Episode 29 - How Long Does it Take to Learn German
Some Guidelines to Give you an Idea What to Expect
2024-03-28 11 min
Description & Show Notes
This episode of the Better German Podcast discusses the time it takes to learn German, covering different levels of proficiency, hours of learning required on average to learn the different levels and what to expect to be able to do when you learned the level. If you are trying to figure out how long it will take you to reach your individual goal of learning German, this episode can help you!
Summary
In this episode of Better German, host Susi Blumel dives into the intriguing question of how long it takes to learn German. Drawing from her own experiences and insights, she provides a detailed breakdown of the hours required for beginners to progress from basic conversational skills to more advanced levels. Listen in as she addresses common scenarios such as learning German for travel, living in a German-speaking country, or starting a business in the region. Susi also shares valuable tips for language learners and highlights the ongoing nature of language acquisition. Plus, she invites listeners to explore the various resources and courses available for German learning. Whether you're considering embarking on a German learning journey or seeking to enhance your language skills, this episode offers practical advice and encouragement for your language learning endeavors. Tune in and join the conversation on how to navigate the fascinating world of mastering the German language.
Bullet Points
Primary Topic: How long does it take to learn German?
- Time it takes for a total beginner to start speaking a little bit
- Hours of learning to speak about immediate environment in short sentences
- Time it takes to reach the next level and beyond
- Approximately 300 hours for every further level
- Factors affecting learning time
- Differences based on the learner's native language
- German may be more difficult for beginners compared to English, Spanish, or some other languages
- Similarities between German and Slavic languages like Russian
Primary Topic: Learning German for vacation
- Language requirements for travel in German-speaking countries
- In big cities and tourist areas, English is commonly spoken
- Effort to learn German can be appreciated by locals
- Longer time needed to fully understand the locals
Primary Topic: Learning German for business purposes
- Language proficiency needed to start a business in a German-speaking area
- Various levels of proficiency according to the European framework for foreign languages
- Time estimates for achieving different levels of proficiency
- The need for lawyers or interpreters for serious business matters, regardless of language proficiency
Primary Topic: Continuous learning and citizenship requirements
- Continuous nature of language learning
- Even native German speakers continue to learn new words and improve their language skills
- Time estimate for achieving the level required for Austrian citizenship
- Resources and courses available for learning German, including individual lessons, group lessons, and online self-paced courses offered by Susi Blumel
Primary Topic: Conclusion and further support
- Offer of support for those seeking to learn German, including a link to further information and a free consultation
Links
- Appointment for free consultation and placement
In this episode of Better German, host Susi Blumel dives into the intriguing question of how long it takes to learn German. Drawing from her own experiences and insights, she provides a detailed breakdown of the hours required for beginners to progress from basic conversational skills to more advanced levels. Listen in as she addresses common scenarios such as learning German for travel, living in a German-speaking country, or starting a business in the region. Susi also shares valuable tips for language learners and highlights the ongoing nature of language acquisition. Plus, she invites listeners to explore the various resources and courses available for German learning. Whether you're considering embarking on a German learning journey or seeking to enhance your language skills, this episode offers practical advice and encouragement for your language learning endeavors. Tune in and join the conversation on how to navigate the fascinating world of mastering the German language.
Bullet Points
Primary Topic: How long does it take to learn German?
