German · Deutsch

Guided 97 resource listings .

German has full A1–C2 paths and on-site tools on this site — start with the level that matches your speaking, not your reading vanity. Last reviewed 2026-08-01

About German

Language family
Indo-European, Germanic, West Germanic
Where it's spoken
Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg
Speakers
roughly 135 million native speakers
Writing
Latin

German descends from the West Germanic dialects spoken across central Europe and standardized gradually after Martin Luther's 16th-century Bible translation helped fix a common written form. It is the most widely spoken native language in the European Union. Its close cousin Dutch and its more distant cousin English share large amounts of core vocabulary and grammar with it.

Speaker counts are approximate orders of magnitude for learners, not census figures. Family labels follow Glottolog-style classification; vitality notes (when shown) follow UNESCO WAL / Ethnologue-style framing and should be re-checked for program planning.

Sources

How to start

  1. Pick one free course (or free-with-upgrades) below and finish a short beginner unit before hopping apps.
  2. Bookmark one dictionary or grammar reference and look up every unknown word for a week.
  3. Add 10–15 minutes of listening most days — news, radio, or a teaching channel.
  4. Drill vocabulary with First 500 words , then situational lists in topic decks .
  5. Go deeper with the Language Hacks – German series · Buy on Amazon.
  6. When ready, use a tutor marketplace listing below for short speaking sessions.

Some outbound links may earn us a commission. Commission never affects inclusion or ranking. Full disclosure.

Resource Type Levels Cost Verified
Alison German courses
Well-known learning resource.
course paid A1-B2 freemium
Babbel German
Beginner path with strong brand recognition.
course paid A1-A2 paid
Clozemaster German
Sentence-based cloze practice.
course paid A2-C1 freemium
Coursera German courses
Well-known learning resource.
course paid A1-B2 freemium
Drops German
Well-known learning resource.
course paid A1-A2 freemium
Duolingo German
Structured beginner practice.
course paid A1-A2 freemium
edX German courses
Well-known learning resource.
course paid A1-B2 freemium
FluentU German
Authentic video with interactive captions.
course paid A2-C1 paid
GermanPod101
Pod101-style audio and video lessons with a free tier.
course paid A1-C1 freemium
Glossika German
Well-known learning resource.
course paid A1-C1 paid
Lingvist German
Well-known learning resource.
course paid A1-B2 freemium
Mango Languages German
Well-known learning resource.
course paid A1-B2 paid
Memrise German
Video and spaced-repetition vocabulary course.
course paid A1-B1 freemium
MosaLingua German
Well-known learning resource.
course paid A1-B2 paid
Rocket German
Interactive paid course.
course paid A1-B2 paid
Rosetta Stone German
Immersion-style commercial course.
course paid A1-B1 paid

Know a better classroom-friendly resource for German? Suggest it with attribution.