Introducing the Kujia-Deutschable partnership!

Deutschable is excited to partner with Kujia, one of Africa's leading NGOs empowering youth with ICT and entrepreneurial skills. Through this collaboration, Deutschable is offering special scholarships for Kujia members to learn German, and at the same time support the organization. This will enable young entrepreneurs to serve the IT needs of German-speaking countries directly from Africa. Together, Deutschable and Kujia are bridging continents and creating valuable global opportunities for Kenyan youth, fostering international collaboration and business growth in the tech industry.

What is Deutschable? The quickest and most innovative way to learn German.

The Deutschable course is perfect for analytical minds like programmers and developers. It offers clear instructions and well-structured content that eliminates guesswork and trial-and-error learning. With precise rules and explanations in English, the course aligns with the logical and systematic thinking of IT professionals. It's like constructing a well-architected program with a detailed blueprint—efficient, straightforward, and effective. Learning German has never been this clear-cut and enjoyable!

It's so simple (and that's why it works):

This course was designed to be as simple and straightforward as possible. There are no complicated menus, no admin, no distractions and no decisions: Start with lesson one. Move on to the next lesson when you're done. Repeat. We'll introduce new concepts and recycle them throughout the course. No need to backtrack. Kick back and rest assured that you're learning exactly what you need at the time. 

Each lesson has three parts (representing the ultra-effective APU method: Absorb, Practice, Use.)

Part 1: Watch a short explainer video

At Deutschable, not a single video is longer than five minutes. We're all busy and often don't have the necessary time or attention span for sitcom-length grammar presentations. But five minutes can be watched anytime, even while waiting for the bus.

With these snappy, fun-sized lessons even the most "difficult" or "complex" aspects of German are efficiently broken down and explained in clear English. You don't need to know anything about grammar or other languages to make sense of it. Pause, rewind, slow down, rewatch as you like. And absorb knowledge like a sponge.

Part 2: Take the smart practice quiz

Each video is followed by an unassumingly short quiz that's actually got a lot under the hood. Like having a private language teacher, the quiz prompts you conversationally to engage with the material you just learned. And when your answer's not correct, it'll tell you exactly why and how to improve. 

The quizzes also serve to recylcle concepts that you learned in previous lessons, making sure they stay fresh in your mind and that you can use them anytime.

Part 3: Move on or interact with the community

After completing the quiz you're done with that lesson and can take your new-found skills on the road - impress your new German friends and colleagues by saying stuff they never expected from a beginner. 

At this point you can move on to the next lesson. You can re-do each lesson as opften as you want, if you feel the need. If you have any questions or comments, each lesson features a comment section where other students and the teacher can discuss any aspect of what was just learned, like having an optional classroom experience whenever you want.

Meet the teacher.

That first "snap" is of Stephan, 24 years ago, in an internet cafe in Homa Bay, Kenya, waiting for his turn to use one of the old computers to check his Hotmail. Back then and there, internet speeds were slow, the computers were few, and the connection was unreliable. But even so, people were more than happy to wait (a long time) for their turn and be connected to the world. 

While much has changed about technology, the spirit of interconnectedness and the drive to learn about new processes and to communicate and collaborate beyond your tiny local community remains the same.

Shortly after his return home, Stephan began teaching both English and German - in several countries, enabling his students to think in more than the one dimension of their native language, and to expand their horizon of possibilites, their potential careers, and their understanding of the world itself.

While Stephan has worked for thousands of hours as a live teacher, and as a teacher trainer, his true passion has been developing self-learning tools for students from everywhere to be able to learn a language in the most efficient and fun way possible while keeping the costs incredibly low.

Deutschable, which he founded in 2023, is the culmination of years of predecessor courses, student feedback, and experimentation with different styles.

Today, Deutschable stands as a testament to Stephan's goal of creating a modern, accessible language-learning platform. His passion for connecting people and empowering them through language has culminated in a tool that makes learning efficient, fun, and affordable for students everywhere.

Some voices from Deutschable's students:

I have struggled to really grasp the concept until I found your website on Google. The videos are concise. The practice sessions feel personalized and are challenging. You explain in my native language (English) which makes it easier to relate. Thanks to you, I feel more confident by the day.

