Comparison
You'll pick up survival German faster with structure than with apps you abandon in a week. Babbel is the course expats actually stick with.
By Mahiuddin Al Kamal · 1 options
You can survive in Germany's big cities on English, but you'll hit a wall fast: the Bürgeramt letter, the Handwerker on the phone, the neighbour at the Hausversammlung. A little German goes a long way, and the fastest way to get there is a structured course you'll actually finish, not a gamified app you drop after a week.
Babbel is Berlin-based and German is its flagship course, built by linguists around real conversations rather than points and streaks. Roughly 7 EUR a month, offline mode for the U-Bahn, and speech recognition to fix your pronunciation before a real person has to. It won't make you fluent alone, pair it with a VHS Integrationskurs for speaking practice, but it's the best self-study foundation for the money.
Note: If you're on certain visas you may be entitled to a subsidised state Integrationskurs. Use Babbel to get ahead before it starts, and to keep momentum between classes.
01 / At a glance
Pick an option name to jump to its full write-up below.
| Option | Rating | Website |
|---|---|---|
| Top pick Babbel | 4.4 | Visit Babbel website, opens in a new tab |
Scroll the table sideways to see every spec.
02 / In detail
Structured German language courses built by linguists. Berlin-based company with the best German course on the market.
Pros
Cons
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