How to learn German online quickly and effectively?

Officially, I guess I could be considered a polyglot. However, I don’t see myself as such :). My native language is Serbian. That also means I am being near-native in Croatian, Bosnian and Montenegrin if one sees them as separate languages). I am a teacher of the modern Greek language, also fluent in English. Furthermore, I have intermediate knowledge of both Spanish and Russian and can understand (and potentially say something in) basic Portuguese.

However,  German was always something out of my world so to say. As a child, I didn’t really like the sound of it. Later on, as I could hear it more often all around, it frightened me a bit with its long, compound words and, as I was being told, strict and complicated grammar rules. So, enjoying the other above mentioned languages, I avoided German and was telling myself I don’t need it and I should only improve the languages I already speak.

Then, all of a sudden, German became very popular to learn in my country but not only. German economy blossomed which made a lot of people want to move to Germany or learn it for work with German companies. My idea of German started changing gradually but I still didn’t have time to start learning it.

Before we get to the ‘How can I learn German online ‘ part, let’s explore the WHY first.

Why Learn German Online?

And then, my daughter approached the middle school and is about to start learning German in September. I realized, being a linguist myself, it would be pity for me not to be able to help her with the basics at least. Then I decided I should start with the lessons a few months in advance.

I was lucky enough to bump into BiCortex Languages and its offer for online language lessons.  My schedule was and generally is very busy. Online lessons were ideal to save me time for other obligations. I do love the lessons in-person. However, apart from being busy, I was reluctant to search for the lessons in the area because Covid-19 was/is still not under control around here. So I decided to take lessons from home.

What are my learning options?

As a language teacher, I enjoy working with groups in general although it might have its disadvantages. It all depends on your goals but also on what kind of person you are. Anyway, being able to choose between individual and group lessons with BiCortex Languages, I opted for a group and haven’t regretted it.

I was also able to choose the frequency and the length of the lessons and the total course. My course went once a week. Lessons were 90min long. I believe this is a minimum one should dedicate to language learning, though having lessons more often, regardless of their length can help the learning dynamics.

German online group lessons

My group consisted of three other students, all from different countries. That gave us more topics to discuss and make, event the basic conversation, more interesting and fun. Learning a language in a group makes the lessons more lively and colourful. You are able to learn from others – their mistakes and questions they asked, the experiences they mention.

We started the lessons with one teacher who, unfortunately, had some health issues and had to stop teaching us before the end of the course. This was an unhappy circumstance and we, the students, were worried if the other teacher will pick up the course successfully. However, we were proved wrong. Both teachers were native German speakers, experienced and very professional. I believe the teachers are a great and very important asset of BiCortex.

Although their styles differ, we enjoyed learning with both of them. I also learned from experience that changing the teacher and thus the learning style and potentially the total teaching method can help a student see the language from a different perspective and help them learn better.

BiCortex virtual platform

The lessons took place on BiCortex virtual platform which is fun and also offers a lot of options. The teachers were able to share various materials with us and we could access the platform and download the material even in between the lessons.

I took a break over the summer but I am definitely going to continue with the lessons from September and I plan to enrol my daughter to a children’s group as well.

I am still a beginner and therefore don’t need to do a placement test offered on the website, however, this is very useful in case you learned a language before and you are not sure what is your current level. German, watch out, here we come to conquer you!

Article author – Tanja Milosavljevic

Image by Julius Silver from Pixabay