So you've decided that you'd like to join a live German class (either in person or online), as opposed to self-study with apps, video courses, or books. Great! Now you might be asking yourself, though, how do I choose the best language school to learn German?

As someone who started teaching at language schools in Germany when Pluto was still a planet, and co-founded his own school in Berlin over 10 years ago, I'm excited to share some insights to make your decision much easier.

1) Know yourself

Let's get right to a crucial step that a lot of people skip when looking for the best language school to learn German (or any other language, for that matter). Most people just sit down and start googling language schools in their area (or online) without really giving any thought to the question of what they actually want and need. It's worth a look.

The first question to ask yourself is what your goal is, and the second question is what you're willing to put up with in order to achieve it.

Do you want to learn German because you live in Germany and you just want to get by in basic day-to-day situations but are otherwise not too interested? Are you planning on getting a job at a German company or want to get to know real Germans outside of the expat bubble? Do you need to pass a certain exam for visa or work permit purposes, to enter a university, or to fulfill some other official requirement? 

Which of those you choose makes a significant difference when choosing the best language school to learn German. From an operational standpoint, think of a school as a factory that's streamlined to process raw materials (German learners) into some type of finished product, and the processing looks different if the goal is to attain basic skills, become fluent, or to pass a test and get a certificate.

Once you've determined your goal, imagine what you'd be comfortable with in terms of class size, cost, commute to the school (obviously this is not a factor if you're doing online classes), and the length of the course(s) until you reach your goal. 

Think about what you'd prioritize, what you value. Because these are things you really can control, but keep in mind that adjusting one value will almost inevitably alter the others as well.

Once you're comfortable with your goal and your expectations, let's move on the the next essential factor on your quest for the best language school to learn German. 

2) Crunch some numbers

I'll say one thing right off the bat when it comes to numbers: If you're reading this article and the language school you're considering needs more than 40 x 45 minutes of class time to have you finish level A1.1, steer clear: It'll be agonizingly boring and you'll feel like you're wasting your time. Seriously, you're better off just learning level A1.1 on your own.

Now that I got that off of my chest, let me share with you some other numbers that will help you find the best language school to learn German. 

a) Class size: Class sizes range from 5 people (since language schools often have to pay a teacher a fixed hourly rate, this is usually the absolute minimum number of students to break even) to 30. I highly recommend that for online lessons you don't join anything larger than 8, and for live classes don't do anything larger than 12. 

Aside from being a matter of comfort, the mathematical thing to consider with class size is the amount of speaking time (or, if you want, teacher attention) that you can possibly get: Teachers generally speak (or have silence) for 50% of the class time. So in a 45-minute teaching unit, with 5 people you'd get about four and a half minutes of speaking time. If there are 8 people in the class, you'd get less than 3 minutes. And that's our frictionless ideal-case scenario, which does not account for other students monopolizing the teacher or the class' attention. 

One more thing to keep in mind: Class size can and does fluctuate, with students dropping out (relatively common in beginner levels), sickness, and people occasionally having something more important to do. Sometimes schools also add people in a running course, which is not very popular. 

b) Cost: You will not often find a language school that'll just go ahead and tell you what you're paying per unit. You might know what you're paying per week, or per four weeks, or per level, or per course, but it'll be up to you to do the math when you're comparing prices of schools. You'll also need to add registration and materials costs, if applicable (that's not always the case). It's a bit confusing. Let's do an example. I randomly found this school (Sprachschule Aktiv München) in Munich. Here's their price table:

So in their first column, the intensive course is four units a day (three hours is four units), four days a week, for four weeks. So a total of 48 units a month. The price per unit is 319€/48 = 6.64€. Ok. The next column adds four days (Friday is now included) to the monthly total, so 12 units. Now we're at 499€/60 = 8.32€. 

To be honest, I'm a bit baffled why buying a bigger package means that you have to pay significantly more per unit, but I assume it's for the same reason that they do a bit of the math for you and show you the per-hour price (remember, I said that was pretty rare earlier): It's probably to discourage people from actually taking those Friday classes and highlight what a great deal that intensive course is. 

Let's look at another one. I found this one (Sprachcaffe Frankfurt), again randomly, in Frankfurt:

Well, I'll be... they also go right ahead and tell you their per-unit price. A hefty €10. That's probably why. Ten Euros per unit sounds a lot more digestible than saying €800 a month.

Let's do one last one. This time, I landed on a language school (Evolanguage) in Hamburg. Here's the price info:

That's a lot of numbers! What's going on here is actually kind of cool. They explain on the top of the page that it's 20 units a week of group classes in the mornings, and then on top of that you can choose between 2 and 10 one-to-one units per week with a private teacher in the afternoon. The last two columns are presumably what you pay if you only want private teacher lessons (at around €35 per unit).

So, if you book one week of intensive classes and take 2 units with a private teacher, you're paying €235/22 = €10.68. And if you do 4 weeks, the formular is €720/(22*4) = €8.18. If you do a week with 10 one-to-one units, it's €515/30 = €17.17, and if you do 4 weeks that way it's €1820/(30*4) = €15.17. 

So, that's how you do it. And, as a bonus, now you also have some numbers as a comparison when you pick what for you is the best language school to learn German in. As a quick aside, at least if you live in Berlin, the prices per unit can be quite a bit cheaper than these (especially if you avoid national and international franchises, as these example schools happen to be). A low per-unit price does not necessarily mean a school is bad, and a high per-unit price most definitely does not mean that a school is good. You have to weigh the other factors as well.

