Hey guys, welcome to my channel. This is Zoe, a language enthusiast who speaks seven languages. I'm doing a binational PhD in sociology between France and Germany now based in Frankfurt.
Today I'm super excited to make this video. For this channel's old friends, you know, I've been focusing on studying German recently since I moved here. I've discovered and tried a lot of resources and used all my ultimate language learning methods to quickly improve my German. I would love to share them with you in this video. Let me briefly tell you about my German learning journey.
I've been learning German for three years but with many interruptions. I studied A1 on my own then went to the Goethe Institute in Egypt for my A2 class, then I continued on my own to B1, then I took intensive B2 courses at the university here, and now I'm studying C1 on my own. Language schools, books, websites, online lessons, YouTube channels, podcasts, attendance partner, anything you can imagine, I've tested different methods. This video will be structured.
Learning resources for the different levels. I won't just give you a list but select the best one. I will also tell you how I use them and their pros and cons.
This video will be perfect for you if you are just starting to learn German, you are lucky, or hitting a plateau after an intermediate level. And at the end of each level, I will give you my two-hour study plan template. Please hit the like button if you like this video and find it helpful. best way to support me. If you have any questions, leave comments.
So let's get into the video. Ah, please remember to subscribe to my channel. For someone who's just starting to learn German, I suggest focusing on one learning resource, a maximum of two if you have more time. Otherwise, you will be confused and overwhelmed by all the new information.
During this period, you will be learning all the basic but essential things of a language. So you need to absorb everything, review and repeat enough to build a solid foundation. If you are not a self-learner or need more guidance or interaction, you might ask me if you should attend a language school. Goethe is very good and reliable if you can find it in your country.
And the material and the teachers are good. But the problem is that they have a fixed schedule. I remember I was in Egypt, our intensive lessons were three hours daily between 5 and 8 pm.
We had a lot of homework. If you missed one class, you must catch up. There are also excellent online German courses.
My favorite platform is Lingoda. They have their own lessons that target vocabulary, grammar, and communication. The content is interesting and useful.
For A1 level, they have practical topics like You can take private lessons or small group lessons. The teachers are all native speakers of German. One of my favorite things about Lingoda is its flexibility.
Compared to traditional language school, you have a lot of time options. If you miss a lesson, you can join another group on another day. This is super convenient if you have a busy study or work schedule like me. Another thing I encourage you to try is their sprint challenge.
If you take a lesson every day for 60 days, you can get 100% cash back. In 60 days, you can already finish 811 or even 812 lessons. You can already have a good base. You can also take a lesson every day. every two days to receive 50% cashback.
If you are interested in GoDa or this challenge, please use the link in the description box. You can get the discount code from Zoe. One of the learning resources I use is NikosVeg. The free online course is provided by Deutsche Welle, a German international public broadcaster. I've talked about this in several of my videos and it's the main resource I use up to B1 level.
But here I would like to explain how to use this platform. more effectively. For each lesson, there's a short video for the first three or five lessons. Just follow the exercises directly since you have yet to learn about this language. When you are done, go back to the video, rewrite the script.
Don't be lazy for this step. Then you can read the grammar and vocabulary at the end of the video. Don't rush to learn too much for this step, but focus on digesting everything you learn.
I highly recommend the Goethe deck from level A1 to B1 on Enki for the cap. You can simply search and download them on Anki. There are words, examples and pronunciation.
You can learn 10 to 20 new words per day. If you want to build your deck, remember to never write down a word, but always add an example sentence. You will remember the words better in context. Another important tool is the dictionary, especially the conjugation dictionary. I recommend the reversal because you can save new words in your favorites.
and review them directly with the application. They have a spaced repetition feature. Start building your word bank with one application. I don't recommend Google Translate, to be honest.
Even it's super handy. You can save words, but they don't have a review feature. Also start doing conjugation exercises after you learn the basic tenses and build a list of verbs in an Excel or notebook.
You can watch this. video to learn how I take smart notes. Here is a two-hour study plan template that will allow you to cover all the skills, listening, writing, speaking, reading, grammar, and vocabulary.
A2 level, the main resource, Nikos Vek or Lingoda's lessons. You can do both or target your weaknesses with a Lingoda lesson if you have time. For example, a lesson with Nikos Vek by yourself. A communication or speaking lesson with Lingoda group lesson.
If you want to target your grammar, you can try the Grammatik Aktiv A1-B1 book. I recommend using this book at this level because they mix exercises from different level A1, A2, B1. It's the best way to revise A1 grammar and prepare for B1.
An exercise that was super helpful for my pronunciation was to follow a short article with Nachrichtenleiste. This is the German website where you can find short news with slow speed audio. There are transcripts and you can change the speed.
They are difficult for the A1 level but perfect for B2 level to practice your pronunciation, increase your vocabulary and build good shadowing habits and skills which are going to be super useful after. I need to buy an Allenburger in the Bergen. How many seconds? So far.
For listening comprehension, you can start listening to songs, podcasts, or watch videos. You can check out the YouTube channel Easy German. I like their content.
The topics are interesting, and there are a lot of colloquial expressions. It is also a good way to discover German culture and society. Their podcast is also excellent, but I recommend it for the B1 level. For the podcasts, you can listen to Deutsch podcast, you have content for different levels or sometimes you have the grammar lessons. At this level, don't try to understand everything.
