Learn German for beginners online. The best German language textbooks

How to learn German on your own: step-by-step instructions

Do you want to learn a language without spending money?

Does the thought of attending classes and doing homework make you sleepy?

You can't decide where to start and what resources to use?

Our answer - learn German on your own! And how exactly - you will find out by reading this article. .

Regardless of why you are learning a language - whether you are attracted to German culture or the language itself, whether you are going to Germany to study, work or travel, you have a unique opportunity to take responsibility for your own success in learning German. By learning a language on your own, you set the “rules of the game”: what to learn, in what sequence, how many hours a day, how many times a week.

You may already have a question: is it possible to learn a language on your own without spending a lot of money?

Our answer: yes, you can!

Become your own personal tutor and teach yourself to speak German! You can find many free sources on the Internet:

German films, TV series, radio, books and newspapers
web pages dedicated to learning German
audio courses
free apps

The internet is full of these treasures just waiting to be found! As you've probably already noticed, you can create an immersion atmosphere in the German language right at home without spending a penny.

If your first foreign language is English, then it will be a little easier for you to start learning German on your own. As you know, English and German belong to the same language group - Germanic. However, in addition to similarities, these languages have many differences. For example, German grammar is significantly different from English, but has common features from Russian.

Can't wait to get started? Here are 8 steps to start your exciting journey into the German language.

1. Master the alphabet

You should start mastering the German language from the very beginning, namely by learning the alphabet. If you are already familiar with English alphabet, then we can safely say that half the work is already done. Still, spend enough time practicing your pronunciation. Special attention require letter combinations of vowels and consonants, as well as letters with an umlaut, since depending on whether there are two dots over a, u or o, the grammatical form, and often the meaning of the word, changes.

For example, Apfel is an apple, and Äpfel is apples, schon is narrower, and schön is beautiful.

2. Learn simple words

Already at the very beginning, learn a few simple words and expressions in German, for example, master greetings, pronouns, as well as such basic words as “yes”, “no”, “thank you”, “please”, “excuse me”, etc.

3. Enrich your lexicon

Learn new nouns, verbs and adjectives every day. It is important to get used to learning German nouns together with articles from the very beginning. Set yourself small and easily achievable tasks, for example, learn,. Change the language on your social media pages and on your phone to German, and I guarantee that you will instantly remember words like “Freunde”, “Nachrichten” or “Einstellungen”.

4. Master the word order of a German sentence

The next important step is this. Most likely, your interlocutor will be able to understand what you want to say, even if the word order is incorrect. However, you should not be guided by the principle of “just to say” and hope that you will be understood. Try to be strict with yourself and not give yourself any concessions so that your interlocutor does not fall into a linguistic stupor.

5. Learn short German sentences

Having mastered the word order, you can safely move on to memorizing small phrases in German, which are often used in everyday speech. For example, “What is your name?”, “How are you?”, “What time is it?” etc.

6. Watch films in German

One of the most pleasant and effective ways learning a language means watching movies and TV series. Watch films with Russian dubbing and German subtitles, and after a while you will notice the results. You can also watch your favorite, well-watched and memorized films or TV series with German dubbing, which will certainly give you a lot of impressions and increase your vocabulary. While watching films, feel free to “parrot” and repeat individual words or entire sentences after the characters, which will have a beneficial effect on your pronunciation.

7. Read the news in German

Try it, what if you like it? You can always look up unfamiliar words in the dictionary!

8. Connect with Germans and people learning German and interested in German culture

Even if you're determined to learn German on your own, you can still use a little help! Register on forums and portals dedicated to learning the German language, join

We decided to learn German, but you don't know where to begin? Or do you want to review material you forgot at school? Do you want to study on one's own? Were prepared especially for you online lessons for learning German.

So, what does the site offer you for success? learning German from scratch?

First of all, especially for the entry level in the form online lessons tutorials were prepared on teaching German A. A. Popova for beginners and intermediate levels. No prior knowledge is required from you. All language elements are presented step by step. The most important thing that is required of you is wish learn German. At first you may have a dislike for dull German sounds, but over time it will completely or partially disappear. Details about the organization of classes for learning German are written in the first introductory text. Doing the exercises is not at all difficult, because for this there are special forms for entering text, as well as answer keys. To view the answer, hover your mouse over the key: . You can only peek back after you have completely completed the exercise! If you have any questions, you can ask them under the lesson as a comment.

