full of wape. In the winter, we always make wape out of vegetables from the garden. This time we dug up a big handful of long, orange spargs. They were always covered in dirt, but my father said that just made the wape even more healthy and delicious.
I chopped up the spargs and tinked them into the tark. We put the wape onto the sponk and pretty soon it was bubbling and smelled delicious. Very soon the wape was ready to eat. I carefully removed the tark and placed it on the table, and my father used a big spoon to serve up the wape. Thank goodness for sponk! Life would be impossible without this glowing miracle.
- Do you know what sponk, tink, wape, tark and sparg mean?
- Did anyone ever teach you these words?
- Was it difficult for you to learn them?
- Did it feel like studying?
Do you see my point?
Of course, this is a simple example. Sometimes the brain needs some guidance to understand more complicated concepts such as grammar, but it works just the same way. Language > image > language.
If your brain is exposed to other people repeatedly referring to objects and concepts in a certain way, at some point it gives in and accepts that the word and the thing are the same thing. It’s like being admitted to a secret club of people who share the same delusion.
Classes… ewww
The more efficiently a classroom environment offers these conditions to learners, the faster they will learn. Unfortunately, classrooms rarely offer this in an efficient way.
A huge amount of time is wasted travelling to class, unpacking books, saying hello, starting the exercises etc. The students are often at different levels, which is very inefficient for everybody.
The teaching methods themselves are usually lacking. The most common problem I see is forcing students to speak above their level. Students are often forced to discuss politics when they can’t even order a coffee! Can you believe this madness??
Most people just want to manage their day-to-day life and make friends in the language. They don’t care about discussing politics and societal issues.
The most important part of learning is listening… and how many opportunities for listening does the average class offer? Very few. Sometimes the teacher speaks a bit, sometimes you listen to a tape recording that was made in 1997. But that’s it!
It’s mostly just doing grammar exercises in silence, or talking to your neighbour about government subsidies for single parents.
Classes are so boring! The exercises suck. And you only spend a few hours a week in classes anyway. It will take you years to learn the language that way. Assuming you don’t die of boredom first.
But there is a solution! Learn German on your own!
Why You Should Learn German on Your Own
Save time
If you learn on your own, you save a tonne of time. You just open your book or online course and boom – you’re learning. There is no getting on the train, no waiting for the late students to arrive, no unpacking books.
Save money
Learning German on your own saves money. Instead of spending hundreds on a language course, you can learn for free. There are tonnes of high-quality learning materials online for free or very cheap. You could spend a bit of money on books or online courses – costing a fraction of what you would spend on classes – but it’s not necessary.
Learn whenever you want
Classes are limited to a few hours a day at most. If you learn on your own, you can invest as much time as you want. You can learn for 15 minutes with breakfast, listen to a podcast on the train, study for 3 hours in the evening if you like. The time adds up quickly.
Choose your own resources
Learning on your own means you can choose courses, textbooks, podcasts and series that you enjoy. And there’s a lot of great content out there nowadays. This means you will start associating learning German with fun, which is good.
When I was learning German I read exciting crime fiction, binged YouTube videos, listened to podcasts and played German point-and-click adventure games.
Focus on learning the things you actually need
For reasons I’ve never understood, classes focus on topics that are completely useless in real life. Whether teachers should be allowed to wear religious face coverings (we’re all doing it now anyway lol), how much money the state gives to single parents, what cars people drove in East Germany. Maybe these issues interest you, but they’re not going to help you deal with day-to-day life in Germany.
Solo learners can choose their own topics. I focused on day-to-day vocabulary: food, tools, making friends, opening a bank account, going to the supermarket, going to the doctor, finding an apartment, using public transport, relationships, travel etc. As a consequence, I am able to deal with day-to-day situations very smoothly. If you do happen to have a niche interest, then go for it! I personally am a nature fan, so I learnt a lot of useless nature words like:
| die Elster –n | magpie |
| die Brennnessel –n | stinging nettle |
| der Tannenzapfen – | pine cone |
No homework
There’s no homework! No more boring exercises that make you hate the language and waste your time. Every minute invested is yours to keep forever.
What about speaking?
But, “what about speaking!?” I hear you cry.
It’s true that it’s a bit easier to practice speaking if you have a speaking partner, but this isn’t really a problem either. There are countless apps for learners such as Tandem, HelloTalk and iTalki where you can find language exchange partners at home.
But the biggest secret of all is this: You can talk to yourself. I know it sounds crazy, but it works just as well, if not better, than talking to someone else. Practising speaking is just practising formulating your thoughts and expressing them in spoken language. Whether you speak to a person or a fridge is irrelevant.
One summer I went to Germany with my family. I’d been learning German for about a year. I found myself in a situation where I had to communicate with the hotel staff… and the words just magically came out! I had never spoken to anybody before, but because I had listened to a lot of German, and spoken to myself, I was able to speak as if by magic.
The Lunatic Cyclist
Back in 2010 I lived in the countryside and used to cycle to the nearest town, which took about 30 minutes. I knew the way automatically and it soon became very boring. I couldn’t do much to make it more interesting because my hands were busy, and I couldn’t listen to music or podcasts because it was dangerous, so I used to speak German to myself.
Ich fahre mit dem Fahrrad. Ich sehe einen großen Baum. Der Himmel ist klar. Ich mag Bäume. Ich fahre superschnell. Mein Fahrrad ist blau. Ich besuche meine Freunde. Ich freue mich darauf, meine Freunde zu sehen. Heute spielen wir Fußball im Park. Ich habe Hunger. Ich möchte was essen.
The good thing is, what you say doesn’t need to actually make logical sense. If you said this to a tandem partner they would be like, “erm… okay?” but when you speak by yourself it’s just pure speaking practice. Visualise the image, say the sentence.
You should be careful though! There is nobody there to correct you, so you must pay extra attention to avoiding mistakes. Always speak a little below your level. Say things you know are correct, and build up slowly. Find out how to say something, and then practice saying it – don’t just guess.
Here’s a little exercise for you.
Form a German sentence you know is perfect. Do it right now! It can be about anything you want, but it has to be 100% correct. In fact, email your sentence to info@learngerman.io and I’ll have a look. Make sure it’s completely free of errors!! This is your true output level.
Now is the best time to learn German on your own
There has never been a better time to learn German on your own! Winter is coming and Dr COVID has banned fun. So why not make the most of this period by investing in a skill that will stay with you for the rest of your life? If you’re reading this in the future – it’s still the best time to learn it. The best time to start is always today.
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