When it comes to learning German, do you do any of these?
- Translating word-for-word – Instead of thinking in German, learners rely too much on direct translations, leading to awkward phrasing.
- Ignoring noun genders – Many learners don’t consistently learn the gender of nouns, making it harder to use correct articles and adjective endings later.
- Avoiding speaking out loud – Fear of making mistakes leads to hesitation, which slows progress in speaking confidence.
- Misusing ‘false friends’ – Learners might think they know the translation of some words because they are the same words, but the meaning is different.
- Skipping sentence structure rules – German has a specific word order, especially with verbs, but learners often stick to English-style sentence structures.
- Not practicing listening enough – Many learners focus on reading and writing but struggle with understanding spoken German, especially at native speed.
- Sticking to the same vocabulary – Learners often overuse basic words instead of actively expanding their vocabulary.
Hopefully, you don’t recognize all of those bad habits, but here are 7 suggestions how you could break those bad habits. You don’t have to do all 7 over 7 days, take your time, decide which habit you should tackle first and then work on it until it isn’t a bad habit anymore.
Day 1: Stop translating word-for-word
📌 The Problem: Translating directly from English leads to unnatural sentences.
✅ The Fix: Start thinking in German!
🎯 Challenge:
- Look at five everyday objects around you and describe them in German without translating from English first.
- Write a short daily diary entry in German.
Day 2: Master noun genders
📌 The Problem: Ignoring der/die/das makes grammar harder later.
✅ The Fix: Learn nouns with their articles!
🎯 Challenge:
- Pick 10 new German nouns today and memorize them with their articles (using mnemonics if it helps).
- Try saying a sentence with each noun (e.g., Der Tisch ist groß.)
Day 3: Speak without fear
📌 The Problem: Avoiding speaking slows down fluency.
✅ The Fix: Speak daily, even if you make mistakes!
🎯 Challenge:
- Record yourself speaking for 2 minutes about your day in German.
- Speak aloud while doing simple tasks (e.g., Ich koche Spaghetti.)
Day 4: Stop Relying on English Cognates!
📌 The Problem: Some German words look like English words but mean something completely different (false friends!). Learners often misuse them, leading to funny (or embarrassing!) mistakes.
✅ The Fix: Learn the most common false friends!
🎯 Challenge:
- Study 10 tricky false friends (e.g., bekommen ≠ become but get/receive)
- Write a sentence using each one correctly
Day 5: Fix sentence structure
📌 The Problem: Using English word order leads to mistakes in German.
✅ The Fix: Follow verb-second and verb-last rules.
🎯 Challenge:
- Rewrite five English sentences in correct German word order.
- Say three complex sentences aloud with verbs at the end (e.g., Ich weiß, dass du müde bist.)
Day 6: Improve listening skills
📌 The Problem: Only reading/writing leads to trouble understanding real German.
✅ The Fix: Train your ears daily!
🎯 Challenge:
- Listen to a short German podcast or YouTube video without subtitles.
- Try to catch five new words and use them in sentences.
Day 7: Expand your vocabulary
📌 The Problem: Sticking to basic words limits fluency.
✅ The Fix: Actively learn new words!
🎯 Challenge:
- Find 10 synonyms for basic words (e.g., instead of gut, learn ausgezeichnet, prima, wunderbar).
- Try to use at least five of them in sentences.
And just in case you have some different bad German learning habits, here’s a freebie for those who want to turn whatever that bad habit is into a good habit: Break bad German learning habits – a 7-day challenge