Go to -› list of lessons ‹- (Click)

Reasons to learn German

The German language is not difficult.
Words are both heard and written, you just need to know the letter combinations. You probably won't even have to learn the alphabet, because it is of Latin origin, which most people already know. And if you know English, it gives you a big advantage. English and German have common roots, which means there are a large number of similarities, which will greatly facilitate its learning. Also, the German lessons on the site are very easy, so if you can't learn them, congratulations, you're very lazy. * There should be a Flash sloth emoji here, but there isn't one.*
German is the most commonly spoken language in Europe.
English, French and German are the 3 official languages of the European Union. In absolute numbers, German is the second most commonly used language. However, if native speakers are taken into account, German comes first. Knowing a language gives you about 100 million more people to communicate with. Of course, this is not a billion, as in Chinese, but still
German is the language of inventors and innovators.
A large percentage of the most outstanding achievements were first invented in Germany. More than 100 Nobel Prizes have gone to outstanding German scientists for their achievements in physics, medicine, chemistry, literature and other fields. And this does not include Austria and Switzerland, the other 2 main representatives of the German language. So if you are going to add Nobel Prize to add to your resume, learning German might not be a bad place to start. Or at least you can read their scientific works.
German - important language in the scientific community.
It is the second most commonly used language in the world of science. One of the reasons for this is that the German book market is the 3rd largest in the entire world, just after Chinese and English. But only a small number of books have been translated from German into other languages. Therefore, knowledge of German is simply necessary here.
German is the key to world-class higher education.
German universities have an excellent international reputation. In 2011, the country was the fourth most popular destination for international students, with more than 250,000 of them enrolled in German schools. Moreover, the German system higher education boasts a high number of universities with very low tuition fees and even completely free. It is not surprising that scientists and researchers gather there in droves. Sounds like a good investment for the future.
Germany is the locomotive of the European economy.
German is an interesting choice not only for scientists, but also for businessmen. Germany is the largest economy in the European Union and the 4th largest in the world. It is home to numerous international corporations and is always at the forefront of new technologies. Communicating with someone in his native language has always been a sign good manners, and using German with business partners can dramatically increase your chances of effective negotiations and successful professional relationships.
German companies are world market leaders.
Do you want to work for a company that is a leader in international market? Knowing German can help you open the door you need. Germany is home large quantity strong economic players such as Siemens, BMW, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Porsche, Adidas, Hugo Boss, Lufthansa... And that's not all. Meanwhile, Berlin is emerging as a hub for innovative start-ups. Some even call it the Silicon Valley of Europe. Therefore, knowing German offers enormous potential for improving your career opportunities.
German also has a huge online audience.
You don't even need to meet these 100 million people in real life. You can do this while lying on your favorite couch. German sites make up a huge part of the Internet. Technically, the German domain .de is the second most popular after .com. Second place on the entire Internet! Yes, I'm shocked myself.
The Germans are everywhere.
Even if you're not planning on visiting a German-speaking country or you're not keen on stalking Germans online, don't worry: Germans will find you. If you have traveled, you must have already noticed this phenomenon. German citizens are some of the most insatiable travelers. With six weeks annual leave and a lot of money to spend, you can run into these “poor souls” anywhere in the world. It is only recently that the championship has passed to tourists from China, and before that the Germans were the leaders. Therefore, even a little knowledge of the language can be useful to you on the road.
German culture is part of the world heritage.
Although Germans have a reputation as analysts and lovers of logic, the German-speaking world is also home to outstanding minds in the fields of music, literature, art and philosophy. This is the language of Goethe, Kafka, Brecht and Mann. It was the native language of composers Mozart, Bach, Schubert, Beethoven and Wagner. Revolutionary philosophy was first written in German when Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche and Heidegger were just beginning their creative careers. Learning German gives you the opportunity to appreciate the masterpieces of these creators in the original. Just look at Goethe's Faust!
If none of these reasons apply to you, then this reason is Rammstein.

It is difficult to imagine learning German without using textbooks. And if you have just started learning, then you won’t be able to do without them.

