As a bilingual German and English speaker growing up in London, this is a question I have been asked many times by friends. Being a mother-tongue German speaker, I’ve lived in the blissful ignorance of not needing to know the answer to this question. Most people definitely seem to think that it is a hard language, and have been impressed by the fact that I can speak it. A quick google search spits out words like "precise, logical and compound-heavy tongue", “expressive and untranslatable” and requiring “mathematical precision”. The question is; is German really that hard to learn or is it just a common misconception?
In this blog I’d like to discuss the difficulties and ease of learning German and compare it to the difficulty of learning other languages.
What is German?
The German language is the most widely spoken native language in the European Union with over 130 million people speaking it world wide. It is the primary language of Germany, Austria and Switzerland and ranked the 4th most commonly learned second language in the world. There are many benefits to learning the language, with Germany being Europe’s largest economy, offering massive boosts in career opportunities.
What makes German seem difficult?
The main things that make German seem like a difficult language to learn initially are:
1. The genders
2. The 4 cases
3. Word order and sentence structure
4. Compound words
5. Pronunciation
The genders
German has three genders: masculine (der), feminine (die), neuter (das). When first learning the language this can seem a little daunting, especially as English speakers, where we don’t need to concern ourselves with knowing the genders of words.
However, similarly to Spanish and French, which are also gendered languages, there are clues as to when something is what gender. For example everything ending in “ei” in German is guaranteed to be feminine. Memorising a set bank of words is a good idea when first starting to learn German to help you with gendering words.
That all being said, when it comes to communication, in German, even if one does use the wrong article from time to time, one can still be understood.
The 4 cases
The four cases in German are:
● Nominative - used for the subject of the sentence
● Accusative- used for the object of a sentence,
● Dative- used after set prepositions as well as indirect objects of a sentence
● Genetive- which is possessive
This may seem complicated at first, particularly when you have to think about noun genders and the different cases. In reality, though, it often comes down to identifying the role a word plays in the sentence. Once you can recognise whether something is the subject or the object, distinguishing between the nominative and accusative cases becomes much easier.
From there, you simply need to look out for any prepositions that require the dative case. The genitive case is far less common in modern German and is frequently replaced by the dative in everyday speech, so it is usually less important for beginners to focus on.
Word order and sentence structure
Another aspect of German that many learners find challenging is its word order and sentence structure. For instance, in subordinate clauses, the verb is typically placed at the end of the sentence, which can make it difficult to grasp the full meaning until the final word is reached.
Although this may seem confusing at first, it becomes much more manageable with practice. In fact, German word order follows a set of clear and consistent rules that are relatively straightforward to learn and apply in both speaking and writing.
Compound words
What often makes people state that German is “untranslatable” and “compound heavy” are the compound words. German builds highly specific single words by stringing nouns together, often coming up with words like “Schadenfreude” which has even been adopted into the English vocabulary.
While this may seem daunting to someone first learning the language, as building these specific words amounts to some very long words, learners often grow to enjoy playing around with the vocabulary.
Pronunciation
The pronunciation of the German language has often also been assumed to be very hard. It does have added letters with the “Umlauts” on the “ä”, “ü” , “ö”, which adds to the seeming complication.
However there are very set rules for pronunciation, and once you learn which sounds go with which letters, it’s quite phonetic and simple to pronounce.
There is also a lot of overlap in the German and English soundsystem, allowing English speakers to become accustomed to German pronunciation more easily.
What makes German easier than you think?
German and English are sister languages with a common ancestor - Proto-Germanic. This gives them a similar core structure in grammar and many frequent everyday words are built on the same foundation.
German also has a very logical grammar pattern with predictable cases and word-order rules- for example verb-second position in main clause and the time-manner-place adverb sequence. These set rules make it simple and logical to pick up German.
As mentioned above, pronunciation rules are also very consistent, making it an easy language to learn to speak in. For example the “sch” in German is pronounced like the “sh” in English or the “s” in “sp” or “st” at the beginning of a German word is pronounced as the English “sh”.
Additionally, the average progression from complete beginner to a B1 level is quite achievable. B1 is seen as the level initially required to achieve to live and work in a German speaking country.
Is German easier for English speakers?
German is a category II language for English speakers according to the Foreign Service Institute (FSI). The FSI categorises languages into five distinct tiers of difficulty for native English speakers.
