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German language: how long does it take for an English speaker to master German?

  • I have self studied German for three weeks by reading through the "Essential German grammar" by Guys Stern and have basically familiarized myself with the most used grammar structure as being covered in the book. Now I am picking up stuff from newspaper written in German and found myself befuddled by the horribly long sentence and complex grammar structure. I have to read word by word and very slowly, and try to match the sentence structure in the news with what I have learnt, in order to understand. Though this seems to be an arduous task, I have successfully "deciphered" most of the complex sentence I have encountered. Maybe I am off for a good start? Do all German beginners find themselves in my situation where they could actually understand complex German sentences even though they may struggle a bit? How long should I be able to master the language for my current level as described above?

  • Answer:

    German is not an easy language. After just three weeks you definitely shouldn't expect much, keep practicing. But once you are comfortable with the modal verbs, passive tense, conditional tense and other more advanced grammar topics, from that point on it's a matter of continuous reading, for vocabulary. It's much easier if you already speak fluent english, as there are many similarities. And the long words that may look scary at first can be understood by breaking them into multiple words. I found it difficult until I learned the grammar really good. When you can spot the grammar mistake of a native german speaker you can probably consider you reached an important milestone. From that point onwards read german novels, try to "get" the idea behind phrases, even though you don't know all words. Shakespeare in german is really interesting - but difficult.

Andrei Cristof at Quora Visit the source

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Newspaper is the wrong way... It is written in a pretty convoluted way, with a somewhat different set of vocabulary altogether, what is known by some as "gehobene Sprache". I can probably read a technical textbook in German better than newspaper haha. Read something more casual, online articles, or even god forbid Bild. Try expanding your learning using something interactive like (This works very well even for me in refreshing my B2-ish German level) Listening: Listen to podcasts like Slowgerman by Annik Ruben, and comprehend the text. You can also use material by Deutsche Welle. If you like music, just try listening to some bands suited to your taste and understand some songs. This one worked well for me to internalise grammar rules. Use whatever works for you best, only you know.

Aditya Candrasaputra

It really depends on how much effort and time you put into it. I've been learning German for a year and a half. I spent 6 hours in class and 3 outside every week on average and I'm still far from fluent (I got my B1 certificate last month). However, I can read and understand most of the articles available in magazines and news websites. Being fluent in English will help you understand many of the common words and sometimes common sentence structures. It would greatly accelerate your progress if you learned while you are in Germany. For me I could only practice German during the class hours because I was learning in my home country and I didn't have the time and didn't know native speakers to practice with, so this slowed down my progress big time. Don't put all your focus on becoming fluent because you might be disappointed at the start. Just start learning and have fun learning something completely new and hopefully one day you'll look back and be surprised that you made it this far!

Nazeeh Ammari

You can join A1 to C1 super intensive courses in Max Mueller bhavan, Pune. These run for around 5 hours per day, Monday to Friday for a couple if months for each level. You can finish upto 6 levels within a year. And yes, MMB in Pune is known to be the best in India for learning German.

Kanchan Kanchi

Thank you for the A2A, nevertheless I fear I won't be able to provide a conclusive answer. I would say it is more a matter of how much you immerse yourself in the task. For me it was pretty quick a process (10 to 12 months) as I had a number of native speakers readily available for practice, took a lot of classes and was basically obsessed with all things German. With all certainty, getting used to the rhythm and "grammaticality" of the language were central points in my personal experience. So, bottom line: Practice hard and often, don't worry too much and in time you will succeed.

Sergio Domínguez

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