Learn German by reading.

The best way to learn German is to read real German texts with instant tap-to-translate, prioritising the most frequent vocabulary and using spaced repetition to internalise each word with its gender and plural. Plenty of reading also helps the case system and word order start to feel natural.
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Lector reading a German passage with colour-coded word states and click-to-translate
Native speakers
~95 million
Difficulty (FSI)
Category II
To proficiency
~750 hours
Why German

Reasons to start.

01

Around 95 million native speakers — the most widely spoken native language in the European Union — and the language of Europe's largest economy.

02

A major language for science, engineering, philosophy, and business, with strong study and career opportunities in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

03

Shares Germanic roots with English, so a lot of core everyday vocabulary is recognisable.

Bonus: Shares Germanic vocabulary and structure with English and Dutch; knowing German makes Dutch, Afrikaans, and the Scandinavian languages more approachable.

Is it hard? How long?

The honest version.

FSI Category II (~750 hours), a step above the Category I languages. The vocabulary is often familiar, but four noun cases, three grammatical genders, and verb-final word order in clauses take dedicated practice.
Whatever the category, the method is the same: read a lot of German, learn the most common words first, and let a spaced-repetition system resurface them right before you forget. See the method .
A line of German

Am Sonntagmorgen gehen die Familien gern im Wald spazieren, und die Kinder sammeln bunte Blätter, während die Vögel in den hohen Bäumen singen.

On Sunday mornings, families like to take a walk in the forest, and the children collect colourful leaves while the birds sing in the tall trees.

How Lector helps

Read it. Practice it. Remember it.

The reader (above) turns any German text into a lesson — tap any word to translate it, hear it in a native voice, and track what you know. Then frequency-ordered cloze practice locks the core vocabulary in, and mined words push straight to Anki.
Practice

Drill the words that matter first.

Frequency-ordered cloze sentences build the core of German vocabulary, scheduled by spaced repetition so each one returns right when you're about to forget it — in multiple-choice or typing mode. Practise listening to native pronunciation on every word and sentence, powered by Google text-to-speech.
German cloze practice in Lector with multiple-choice options
Free resources

Free resources to get you started.

The German reference data and Anki decks below are free to download and use on their own. To turn them into a full reading course, self-host Lector for free or start on the cloud from $5/mo.

German reference data

Frequency lists and Anki decks built from open corpora — free to download and use.

Browse the data

New to Anki?

A from-scratch guide to spaced-repetition flashcards and loading your first German deck.

Getting started with Anki
Questions

Learning German, answered.

More on the method, or jump into the docs.
Get involved

Learning German? You're in good company.

Come chat with other learners on our Discord — swap resources, compare progress, ask questions, and stay motivated while you read your way in.
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Start reading German today.

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