Hi there, friends! Today I’d like to talk to you about learning German. 🇩🇪

Yes, exactly. Learning German has been one of the longest relationships of my life. And it was never love at first sight. It was more like one of those marriages of convenience, where I had to learn it because I studied — and consequently lived — in Germany.

When I first moved to Germany, language-learning apps were relatively simple. Personally, I studied German back in Ukraine – first with a group of fellow learners, and then took private lessons. At that point I was more interested to play Sims 3 at home than doing my homework, so barely anything stayed in my brain.

Fast forward to 2026, and now there are tons of options promising fluency, perfect pronunciation, and apparently a whole new personality. And that is not taking into account AI. And ohh, we are gonna talk about that as well. But before that!!!

Spoiler alert: no app will magically make you fluent. I know, shocking. 😉 What apps can really do for you is help you build consistency in your learning, expand your vocabulary, practise speaking, and survive those awkward moments when you accidentally order six loaves of bread instead of one. For me that was already pretty helpful as a beginner and later on as well. So, let us dive in.

🦉 Duolingo

Let’s start with a green owl (special shoutout to its social media marketing team).

Duolingo is one of the easiest ways to build a daily language-learning habit. The lessons are short, colourful, and designed to make you feel productive even when you’re sitting on the sofa in your pyjamas, pretending to be a serious student.

What I like:

• Excellent for beginners (even my mother tried it and found it super engaging, especially the logo changes on her screen)
• Encourages consistency through streaks (and once you enable notifications, you’re in for one guilt trip after another)
• Free version is still useful
• Great for learning basic vocabulary

What I don’t like:

• Grammar explanations can be a bit limited
• Real-life conversations are not the level I was looking for
• Not much speaking practice

My verdict: Duolingo is quite good for daily learning, keeping up with the owl, feeling surge of productivity and pride in daily streak (if of course you can maintain it, unlike me – hehe), but you’ll surely need to complement it with other resources if you really want to learn the language, especially speaking.

💻 DW Learn German App (Levels A1, A2, B1)

While DW does offer a mobile app, I have to admit I rarely use it. Most of the time, I simply visit the website directly. Since I spend a large part of my day working on a laptop, learning on a bigger screen feels much more comfortable. The website also gives access to a wider range of materials and language levels, including B2 and C-level content, which can be harder to find in many free learning apps.

One feature I particularly appreciate is the free placement test. If you’re not sure whether you’re an A2, B1, or somewhere in the mysterious dimension between “I understand almost everything” and “Ich spreche kein Deutsch,” the test can help you find your current level and get you started with the most suitable course.

The platform offers learning materials from A1 all the way to C-level German. Depending on your level, you’ll find interactive exercises, videos, audio lessons, grammar explanations, articles, transcripts and manuscripts, as well as vocabulary practice. Isn’t that cool or what? 🤓

What I really like is that the materials feel practical and engaging rather than overly academic or political. You get exposure to real German while still having enough support to understand what’s going on.

What I like:

• Completely free
• Excellent content from A1 to C1/C2 level
• Free placement test
• High-quality videos and audio materials
• Great listening practice
• Lessons include transcripts and exercises
• Website offers much more content than many language-learning apps
• Perfect for independent learners

What I don’t like:

• The platform can feel a bit too much at first, because there’s so much content there
• Less engaging than apps like Duolingo, so you need a bit more self-discipline
• Progress tracking is not the best, doesn’t show it as engagingly as other apps
• The website navigation can take some getting used to

My verdict: If I could only recommend one completely free resource for learning German, DW would be near the top of the list. It may not have a green owl being maddened at you for missing your daily streak, but it offers something even more of a use – an enormous library of high-quality learning materials that can support you from your first German words all the way to advanced levels.

I’ve used many different language-learning apps and websites over the years, but DW remains one of the resources I return to again and again. Now I mostly read news with transcripts and some artciles and videos I find interesting. If you’re serious about learning German and don’t want to spend a fortune, I highly recommend giving it a try.

📝 Volkshochschule Apps & Website (Levels A1–B2 Beruf)

I first encountered this website/app while doing my Integration Course in German, and I immediately fell in love with it. It’s totally free — you just have to sign up, and you can start learning right away. The courses run from A1 to B2 Beruf (Profession/Work) and cover many different topics. Each level provides a full spectrum of exercises — grammar, listening skills, vocabulary. After each topic, you’ll be given a test to check your understanding of the material.

What I like:

• Writing exercises
• Assignment correction by a tutor (you have to be patient and wait a bit — I can imagine many people are doing this course, and tutors need some time to get back to you)
• Clear explanations
• Repetition of different words in many exercises (which is cool for completely free source)

What I don’t like:

• No speaking training or feedback
• No levels beyond B2
• Could be a bit more interactive
• Rather simplistic design (which can also be positive thing actually)

My verdict: A very underrated website. Great value for no cost, and very useful for beginners.

📊 BUSUU

Unlike Duolingo, Busuu feels much more structured and official. One feature I particularly like is the ability to receive feedback from native speakers — and you can also contribute by helping other students who are currently learning your native language (give and take).

What I like:

• Clear progression from A1 onwards
• Strong grammar focus
• Speaking and writing exercises
• Useful vocabulary and tons of repetition for better memorization
• Native-speaker corrections

What I don’t like:

• Less playful than Duolingo
• Quite some features require a subscription (they have some discounts over the years, so if you want better check once in a while, especially it might be on winter season around Christmas ior a bit earlier)

My verdict: If you’re serious about improving your German rather than just maintaining a 300-day streak, Busuu deserves a place on your phone.

AND (as most recent addition) – Learning with AI

And yes, I am talking ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and co. This one I discovered most recently and have been trying to do more or less consistently. And so far I love it, it is super fun and can be tailored especially based on your needs. Here is how I do it.

I go to ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini and use some prompts for them to help me learn the language. What I love to do is to give them some background, describe my current level, previous knowledge, my goals and preferences. Ans there you go! Here is example of one of my prompts:

Hi, can you kindy help me improve my German language skills? I have studied German before and reached B1 long time ago. Since then I didn’t practice much, just grocery and doctors. My main goals are: 1. Build consitency in learning. 2. Reach C1 in 9 months. 3. Learn real-life conversational language as Germans typically use unlike official one 4. Build learning suitable for my ADHD 5. Learn career lingo for project managers in branding agency

So far, I have all three (ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini) generating me tailored lessons on daily basis, which is super convenient. Of couse, please be mindful that some of those can’t do it unprompted, so you might need to open the app daily and say ”continue” or ”next lesson please”.

And, if you feel especially crazy, you might even generate the PDF pf you lesson, upload it to Notebook LM and create fun presentation, interactive quizz or even flashcards for your lesson.

So many options there! Just need some willingness to learn and time(wishing I had more of both – haha).

Well, I hope this post was helpful for you! I, myself, know the struggle of learning German and trying to find the best possible way to do it. I wish you luck with your present and future endeavors with the German language, and I hope you reach the results you’re looking for! 🍀