Hello, dear friends. My name is Alena Kirpicheva, I have been teaching German for about 12 years. IN Lately Several people have added me to Skype who, in principle, are not going to study with a tutor; they would like to learn German on their own.

They simply ask for advice - where to start, what to tackle and, in general, where, so to speak, to run, and where not to run.

Where to begin?

So, you’ve decided to learn German on your own. The first thing I would recommend is to take some kind of TEXTBOOK as a basis. It would seem a simple solution, but, nevertheless, for some reason, not everyone decides to start with choosing a textbook.

For myself, I have long divided German language textbooks into two types: textbooks published in Germany and prepared directly by native speakers, and textbooks published in Russia. Both of them have both disadvantages and advantages.

German textbooks are aimed at developing speaking skills. In them you will find real German speech, conversational phrases. Grammar is taken without fail and it is immediately applied in conversation. I love Themen neu, Delfin, Schritte. But what, in my opinion, is a drawback of German textbooks is that the grammar is not always worked out properly.

Those. Exercises to develop grammatical skills are not always enough. This deficiency, however, can be more than compensated for by using some Russian textbook. This is where you will find “grammar heaven”. Lots of different exercises and translations.

Everything is aimed at developing and consolidating grammatical skills. But, unfortunately, this has nothing to do with speaking skills, and the vocabulary is most often outdated.

In my opinion, the best thing is to combine German and Russian textbooks. I’m not sure whether I’ll be able to study on my own “from scratch” using German textbooks - everything there is in German, oddly enough. So if you are a complete beginner, it makes sense to start by using some Russian manual. Everything is laid out there in great detail. Well, then you still need to combine them.

Phonetics

Don't neglect phonetics! Your pronunciation is what the interlocutor hears first of all and from which, in fact, he gets the first impression of your command of the language.

Tell me whose speech will be easier for you to perceive: a person who good pronunciation and some grammatical errors, or someone with terrible pronunciation but excellent grammar? I find it easier with the first one. I agree, the opinion is controversial. But nonetheless. I would say “they greet you by pronunciation, but see you off by grammar” :)

Yes, repeating words after the announcer is not the most exciting activity. But, firstly, this will serve as excellent training for you in reading rules. initial stage. And secondly, it will save you from detailed reading“introductory phonetic course”, which is available in almost all domestic self-teaching books.

I like the pronunciation books Middleman Doris „Sprechen Hören Sprechen”, Gerhard G.S. Bunk „Phonetik aktuell”, Assimil publishing house “German without labor today” (“Deutsch ohne Mühe heute”). Everything is clear, there are exercises for every sound. So, we’ve chosen a textbook, we’re practicing pronunciation...

Grammar

As for grammar, everything is simple: in any tutorial there is a lot of everything for training grammatical structures.

But, you can use something additional. I like the domestic ones Alieva S.K. “German grammar in tables and diagrams”, Ovchinnikova A.V., Ovchinnikov A.F. “500 exercises on grammar”, Tagil I.P. "Deutsche Grammatik in Übungen" and "Deutsche Grammatik". I really like the last two books - everything is very detailed, there are a lot of exercises for each rule.

There are also a lot of grammar books from German publishing houses: Chr. Lemke and L. Rohrmann „Grammatik Intensivtrainer A2″, S. Dinsel and S. Geiger „Großes Übungsbuch Grammatik”, naturally, Dreyer Schmitt „Lehr- und Übungsbuch der deutschen Grammatik”. I wouldn’t recommend starting with it: there is a lot of unfamiliar vocabulary for a beginner. But it will definitely come in handy in the future.

Vocabulary

Learning words is perhaps one of the most pressing issues when learning German. How to determine the gender of a noun? Are there any rules governing this issue? Dear friends, yes, there are some rules. You will also find them in the above-mentioned books.

But I'm afraid that such rules as, for example, "to masculine names refer natural phenomena(winds, precipitation)” or “all nouns ending in “-ung” – female"and two dozen other similar methods for determining the gender of nouns will not always help you. Therefore, the gender of nouns MUST BE LEARNED. Deal with it.

Der - Die - Das

Every German noun has an article (which depends on its gender). Let's remember articles with the help of a fun game. Can you complete all the levels?