- Time it takes for a total beginner to start speaking a little bit
- Hours of learning to speak about immediate environment in short sentences
- Time it takes to reach the next level and beyond
- Approximately 300 hours for every further level
- Factors affecting learning time
- Differences based on the learner's native language
- German may be more difficult for beginners compared to English, Spanish, or some other languages
- Similarities between German and Slavic languages like Russian
Primary Topic: Learning German for vacation
- Language requirements for travel in German-speaking countries
- In big cities and tourist areas, English is commonly spoken
- Effort to learn German can be appreciated by locals
- Longer time needed to fully understand the locals
Primary Topic: Learning German for business purposes
- Language proficiency needed to start a business in a German-speaking area
- Various levels of proficiency according to the European framework for foreign languages
- Time estimates for achieving different levels of proficiency
- The need for lawyers or interpreters for serious business matters, regardless of language proficiency
Primary Topic: Continuous learning and citizenship requirements
- Continuous nature of language learning
- Even native German speakers continue to learn new words and improve their language skills
- Time estimate for achieving the level required for Austrian citizenship
- Resources and courses available for learning German, including individual lessons, group lessons, and online self-paced courses offered by Susi Blumel
Primary Topic: Conclusion and further support
- Offer of support for those seeking to learn German, including a link to further information and a free consultation
Links
- Appointment for free consultation and placement
Here you can get early access to the upcoming A1.1 (total beginner) German course.
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I hope you enjoyed this episode. If you did, please subscribe and share the podcast.
I would love to stay in touch, so for news, new courses and books, subscribe to my newsletter.
Do let me know, which subjects you would like covered!
And watch out for the next episode - I publish a new one every Thursday.
Transcript
Welcome to the Better German podcast.
My name is Susi Blümel, and I will teach
you German and everything around the
language , the countries and the culture.
So this week's episode about how long
it takes to learn German, is actually
taken from a video from a video
interview that I did a while ago.
So I'm going to also put
the whole video on YouTube.
So if you want to see it as a video,
then you can see it there too.
Enjoy this episode.
So, how long does it take to learn German?
if you're a total beginner, and you
want to start speaking a little bit,
this generally can be done, I've seen
it done in maybe 100 hours of learning.
And when I say hours of learning, I
suppose that you have a way of learning,
either a good course or a good tutor
that you're like making good progress
with, plus your extra time, you take
to practice to read, to write sentences
or whatever you do to practice.
So it should take somewhere on average
people about 100 hours to go from
nothing to go to the first level where
you can start speaking about your
immediate environment in short sentences.
This sounds maybe long or
short, but that's on average
something that people have.
And then after that, It's maybe about
two, three hundred hours to come
to the next level where you can use
very basic tenses, you can also speak
about the past a little bit and about
the future, and, maybe just to give
you an idea, after that, about three
hundred hours for every further level.
That being said, it can make a difference,
which language you're speaking originally.
If you speak English, you may have
a little bit of a harder time to
understand the German grammar than maybe
if your native language is Russian.
sounds maybe funny, but Russian or a few
other Slavic languages have, according
to the grammar, similarities with
German, and it's going to be harder.
It is work.
I think it's work to learn any language.
but German maybe, I think German could
be a little bit more difficult in the
beginning than, for example, English.
It is relatively easy to start speaking
English or to start speaking Spanish.
These are languages that
easier in the beginning.
German is a little bit more like French
or probably Russian, which I've not
really tried to learn, but I know
it a little bit from some students.
it's not so easy to start in the
beginning, like you have to learn
quite a bit to like even make correct.
Shorter sentences, but that's not
that there's too much importance
given on the correctness of
the sentences in the beginning.
So the next question was.
If I want to go on vacation
to German speaking country.
How long do you think it would
take me to learn enough German?
To talk to language?
to get along.
Cool.
Wow.
That's an interesting question.
First of all, most of my students actually
try to learn German because they live in
a German speaking country and it's not
their native language and they need it.
So it's a very different situation,
but it's a good question because
obviously people learn German maybe
to speak to German speaking people,
which I think is a very nice thing.
first of all, the good news is, in the big
cities at least and in the tourist areas,
I think, in all three of these countries,
you will find people that speak English.
I mean, it's a general thing.
It's not like in in maybe France
or Italy where it is very hard to
find people that speak English.
So that's the good news However, if
you put in these first 100 hours that
I said in the beginning, that will
give you, the possibility to speak
about your immediate environment.
I think it will give you credit because
If you go to a place and you make
an effort and you show that you care
to learn the language, even though
it's not perfect, I think people will
be happy about it and will like it.