A last note about prices: As I mentioned earlier, the language teacher usually gets paid by the 45-minute unit. So, say, if you're in a class with 4 other people and the per unit price is €5, you can do the math to determine how little the teacher must be getting paid after the school takes its cut (they also need to keep the lights on, after all) - this might be a red flag.

c) Travel distance

This one is obvious, of course. If one school is 10 minutes away and the other is 30 minutes away, you might want to pick the first one. BUT: I did want to add that personally, living in a big city like Berlin, I'd rather take a LONGER commute to a place if it involves fewer transfers. If it involves no transfer at all, I'd even go twice as long as a trip that includes two transfers.

Berlin example: If I'm standing at Brandenburg gate (why?) and feel like seeing a polar bear, I'd rather take the U5 directly to the Tierpark zoo in east Berlin (21 minutes) than take two separate S-Bahn trains to Zoologischer Garten (14 minutes). 

Moving on!

d) Total time to reach your goal

In the pricing examples we looked at above the courses were all called "intensive". Some had more units per week than others. The one in Munich offered 16 units a week, the one in Frankfurt offered 20 units, and the one in Hamburg offered 20 group units and some one-to-ones on top. It may seem obvious that the more units per week you do, the quicker you'd reach your goal, right?

Unfortunately not. Each school can determine how many units it takes to complete a certain level. If they're doing their job right, this determination is based on the amount of students in the class (of course it will take longer to get 30 students to actually speak German than 5) and the types of people in the course (a course should be much shorter if they all have a language in common and have college degrees than if they are from a variety of backgrounds and have mixed educational backgrounds).

Let me give you some numbers to use as a reference. One of the first things I wrote in this article is that if level A1.1 is supposed to take longer than 40 units, it's going to be painfully slow. Here's what I think is appropriate:

A1.1 - 30 units in a class of 6-8 people. 40 units if it's 9-12 people. Like I said, if it's more (people or units) don't do it.

A1.2, A2.1, A2.2, B1.1, B1.2 - 48 units each in a class of up to 10 people. 60 units each with higher class sizes and mixed languages and education levels.

For levels B2 and C1 (and conversation courses), all bets are off, to be blunt. At this point language progression for students is almost at a plateau and topics for these levels can be extremely diverse. Generally, these levels are interesting for people who need to pass an official exam (like Telc or TestDaF) to enter university, in which case the classes should cater towards this demographic. For more casual learners, consider conversation courses instead.

Definitely inquire with your chosen school how long it would take to reach your goal. Using my recommendation above, if you just want to get by (i.e. finish level A1), you'll need around 80 to 100 units (around 4 or 5 weeks with the intensive courses we looked at earlier). To get conversational you'll want to get past level B1, which would take around 280 - 340 units (so around 14 - 17 weeks at 20 units a week). And if you want to pass the TestDaF or something similar in order to be considered ready to go to university in German, add another 100 units (5 weeks) or so.

So that's time. Multiply the amount of units it takes to reach your goal with the per-unit price and you'll know how much you're likely to spend.  

3) Avoid red flags

Let's talk as briefly as possible about what does and does not constitute a red flag when choosing the best language school to learn German. 

a) Bad Reviews: If we're being honest with ourselves, we are much more likely to write a bad review than a good one, even if we really like a place. There's just not as much of a natural motivation. Keep this in mind when you see bad reviews on Google or Yelp for the language school you're considering. I can also tell you from my own experience as a school manager and human being who's been around other human beings lately that some people are impossible to please... and sometimes people are just straight up crazy. That being said, actual red flags are obviously fake reviews written by the owners themselves (German owners seem to LOVE impersonating employees on Kununu and Glassdoor, apparently), and owners that NEVER to admit doing something wrong in their responses.

b) Fake Awards: This is a pet peeve of mine that just screams superficiality, bad or nonexistent products, and valuing making a professional impression more than anything else.

This usually happens when language schools are founded by businesspeople (as opposed to, say, teachers) with the aim of winning big contracts. These go hand in hand with bought followers on social media, fake testimonials, and the abovementioned faked employer reviews.

They look like this, and I'll probably write a separate article on them soon: 

In short, these "awards" are organizations that, for a certain price, will esssentially guarantee that the member will get some kind of award, and their list of categories to win in is endless

c) Classes too big, unit price too expensive, courses too long

Basically all the things we talked about at length before. Do some research in your area and you'll see which institutions veer sharply away from the average.

Now, all that being said, in the end, what matters the most is whether you get a good teacher or not. And sometimes the most famous and most expensive schools (coughgoethecough) have teachers that you won't like, and sometimes the hole in the wall two streets down has an amazing instructor.

So I want to conclude by saying that one of the most important things to do when picking the best language school to learn German is to talk to them. On the phone or (even better) stop by. Check the vibe. Ask them if you can switch classes if the teacher is not a good match for you. 

You'll be spending a lot of money on this journey, and it's important to do it the right way, right from the start.

Much success and let me know if you think I missed something or if I'm way off the mark!

Stay in the hospital for a few days. Your German will improve 250%.

Limbojunkie

About the Author Stephan

Stephan has been a professional language teacher since the early 2000s. He's been calling Berlin his home since 2006, when he started managing (and founding his own) language schools in addition to teaching German and English. He's the owner of Deutschable and loves writing about language, history, and game changers.

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