Learning German: From 0 to C1 in 2 years

Three years ago, I made one of the best decisions of my life and moved from London to Berlin. There is one detail that I had not fully considered: German.

Something to know before reading on: I love languages. This is probably one of the reasons I write today. As a student with a tight budget, I worked as a translator and copywriter, when both of these jobs existed. I am French and was lucky enough to learn English early on. I then lived in Chile and learnt Spanish there. I am now learning Italian with my partner, to be able to communicate with her family.

I still use the methods I will describe here to learn Italian, and hopefully many other languages in the future. They have worked for me, and I hope that they will work for you.

I did not learn German in school. In our family, it was just not a language we studied. I started at a very beginner level. In July 2024, I took and passed the Goethe Institut C1 exam.

This article describes my learning journey. I hope that you will find some aspects of it useful. Let’s get into it.

Having a Goal

If you don’t need German, you will probably never learn it. You may, but I sure wouldn’t. I have tried to learn languages without a clear goal in mind and have failed every single time.

Learning a language can be tough; it requires putting yourself through the rediscovery of the feeling of not being able to form a proper sentence.

I moved to Berlin as a single man in his mid-twenties. I wanted to meet people living there. Being able to speak German was a good way to get there. I learnt Spanish in Chile when my goal was to survive working on a farm. The simpler, the better.

Whatever the reason is, make sure that you know why you are doing this. Visualise your objective before reading on.

Start with Grammar, Focus on Being Able to Tell Stories

For any language I have studied, I have always had a tendency to learn basic grammar and vocabulary over my first two months. The goal there is to be able to write stories, describe your day and your childhood. This would include learning the most commonly used words, verb tenses, and syntax structures. Making mistakes is irrelevant here; the goal is to understand the structure of a language, the building blocks one can use to form sentences.

There are many ways to do this. I have tested a few tools and found Babbel to be the best. Lessons are well built, interesting, useful, and I found that whatever I learnt through it stuck relatively well.

Once you know the basic building blocks of the language, you can move on to the following steps. This would be the equivalent of the A1/2 level.

Journal in the Language

From the early phases of learning a language, I would also hold a daily journal. Entries there could be very short. First, write without researching or checking anything. If there is something you cannot write, try describing it with the words you know. I would recommend spending no more than 15 minutes per entry.

As you review what you wrote, feel free to research whichever word you were missing or to check your conjugation. I like using DeepL for this. This section is also connected to Leverage Generative AI and Practice Daily.

Speak in Real Life

Speaking German in Berlin is not easy. Early in my Berlin life, I ordered a cappuccino with my best German. The waitress replied with an exasperated: “Please no German today, I can’t be bothered.”

Still, speaking in everyday life is the best way to become comfortable with the language. This can sometimes be “cringe”. I forced my German friends to speak German with me for months. If this sounds too hard, you can always find compromises, and speak 20 minutes in German, and then English (or any other language) the rest of the evening. I am currently doing this with Italian.

Live Group Classes

I could not understate the importance of Babbel live group classes. The website offers live classes for all levels and at all times of day. You simply pay a yearly subscription and can attend as many classes as you want. I would aim for at least two per week for serious preparation.

The fact that these classes are online is very convenient for professionals. I found group classes much easier than 1-to-1 lessons, which can be very tiring.

The contents include themes such as: expressing states of mind, describing one’s childhood, preparing for a job interview, etc. Whatever you are looking to do with the language you learn, you will probably find topics that interest you.

Leverage Generative AI

Could we really write a post on learning languages without Generative AI? Large Language Models (LLMs) are absolute game changers. Practising has never been cheaper. They were probably the main reason I was able to get to Italian B1 next to a full-time job and a teaching position.

With LLMs, you can write as much as you want in a language and get every sentence corrected. The importance of prompts has tended to decrease as models became more competent. The prompt I used for German is the following:

You are a certified C1-level German examiner. Your task is to evaluate my 
written and spoken German skills. I will submit texts or respond to 
questions, and you will:

1. Correct any grammatical, lexical, or stylistic errors in my responses.
2. Provide detailed feedback on my strengths and weaknesses.
3. Assign a grade (based on the C1 grading scale) for each submission.
4. Offer practical tips and strategies to improve my German proficiency.
5. Challenge me with follow-up questions, including complex topics related to politics, society, or culture, to assess my ability to express nuanced ideas.
6. Write an improved version.

Your feedback should be constructive and focused on helping me achieve 
fluency and accuracy at the C1 level.

Really, anything works these days. I would recommend asking for a list of corrections, an improved version, and some general tips to improve the quality of writing.

At the time of writing (Feb. 2025), it is possible to chat with Gemini in “Live” mode, as a conversation. I have not tested this to its full extent, but will probably start using it to get to Spanish C1 in July.

Practice Daily

I keep being surprised by the amount of things I can get done when working on a project daily. Since the start of the year, I have been learning something new in Machine Learning for 15 minutes per day. Results have been impressive.

The same applies to learning new languages. I prepared for the demanding C1 exam in two months, by dedicating 25 minutes or twice 25 minutes per day. Be it writing, going to class, speaking with friends, or reading articles… Keeping this consistency makes a huge difference.

Replicate Exam Conditions

Taking a language exam can be stressful. A good understanding of the exam format is a great way to alleviate this pressure. I learnt this the hard way.

Having taken and passed both the Goethe B1 and B2 exams, I thought that I already knew what I was in for.

Walking into the C1 oral expression part, I had to prepare a presentation on Datenschutz (a very German concept). Working in a tech firm in Machine Learning already gave me an advantage. Thanks to my GPT-4-assisted practice, I was able to quickly script a solid 2-minute presentation with a good structure and examples.

In front of the examiners, I gave my talk. Proud of my delivery, I struggled to understand the embarrassed look on their faces. After 5 seconds of silence, one of them told me that I still had 3 minutes left. Unlike the B1 and B2, C1 oral presentations are of 5 minutes.

Improvising three minutes in German on the topic of Datenschutz is not something I wish on anyone.

I had a very similar experience at the Italian B1, having to talk uninterrupted about a stock photo of a work meeting is not fun.

All of that goes to say, go to the institution’s website, download some past exam topics, and put yourself in test conditions. This can save you a lot of stress on the day.

Final Thoughts

Over the last three years, I have found that language tests were a motivating way to learn a language. They gave me deadlines and structure, something to prepare for. Using the German C1 certificate, I can now teach in German at a German university. I have still not done this yet (work in progress). Having this opportunity already feels empowering.

I hope that you will find some of the ideas shared here useful in your learning journey. If you think there is anything I have missed, feel free to share it in the comments section. Viel Erfolg!