It's impossible. Just listen while you work or do housework. You have enough intensive listening exercises with essential learning resource, language lessons, Nikos Vek.
So a focus point and other complementary things to help you gradually build the immersion environment is the point of this period. If you start to find a tender exchange partner at this level, please focus more on the pronunciation. So here is the two-hour study plan template for level A2.
B1, a fundamental level. If you want to see more progress, it's time to challenge yourself. Nicosvec and Lingoda still work, but for the shadowing exercise, Nachrichtenleicht will be too easy.
You can try the website News in Slow German with a speed of 1 to 1.5. The topics and vocabulary are more complicated. And I highly recommend the Easy German Podcast for this level. Listen to it when you have time.
This was my main listening resource for this level. I used to listen to it with a transcript. When I go out, I listen to the same podcast again while walking.
And I try to remember all the new words. I just learned is the I think it's really good way to revise the vocabulary for this level you have a lot of good podcasts from Deutsche Welle like Das ist ein Mann so, Deutsch in Alltag you can also start listening to audiobooks before going to bed you can simply type the title in her book after this book on youtube keep listening to easy german podcasts and stop watching vlogs in german I don't really have favorite German vloggers, sorry. I'm more into documentaries and serious topics like news.
But I used to type in their vlog and watch whatever I could find. But I only watch videos with CC subtitles to check the words quickly. Now you can talk about many things. at this level so think and talk to yourself only in German.
If you want to know more about this technique I call it like a language learning hack. You can watch this video five golden habits of language learning. If you have a tender exchange partner try talking about more complicated topics like a book a movie it's time to step out of your comfort zone.
Here is my two hour study plan template. B2C1 level finally my favorite level. I have a lot to share. If you are at this level, congratulations, you are ready to enter a new intellectual world.
Many friends have written to me asking how to break the plateau. Either increase the intensity by increasing your study time per day, per week, giving yourself more tasks, or increasing your focus and maximizing the effect of everything. each learning session plus immersion. The strategy for this level is different from A1 to B1 level, where you need to cut back on resources to quickly build a language's solid structure without too much confusion. So the classic study, take notes, and review plan is more appropriate for that level.
But for the B2 to C1 level, you need to expose yourself. to the language as much as possible. And you don't need to take notes and review all the time because it's too overwhelming and not effective.
So apart from the exercises in grammar book Grammatik Aktiv, B2C1, I really like the exercises. Inside, I separate the resources into two categories and two objectives. Everyday life and academic or professional life.
Even if you already have a B1 and B2 level and know a lot of complicated words, my experience in Germany told me this doesn't mean that you can speak fluently with Germans and understand them because there are many colloquial expressions and they just speak so fast. So to improve understanding and expression in everyday life, the primary resources are German movies and series. The Easy German podcast is too easy for this level.
even I really like them. Here is a list of German movies and series that I recommend. So it always tries to give you concrete and useful things so remember to give me a like for my efforts. Academic or professional German, I want to talk about it for two hours. Nah, next time.
So I watch ZDF heute Nachrichten or Tagesschau while having breakfast. It's my favorite routine. I can learn what's happening in Germany and the world, allowing me to talk with my friends and colleagues.
I like Mr. Vincent Tougal, Geschichte, for historical topics. I watch documentaries on ARTE, my favorite channel. Using your target language to watch content that really interests you is so satisfying.
I save any new words in the video in my reversal favorites and go through the list quickly after learning. Sometimes I do a Revision at the end of the week. I don't use Enki too much for this level because I will just repeat and memorize the words in an immersion environment.
Podcasts I listen to Lance and Precht for political and social topics and I have a Zotio port for philosophical and sociological topics. You don't have to copy me. The point is to look for the podcasts in your own field and listen to it as much as possible. Instagram.
I follow Tag as a child. Spiegel Magazin and ATER, as well as a bunch of German influencers in cooking, exercise, and other domains. I would love to say a few words about Tagesschau's Instagram page. It's amazing. Especially the update on Morgan, which sums up the news of every day.
Every time I open my Instagram, I just read the headlines to feel less guilty that I use so much social media. I say that I can learn a bit German. And I'm starting to read papers in German. It's still really hard for me, but I will just read a page or two a day out loud.
Arbeitsmarktbeteiligung in Zukunftsorientierungen. I believe if I keep doing that and build up enough vocabulary, I will read faster and faster. I have the exact same feeling with my French. As I finished my DLVC1 exam, I started my master's class, I could only understand 20 to 30 percent. I remember we had to read Michel Foucault, it was my night.
Mayer, a French philosopher. At that time, it took me four hours to read five pages. After two or three months and one year with a lot of daily reading, I now have no problem reading these kind of books in French.
So I always encourage myself when I feel stuck or frustrated in German learning. I would just tell myself, stick to your daily routine. You will get there.
And practice makes perfect. As they say in German, it's not kind of masterful in humanic phalan. Yeah, a little motivation at the end of the video. And here is my two-hour study plan template for B2C1 level. I hope this video can help you.
Even just a little inspiration, it means a lot to me. Please feel free to write me in comments if you have any questions. It would be lovely if you could give me a like and subscribe to my channel.
So see you soon guys, bye, tschüssi!