Kweku - Ghana

This course is very useful for me, and my vocabulary has greatly improved. In particular, I enjoyed the lesson on deciphering the gender articles from the spelling of the words, I find this very useful and I regularly go back to revise that lesson. Thank you for that, as I did not learn it in my paid German class. I will be happy to share it with other expats within my circle who are learning German, because it has really helped me.

Priscilla - Germany

Deutschable is the most amazing German course I've ever found for beginners! The teacher Stephan explains very well and has a good methodology to teach us! He doesn't beat around the bush while teaching! I'm enjoying the course a lot and learning too!

Leonardo - Brazil

Thank you for giving me the ability to learn this introduction to the German language. I found it very
helpful. And I also recommended it to my friends. I have been struggling to learn German for over six months, but when I found Deutschable, the language has become more interesting.

Shafiu - Nigeria

Here's what happens when you enroll:

As a Kujia member, you will receive a roughly 20% discount off the regular course price (depending on currency fluctuations), and Kujia will receive an additional 10% donation. Once you purchase access (see Kujia's webpage for payment details) and the payment has gone through*, Kujia will, at regular intervals, forward new students' contact information to Deutschable, where you'll be registered manually.


At that point, you'll receive an email with your user name and password to login anytime. You have complete access to all modules and lessons (completing A1.1+), as well as all other courses on the Deutschable platform, for one year.


And you receive access to any new lessons or courses that are added during this time as well, at no extra charge. If you spend less than 15 minutes a day with this course, you will complete the level within two months. This course was designed as a stand-alone, but you can also use it as a prep course for a language school class, or to accompany or refresh your German skills while you're enrolled in any A1 or A2 German course at a language school.


*Please note that if you purchase Deutschable access through Kujia's payment system (which uses familar Kenyan payment processes and makes signup possible for people without credit cards), your contract is with Kujia, and all payment-related questions and issues, as well as matters concerning invoices and refund policies must be addressed to them. Deutschable's Terms of Service regarding trial periods and refunds do not apply unless you use Deutschable's payment system on this site, which does not include the Kujia discount.

Loads of lessons to grow German skills you can actually use!

These are the core course modules (covering level A1.1+) - and more is being created all the time. Click on any one of them to expand and see the lessons, and try out Module 1 for free right now to see if it fits your learning style (module 2 is also available to try if you're a member of our free vocab builder course). Enjoy!

Module 3 - Getting Active: Meeting People and Using Verbs

Premium course

Module 11 - Past Tense Mastery: Special Vocabulary for Recounting Events

Premium course

Bonus: Extra Courses Included.

With your unlimited Deutschable access, you will also get to learn with several other courses on the platform, which you can check out here:

1) A 100% real filmed A1.1 German course, which runs over 20 hours. Have a look at the first lesson for free here.

2) The immensely compact and useful "How German Grammar Works" course. Try the first lessons for free here.

FAQ

The place for me to hopefully address any lingering questions or concerns.

What about speaking? This course has no speaking components, does it?

This course does not include active speaking components. This was a conscious decision. The idea is that this course will help bring you to a level in which you will get much more out of speaking practice than in the very beginning, because it will allow you to have actual meaningful conversations with your friend/(tandem-)partner/in-laws/cute person at the cafe/co-workers, rather than hollow phrases. 

Speaking time is actually a secret problem in language schools, that boils down to simple math: in a 90-minute lesson where the teacher speaks half the time (if you're lucky), your speaking time will be 45 minutes divided by the amount of students (if all student are the same level of extroversion), leaving you with what? Five minutes of speaking? You may also end up speaking in pair or group work, which I always found to be counterproductive and as a teacher I never had my classes do those activities. I could go on and on about that - but suffice it to say here in the Deutschable course you will receive all the pronunciation practice you'll need to understand, and we'll train your brain to effortlessly produce German, even if the mouth isn't always involved as much. 

Obviously, you're highly encouraged to speak along with the lessons whenever your environment allows it :-) Remember also that your goal should always be to be understood first - and having a bit of an accent actually helps Germans understand you better as a learner because they'll be prepared for mistakes. 

Every learner is different. This one-size-fits-all approach isn't for me.