But the most important thing is to practice vocabulary in conversation. Here we smoothly approach the topic of speaking skills.

Speaking skills

Well. It seems like we learned everything - the first 40 words, a couple of grammatical rules, and practiced pronunciation. In general, we armed ourselves. So now comes the most important part. We need to start talking. To have a conversation you need an interlocutor. Since you are learning the language on your own, you don't have many options. Your first interlocutor is yourself. Yes, first you will have to TALK TO YOURSELF.

Firstly, you will always listen to yourself (as they say, it’s always nice to talk to smart person), you will not be in a hurry and will be able to complete the phrase without fuss, calmly. Secondly, you simply have no other options to begin with. Start simple. Describe everything that is around you, everything that is happening.

For example, you have mastered the construction „Das ist ein(e) …”, did the exercises. Let’s start training: walk around the apartment and say: "This is a table, this is a chair, this is a cup, this is a spoon". Bring a dictionary with you to look up unfamiliar words. 🙂

You have learned several verbs and their conjugations - describe what you are doing: “I wash the dishes. The cup is here. Mom is talking on the phone". It's simple. Don't build long sentences right away. Work within the grammatical rules you have already covered. And gradually, expanding your vocabulary, learning more and more new grammatical rules, complicate your sentences.

Describe everything that happens around you, what you see and hear. In general, gradually increase your momentum. This way you will understand the memorization of articles (especially when cases begin) and grammar. A monologue speech will be built.

For dialogic speech, still look for a real interlocutor. The forums are full of people looking for someone to talk to in their target language. Go there, you will find a lot of friends. Again, Skype opens up many new opportunities. You can find native speakers, just pleasant conversationalists.

Let's celebrate! In principle, I believe that a tutor, by and large, is needed to teach how to speak. This is an interlocutor who will correct mistakes. You can handle grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation yourself, although it will certainly be easier with a tutor.

I think at this point I would like to put a comma in my thoughts on this topic. There are still some points that I would like to highlight. But I will leave them for the next article. Have questions? Feel free to write in the comments!

To broaden your horizons, you need to learn foreign languages. They will help you better understand a foreign culture, touch the great works of the classics of world literature in the original, and learn a lot of new and interesting things. When choosing a language, you need to be based on your preferences.

People interested in Germany ask the question: is it possible to learn German on their own? Those who have achieved success in this important task confidently say yes. You just need to try a little and spend some of your free time.

What is needed for this?

For positive result You need to have motivation and set a deadline for achieving the goal. It is equally important to organize the learning process in an interesting way, otherwise the desire to master a rather complex language can quickly evaporate. Determine why you want to start practicing. Perhaps you will be traveling to Germany, working in a German company, or communicating with native speakers. There can be many reasons. After all, Germany is the leading country of the European Union, and its language is very widespread and popular.

To learn German from scratch on your own, it is important to choose the right teaching material.

A good option is audio lessons. It’s convenient to listen to them on public transport, making good use of the time needed on the road and during your lunch break.
Along with an audio course, it is often necessary to use diagrams, special cards, textbooks, or other didactic material, helping to quickly master knowledge.
Along with audio lessons, it is useful to study the German language tutorial. Try using “German for Beginners”, compiled by V. Bukharova and T. Kessler. With its help, you will quickly remember basic phrases.
Be sure to purchase a comprehensive German-Russian and Russian-German dictionary. Set a goal for yourself to memorize 10 new words every day, and you will not notice how your vocabulary will be enriched.
Visual information is perceived more quickly by many people. Therefore, to learn the language and improve pronunciation, video lessons are needed.

If you remember the articles and Irregular Verbs If it doesn’t work out, sign up for courses and study as part of a group. There you will receive regular tasks for self-execution, communicate with like-minded people and, perhaps, you will achieve success faster.

Alphabet and umlaut

You need to start studying from the beginning. The first step for a language learner is to understand the alphabet. For those who attended English classes at school, this will not be difficult. The languages belong to the general group - Germanic, and their alphabet is of Latin origin.

