The 5 Chillest Ways to Learn German Speaking at Home

German is the official language of Germany and Austria, as well as one of Switzerland’s official languages. German is a part of the Indo-European language family’s West Germanic group, which also includes English, Frisian, and Dutch (Netherlandic, Flemish). The earliest known interaction of Germanic languages speakers with the Romans occurred in the first century BCE. At the time, there was only one “Germanic” language, and small dialect variations persisted for several centuries. One can only speak of a “German” (High German) language after the sixth century CE.

1 – An important aspect of speaking fluently is to listen properly. 

Improve your listening with authentic German listening resources you can get your hand on! Remember, you can’t speak, what you can’t hear properly, so the first step to speaking a language properly, is to be able to hear it properly. If you are unable to identify the words that are being spoken or register the accent and its pronunciation you would not be able to speak German. 

2 – Watch German videos with English subtitles and wherever possible the same English movies with German subtitles. Furthermore, I recommend you use a shadowing technique to speak aloud the dialogues in the near possible accent as the German speaker, using near possible pronunciation and words to begin with. This is done in an attempt to get a near-native accent. Look for a variety of authentic video resources online including news, to add to your practice bucket. It would give you the flexibility to hear multiple German speakers talk, and help you reach near-native proficiency!

3 – Listen to as many authentic German audio resources as you can find online. Audio such as Spotify playlist, YouTube music, radio, podcasts is all very helpful when used at the right time, in the right manner. Listen to these passively to register in your subconscious during spare time, such as when washing your car,  walking your dog,  waiting in a queue etc and switch to active listening mode whenever possible. 

4 – Speak to yourself in the mirror, speak to your pet or even a plant at home. Try pronunciations, accent, intonations in speech, making small meaningful sentences and practising them at home before speaking to a German speaker. This would not only give you a lot of confidence but also keep you motivated to further your learning.

5 – Practice speaking with German natives.

Look for German speakers in and around your neighbourhood. You can start talking to them, register what they’re talking about, capture words you hear, identify words that get repeated in day-to-day usage, seek feedback and get clarification on topics that stir you. Try and volunteer for German community service if available. However if none of the above is possible then you could look for conversation partners on sites such as HelloTalk, Tandem, Italki. conversationpartner.com, Languagepartner.com and more. 

German is an inflected language having four cases for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative), three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter), and strong and weak verbs. More than 90 million people use German as their first language, making it one of the most widely spoken languages on the planet. German is a widely learned foreign language and one of the primary cultural languages of the Western world.

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