Hey, that's not a question. This isn't Frequently Expressed Sentiments! But all that aside, it's 100% true that this course may not be right for you, and I highly encourage everyone to check out the demo lesson above before making the decision to buy. However, I would also say that, especially for beginners, given the types of relevant topics introduced in various contexts, and the wide variety of teaching styles employed, and the flexibility in terms of learning speed, that this course should be incredibly useful to a huge variety of learner types. And again, consider the alternative: Unless you get a private teacher, you'll end up in a class where the contents and speed will almost certainly conform to a denominator other than you.

I don't think I'm a beginner anymore. I've passed the A1 (or A2) level already.

That's great! It is likely that this course won't contain much new information. You will probably have heard many of the these concepts before. But if you feel like you could use a refresher, or if there are things that are still unclear and haven't quite clicked, or could use a dose of more vocabulary, this might be the perfect way to do it - as opposed to having to go back to class, hiring an expensive private teacher, or puzzling over your old course books. It's worth noting that the grammar elements schools teach in A2 are the "trickiest" and most important for learning to speak and understand German - the concepts of the higher levels are mostly just fancy, so it's worth ensuring that you have a firm grounding in the A levels, if nothing else. (If you're unsure about your level, consider taking a placement test to find out)

I'm an extrovert. I like making friends and working together with people to learn German. I don't think this course is for me.

I think this is a good argument not to take this course, at least not on its own. You might benefit from first doing this course before starting a class, then breezing through it, or using this course as an addition, to augment what you're learning in school (I like to think this: When going on a trip, rather than having a spare tire in your car, it's like having a mountain bike hooked to the back, along for the ride and allowing you a completely different way of exploring the landscape on your trip.)

The grammar is so hard. I am too intimidated to learn German.

This is one of those myths that no one really benefits from, except perhaps language schools who want to stretch out their incessant dancing-around-the-grammar-bush routine and keep charging you for it, or people who have mastered German and want to gloat about it. The thing is this: You can actually speak German and be perfectly understood without using German grammar at all. I'm serious, you can just use German words and use them like you would in an English sentence. Not only will you be understood just fine (and I know many people like this), you'll even be completely correct a lot of the time.

Number two is that no one expects foreigners to have perfect sentences. If you have even a trace of an accent, Germans just see incorrect grammar as part of the package and don't bat an eye. So you don't have to stress out about it.

But the most important point is this: The grammar is not actually hard, and in the allegedly most challenging topics I make a strong case that your brain already knows how to do it all, and has been doing so since you were a baby. In this course you'll drop all your apprehensions and get to actually see language from a mind-blowing new perspective - including English.

I feel like there's a fog over my brain sometimes, I can't even watch good tv shows if they require thinking. Is this a problem?

I do think this is an issue that's not acknowledged enough and that I think many people can relate to. I believe that, in the way I designed this course, it's an advantage: I want the brain to be relaxed, and on autopilot for these lessons. Through repetition and exposure, you'll absorb the language - and I also believe that when it comes to information, you will likely receive a spark and snap into attention as things finally click and fall into place and you feel the fog lifting. I think this course is unique in this regard: While it does need your eyeballs to be open, and for you not to multitask, in of itself, it doesn't require you to be hyperfocused from the get-go. 

I do need to add the caveat that if you're very tired or in a brain-fog, you might need to watch the videos more than once for the initial information to sink in. But that's the nice thing about a video course with a long access period: Watch the vids as often as you need!

Can't I learn all this from a book?

A long time ago, when I was super motivated and books were totally a thing, I excitedly tried to learn Russian from one. Then, a few weeks later, I actually had an opportunity to go to Russia and was thrilled to try out what I learned. I asked an old lady where the bus was. Simple enough, right? "Gdye avtobus?" She had literally NO clue at all what I was trying to say. Not even close.

Now I know that my pronunciation was so bad that I might as well have been speaking Welsh to her. Specifically, the emphasis was on the wrong syllable and I added an extra letter between "g" and "d"... anyway, the point of the story is that out of Listening, Reading, Speaking and Writing, "listening" is absolutely important if you actually want to communicate with people. And there's no way books can do that. As supplements they can be great, of course.

Will I receive a certificate at the end of the course?