If you set yourself a serious goal, you can master a language quickly. In it, words are written in the same way as they are pronounced, you just need to know the consonant and vowel sound combinations well and remember when an umlaut is placed above the letters Ä ä, Ö ö and Ü ü - two dots on top.
You need to figure this out and learn how to pronounce the umlaut at the very beginning, otherwise your speech will be difficult to understand correctly.
Most often, two dots appear in words used in plural, but sometimes they change the phrases completely. It is convenient to learn how to pronounce them by listening to educational audio or video material.

Some people mistakenly compare umlaut with a feature of the Russian alphabet - the letter E. In fact, there is absolutely nothing similar between them. These points have different meanings.

Start of classes

The main difficulty in the German language is articles. With their help, the gender of nouns is determined. German grammar differs from Russian, so at first students have to memorize nouns along with articles in order to speak correctly.

If you don’t give up on learning, articles will gradually cease to be a problem, and language acquisition will begin much faster.

Learn new words systematically. These should be not only nouns, but also other parts of speech. To successfully memorize prepositions and verbs, it is advisable to find educational poems or songs. In this form, they are stored in memory faster.

Remember the study foreign language At school. At first, children learned to describe pictures, memorized basic expressions, names of days of the week, months, and kitchen utensils. Don't neglect this moment. Simple words necessary for communication.

A little later, it is important to understand how Germans construct sentences. They do it differently than the Russians, so it’s difficult for beginning students to understand.

The Russian language has its own rules, and it is easy to arrange words in a sentence in a wide variety of orders. In German this is strictly prohibited. There, each word has its place, and their order is strictly fixed.
To understand, you need to learn conjunctions and remember that in German grammar The subject always comes first and the predicate comes second.
In addition, it is important to learn the forms of verbs, which can also be difficult. You need to learn how to manage them, decline them by case, use them in the plural and singular.

If you need to know how to learn German on your own and quickly, after mastering the basics, start watching films released in Germany. It is useful to include a film that you have seen many times in Russian dubbing, so you are well familiar with the plot and dialogues of the main characters. A simple way of studying will bring a lot of impressions and significantly increase your vocabulary.

Search the Internet for the series in German “Extra Deutsch”. It is designed specifically for learning. The characters in the film pronounce phrases slowly and clearly, so you can calmly repeat the expressions after them. Each episode comes with German subtitles so you can learn the pronunciation and spelling of the words at the same time.

What to do next?

To quickly learn a language, it is useful to use it in different areas life. Find a German news site on the Internet and read the notes published there every day. Right away you will need a dictionary and a lot of time for this, but gradually you will notice that you instantly understand what is written.

Read a fiction book in German. It is advisable to choose a familiar work, then you will have to look less into the dictionary, because you will understand some words intuitively.

Change the language in settings mobile phone and try to figure out the controls.

It is useful to study information about the origin of a language. This is an interesting topic that is intertwined with the history of countries such as Sweden and Denmark.

The final stage

When learning a language at home brings positive results, think about communicating with the residents of Germany. Thanks to modern technologies, it’s easy to do without leaving your apartment.

Especially in popular in social networks Communities of like-minded people have been created dedicated to the study of German culture, history and language. There it is easy to find friends who are fluent in the foreign language you need, enter into correspondence with them and subsequently start communicating via Skype.
This practice is incredibly useful because mastering spoken language is the most important step in learning any language. It will help you perceive words by ear, recognize slang expressions and abbreviations.

At first, certain difficulties may arise. To reduce them to a minimum, arm yourself with the necessary notes during a conversation, open a phrase book and be sure to turn on the online translator on your computer. It will help you translate unfamiliar phrases of your interlocutor. By talking regularly, you will no longer need helpers and will understand everything on your own.

According to the observations of people who are interested in how long it takes to learn German colloquial speech, this takes about 2 months. During this period, a huge vocabulary is developed and an understanding of how to correctly construct sentences comes.

To learn German from scratch, it is important to immerse yourself in the language environment, read more, listen to songs, and study the culture of Germany. If possible, it is advisable to visit this country, admire the beautiful castles, museums, nature and communicate with people. Having set a goal for yourself, feel free to do everything to achieve it. Of course, at first it will be difficult, but gradually you will get involved and the process will become easier. The main condition for success is regular study, perseverance, and then you will quickly be able to speak German and understand native speakers of this beautiful language.