However, obviously to really
understand, Austrians or Germans or,
or Swiss, it obviously takes longer.
It takes much longer.
yeah.
Okay.
And the next question was.
If someone wanted to start a business
in, the German speaking area.
how long, would it take to learn to
speak, German, good enough to do that.
Oh, wow.
That's a good question.
Okay, good.
Let me first, I will, I wanna say
something, even though I'm trying not
to, to use too many, how do you say, I.
Special words.
there is something called the European
Framework, for foreign languages,
basically, and they have a numbering
system for the level of the ability
to use a foreign language and it
starts with A0, A0 means you're a total
beginner and you know nothing, basically.
And, A1 is this first level
I said you can achieve with
usually about a hundred hours.
And, then we come to A2.
Which is, by the way, an important
level, because you need A1, for example,
if you want to get a visa in Austria.
The first visa, they
require you to know A1.
And to really have that level
It's about a hundred hours.
A2 is a little bit more advanced.
You need this for the next visa.
Like if you want to have a visa,
where, where you can stay about
two years in Austria or something
like that, then you need A2.
And that's maybe another 150 hours.
And then the next level that
is very, the, next levels are
B1, B2, and then it's C1, C2.
So B1 and B2 are already
longer levels than, A1 and A2.
So, I would say B1, B2 is about two,
three hundred hours of learning while
being in a German speaking environment.
So, it's learning for about three hundred
hours each plus going out and having
communication, conversations with people
that are in a German speaking area.
And then C1 is a level that most people
will only try to achieve when they
want to go to university, to be honest.
I mean, most people that I
know, even business people,
will usually be happy with B2.
So I think when you are in a B2
level, It means you can speak about
pretty much anything except for maybe
highly philosophical or scientific.
Subjects and I think most people are
very happy with B2 and then if you want
to start a business and you have B2
Then you can talk to people and get an
idea of how they are and communicate
with them But then for the real serious
stuff you get a lawyer or interpreter,
which you will anyway, even if you
speak German So I would say If you sum
this up, this is about 100 for A1, 200
for A2, 300 for B1, and 300 for B2,
so this is about 600, 800, 900 hours,
I would say, so you can do the math.
It depends a little bit on
how much time you put into it.
I do not think Even though it is
offered as intensive courses, that these
things work as super intensive course.
Like, you do not really achieve
a B2 level by doing a 50 hours
a week course for six months.
I don't think it works that way.
But you may be able to pass a B2 exam.
However, if that's, yeah, I don't
suggest that because I think if
you live in in a German speaking
country you should actually speak the
language and not just have the exam.
In summary.
I mean, first of all, learning German,
if you really go into this, and if you
live in a German speaking area, I think
you have to understand that you never
stop learning learning a language.
my native language is German.
I've been speaking it for,
like, almost 50 years.
And, I don't stop learning German.
I still I look in a dictionary and so on.
So this is not something that ends.
However, if you want to learn German and
you like start putting in maybe one hour
every day, I think, what did we say?
In about three years, you can be at the
level where you you know enough German
to apply for the Austrian citizenship.
This is not the only prerequisite you
have, but many people that come to Austria
want to be able to eventually apply for
a, Permanente Niederlassungsprivilegung,
so that means that they can stay
here or even a citizenship if they
married an Austrian, for example.
and in order to do that,
you need B1 2 level.
And I think, and you can, you
should be able to achieve that in
learning about three years, like
one hour every day on average.
With a good course or a way that helps
you because it can be much longer
if you have a bad course, obviously
And if you are looking for a course
or for classes, We can help you.
I offer everything from individual
lessons, to group lessons.
and online self learning courses.
Self-paced courses.
And you can find the info's
on bettergerman.info and you
can also make an appointment,
for a first free consultation.
I'll put the link in the show notes
and I wish you the best for your
German learning experience and.
if you want to reach out,
then hear from you soon.
Bye-bye.