With German being a category II, it suggests that it possesses relatively close vocabulary and grammatical rules to the English language with about 750 hours to gain enough understanding of the language to achieve professional working proficiency in speaking and reading.
While 750 hours may seem like a large amount, it can easily be broken down into 30 weeks of full time structured lessons and sufficient self-study.
If we compare that to Mandarin, which is a category V language, which would take 2200 hours and around 88 weeks, you could say that German is pretty easy!
As mentioned previously, there are overlaps in German and English vocabulary due to its shared roots. This means that some words are very intuitive for English speakers to pick up. Words like “Haus” and “House” or “Wasser” and “Water” are similar and some words like “Winter”, “Gold”, “Bus”, “Arm” are even the same!
How long does it take to learn German?
A1-A2 level in German: Approx. 180-200 hours. This includes basic conversation skills and use for travel.
B1-B2 level in German: Approx. 350-600 hours to reach B1 level and 600-800 hours to reach B2. This is suited for work and study, where you gain more of a level of independence in the language
C1+ advanced learning: Approx. 800-1200 hours. This is a complete fluent level of German speaking, reading, writing and listening.
Of course, to reach any level of fluency in a language, a lot of self-study and dedication is required, with an emphasis on consistency over intensity. Learning languages requires patience and dedication. Through City Lit’s class learning structure, you’re provided with an excellent level of consistency and support to aid learning.
What helps learners succeed and how can you learn most efficiently?
Regularity of practise and consistency is ideal to fully immerse yourself into the language. Spending time listening and reading the language as independent study can be a good way to do this.
Speaking early and often also helps to increase fluency. While input is great at getting accustomed to new languages, focusing ONLY on input can stall your conversation skills.
Structured classes can help a lot to lay out goals in steps rather than just self-study where you are responsible for your own growth. Classes can take the pressure off of yourself with a motivational teacher, and a peer environment is great for building confidence and learning from others.
Learning German at City Lit
Teaching approach
At City Lit, we focus on the communicative approach for adult learning. The communicative approach is a teaching technique used, in which fluency and communication is put at the focus of learning a language. This often works through integrating grammatical rules into contexts.
Flexibility
Courses at City Lit are very flexible. We have classes in the evenings and weekends, in person as well as online, to aid accessibility. The offer of Online provision means you can attend regardless of where you are.
Progression Routes
There are progression routes from beginner to advanced with the City Lit ensuring that you have a clear path with continuous learning.
Class learning
Many of my students praise classroom learning and say that their confidence grew once they started learning German in a group as they had to regularly practise speaking in front of their peers.
Self study and consistency
Many also claim that consistent learning and incorporating German into their everyday routine through listening to podcasts and reading books was far more effective than when they tried to rush through the language to learn it too quickly.
So… Is German hard to learn?
Like with every language, German has its difficulties, however it does also have its advantages. Whether you’re just trying to gain some experience for travel or looking to communicate with friends or even work and live in Germany, there is a lot the language has to offer. In the end you can find out for yourself how easy it is to learn by starting now!
FAQs
1. Is German harder than French or Spanish?
It completely depends on the perspective and what other languages you already speak and what your mother tongue is! At a first glance, many English speakers seem to think that French or Spanish are easier, however German tenses, spelling, and pronunciation are actually more straightforward. From an English speaker’s perspective a lot of German words are also very familiar due to shared routes.2. Can I learn German in 6 months?
It completely depends how much time you put into it through lessons and additional self study. If you do our German intensive three hour lesson a week course, in 6 months you should be able to communicate in basic everyday situations.3. Do I need to learn grammar rules?
While you don’t need to memorise textbook grammar rules, learning them from the beginning can aid fluency and make progression a lot easier and faster.4. What is the hardest part of German?
The accuracy in German could be said to be the hardest especially when starting out. But don’t worry, even if you get the word order and cases wrong, you can still be understood!5. Is German useful for work and travel?
Absolutely! While English is quite globally spoken at this point, knowing some German comes in very handy for more rural areas in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. There are also many work benefits to knowing German, being the most sought after language across multiple industries. Being able to speak the language opens doors to working in German speaking countries, which aren’t accessible in English. For example it is often a requirement to get to the B1 level to work in Germany.
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