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How to Learn German online

If you are considering to learn German online, know that you will benefit from learning a prominent language of business and culture in the EU and beyond with over 229 million German speakers worldwide. After English, German is the most widely spoken language of the European Union. This is fitting when you consider that German is an official language in numerous countries— including Austria, Belgium, Germany, parts of Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Poland, and Switzerland—and that roughly 10% of all newly published books are written in the German language.

Learning to speak German has a reputation for being a difficult feat. At first glance, German does have some intimidating vocabulary. Mark Twain famously took offense to the “clumsy” tendency of the German language to create compound, multi-syllable words. Take the word Freundschaftsbezeugung, for example, meaning “demonstrations of friendship.” Lengthy, certainly, but before you’ve had even your first German-language lesson, you may be able to begin breaking down this giant. Notice the word starts with “Freund” a cognate of the English word “friend” with the same meaning. With over 128 million people worldwide speaking German as a second or learned language, you will not be alone as you learn the nuts and bolts of German grammar, and take down tricky vocabulary piece by piece.

As a trusted language learning software, Rosetta Stone has 25+ years experience developing language programs that build confidence. You’ll learn the foundations of the German language and develop vocabulary presented in an order that’s tried-and-tested to ensure better understanding of how to communicate effectively in German. Using Rosetta Stone’s award-winning mobile app and software, you can engage with German at your own pace, helping you to speak German from day one.

Learning the German Alphabet?

Our first stop on the language-learning journey is the German alphabet, which has the same 26 letters as the English alphabet, plus the characters ä,ö,ü and ß. In addition, the German language has some sounds not found in English. Let’s take a look at some of the more difficult sounds.

In German, the ch sounds like the hiss a cat might make in words such as ich (I), mich (me/myself) and Licht (light). In words like Buch (book) and Bach (stream), it sounds like the Scottish pronunciation of the “ch” in Loch Ness. While the scharfes S, ß, looks tricky, you can make its sound as a “ss.”

The next three letters can be swapped for familiar English letter sounds. Remembering these letter swaps seems difficult at first, but because the sounds are already familiar to you, it requires only a bit of determination and practise. The German j sounds like the English y, the German w sounds like the English v, and the German v sounds like the English f.

The vowels that German doesn’t share with English are ä, ö, and ü. These vowels appear with two dots above them. These double dots are called Umlauts and they signal special vowel sounds. Some sound like English vowels, but other pronunciations are a little harder to master; let’s try to break them down together.

The ä sounds like the short-e sound in English, like in “bet” as in fällen (fêl-en) (to fell [a tree]). The ö sound is created by forming the vowel ‘e’ as in “her” (without the “r” sound) with forward rounded lips schön (shern) (pretty). The ü sound is made by making a “ooh” sound as in “lure” only with pursed lips, as in Tür (tuer) (door). By far, the best way to figure out how to pronounce these tricky vowels correctly is to practise and get feedback from native speakers.

Normally, after practising the alphabet sounds, we advise language learners to jump into pronunciations but in the case of German, we’re going to need to do some grammar work before getting started. You don’t need to learn every rule, but you need to be familiar with basic constructs like the six tenses and four cases, as well as the five different versions of “the” that change depending on gender, case, and number.

Rosetta Stone’s immersive approach combines learning vocabulary with real-world situations that build towards a greater contextual understanding of key German phrases. As with most worthwhile endeavours, there aren’t any real shortcuts, but by combining solo practise in the Rosetta Stone award-winning mobile app and practising with other language learners in the Rosetta Stone online community, you can take control of your progress and accelerate your learning.

Learn to Pronounce German Words

Rosetta Stone encourages learning foundational concepts first. Each lesson includes practical exercises that get you speaking German and working on your pronunciation consistently. Because German is a much more phonetically consistent language than English, German words almost always sound the way they are spelt. You can use this phonetic knowledge to pronounce long, compound words, that otherwise might be overwhelming.

The German language is famous for combining several words into one. Where English might use two or three words to describe something, often the German language will combine the ideas into one compound word. Orange juice, for example, is Orangensaft. Orangen + Saft = Orangensaft. It is also important to remember that the gender of the word which comes last (der, die, das) will be the gender of the new compound word. For instance, “die Orange” (feminine), but “der Saft” (masculine), so it is “der Orangensaft” (masculine).

Another leg up you have already is being an English speaker. German and English are considered linguistic siblings, because they originate from the same mother tongue, both being Germanic languages. Consider that 80 of the 100 most common words in English are Germanic in origin. These most basic, most-frequently used words in English and German derive from the same roots, making them extremely similar. For example, the German phrase “guten Morgen” translates to “good morning,” and the German “willkommen” translates to “welcome.”

Using what you already know and breaking down these compound words can help you learn to speak German faster than you ever thought was possible. And getting the pronunciation just right is a snap with TruAccent®, Rosetta Stone’s patented speech recognition technology. TruAccent® listens and compares your accent to native speakers so you learn how to pronounce German words and phrases quickly and accurately. In addition to helping you tackle tricky pronunciation, you can compare your accent to that of native speakers for a more authentic language learning experience.

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