You can receive a certificate of enrollment when you purchase access to the course. Self-paced courses can't receive a completion certificate because it's impossible to prove that the person whose name is on the certificate is actually the person who took the course. Beware of anyone offering certificates for self-study online courses - they are likely a scam and those certificates are unlikely to be accepted in Germany.

Can't I just find all this information in blogs, forums and articles around the internet for free?

It's super important when deciding how to learn German to know that language proficiency is a skill, and NOT knowledge. In other words, even if you had all "information" about the language downloaded into your brain and readily available, it will be an incredible grind to transform that into actual real-time communication. What you need is not information, but guidance and practice. All three of which you will get in this course - allowing you to communicate freely and effortlessly.

Ugh, I'm not even that passionate about learning German or really NEED it. It just feels like the appropriate thing to do.

In my experience, this is a common sentiment, especially for expats living in Berlin, whose friends and coworkers all speak English, and live in place where English is spoken in every venue they like to go to. But at some point people realize that it's limiting and also a bit embarassing, especially as they settle in and the years start going by. No matter what your (lack of) motivation level is, with Deutschable I aim to make learning fun, not a slog. Not only do I aim to take the fear out of it, but also the boredom - it's a cool language that allows you a whole new level of expression, and a whole new dimension of interacting with your environment. With Deutschable, this process is effortless, quick, fun, and if I did my job right, will ignite a curiosity, and maybe even a passion for German in you that will sustain a healthy appetite for further learning. It'll be an exciting feeling of growth and allow you to step out of your comfort zone ("The Ring" in Berlin).

I need to pass the Goethe/TELC/TestDaF or high school test. Will this course help?

This course is quite consciously NOT designed for test-takers. It does not include test-taking strategies or address the specific question-types of German tests. The Deutschable course is made for people who want to use the language for communication. That having been said, this course WILL improve your German and give you an excellent understanding of the structures that are likely being tested for, as well as a very broad range of vocabulary. You will likely find that this course will be immensely helpful for your test, but I can't guarantee it. My personal advice for these formal tests is: Make sure you take a course that goes up to (or, better yet, beyond) the level that the test is for (for example, TestDaF tests at a much higher level of proficiency than the scope of the Deutschable course) and then get a book with practice tests for this specific tests (with an answer section, of course).

I want to be able to ask my teacher questions if I am struggling with something. Is there a way to do that here?

Yes, each lesson has a comment section in which students can talk to each other and the teacher (me) and ask questions and discuss the topic of the lesson.

Do I have to be a native speaker of English to benefit from this course?

No, you don't have to be a native speaker. But you do have to know English, since this is the reference language of the course.

Is this really the best way to learn a language?

It's not the best way to learn a language for everyone, but it might be the best way for YOU. It certainly is the best way for me, and I really hope that more courses for other things like this pop up in the future so that I can benefit from them as well. This course here is literally the kind of course I would have always wished for myself.

There are hundreds of beautiful ways to learn a language, and many of them work really well for some people but not for others. So try this out and see if this works for you and finally puts a stop to playing Angry Birds or pacing around the room, imagining how amazing everything would be if you could learn German.

Which level(s) does this course cover?

In its current state of development (40+ lessons, July 2024), this course includes (and exceeds) all contents typically taught in A1.1 (CEFR) level German courses. In other words, after finishing this course, you're well set-up to skip level A1.1 and join an A1.2 course at a language school. It is the development plan for Deutschable to include all topics from levels A1+A2 by Q1 2025. By registering for this course, you automatically receive instant access to all additional lessons that may be created in the future during your one-year access period. No additional money will be charged beyond your initial one-time payment (or initial monthly subscription price), even if the course price steadily increases as new lessons are added.

A final word from stephan.

Why today matters.

This might not be the course for you. Everyone has a different learning style, and this might not be a good fit. Even if I were speaking to you in person right now I would not try to convince you that it is. But I would desperately try to convince you to try it out and know for sure.


Learning a language is life-changing. It opens doors you never knew were closed to begin with. It allows for a life of independence, of opportunity, of new friends, new jobs, new horizons. And how you get there is entirely up to you.


Not in an abstract sense. In a very real, immediate sense: You can make a decision right now to set you on a path that might change your whole life.


Or not. But there's only one way to find out :-)



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