· 7 min read
Learn German for Free: Courses That Work
By Language Lab editorial team
The free German courses worth your time: Deutsche Welle's courses from A1 to C1, including Nicos Weg, and the Goethe-Institut's free exercises and community.
You can learn German for free from two German institutions. Deutsche Welle offers complete courses free of charge for every stage, from beginner to proficient, with a placement test and learning material from A1 to C1. Its beginner video course, Nicos Weg, starts at A1 and comes with detailed grammar pages. The Goethe-Institut adds free exercises for everyday life and for work from A1 to C2, plus an online community, Deutsch für dich, with more than 260 exercises. That is a great deal of material for no money. What it does not include is someone who answers back and corrects your speaking, so arrange that separately. For scale, the US State Department allows about 828 class hours for German.
The free resources, compared
| Resource | Who makes it | Level | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nicos Weg | Deutsche Welle | A1 | A video course for beginners with detailed grammar pages |
| Deutschtrainer | Deutsche Welle | A1 | Vocabulary and short sentences on 100 everyday topics, with bilingual audio |
| Deine Band | Deutsche Welle | A2 | Pop songs with subtitles and interactive exercises |
| Kurz und leicht | Deutsche Welle | A2 | The daily news on video at beginner level |
| Profis gesucht – Deutsch im Job | Deutsche Welle | B1 | German for specific professions and typical work situations |
| Deutsch für dich | Goethe-Institut | All levels | An online community with more than 260 free exercises |
| Everyday life and work exercises | Goethe-Institut | A1 to C2 | Free exercises, apps and films on living and working in Germany |
Deutsche Welle: a full free course
Deutsche Welle's Learn German site says it plainly: you can learn German easily and free of charge, whether you are a beginner or highly proficient. It sorts its courses into three bands, A1 and A2 for basic users, B1 and B2 for independent users, and C1 and C2 for proficient users, and has a placement test if you do not know where you stand.
- Start with Nicos Weg. It follows Nico from Spain on his adventure in Germany, and comes with detailed grammar pages.
- Add Deutschtrainer for vocabulary. It covers 100 everyday topics and lets you practise pronunciation with audio.
- Move to Kurz und leicht for listening once you reach A2: the news of the day on video, at beginner level.
- Use the news and music strands as you progress. Deutsche Welle adds new learning content every day, labelled by level, for example B1, B2 or C1.
The Goethe-Institut: free practice at every level
The Goethe-Institut runs courses and exams, and it also publishes free practice media: apps, videos, podcasts and games. Its free exercises for everyday life run from A1 to C2 and are built around what a move to Germany involves, from finding an apartment to shopping for food. A second set covers German for work, again from A1 to C2, with videos from people already working in Germany. In the Deutsch für dich community you get more than 260 exercises for all levels and other learners to practise with. It has also selected more than 100 films for learners.
How far free courses take you
German asks for more hours than French or Spanish. The US State Department allows about 36 weeks, or 828 class hours, for an English speaker to reach a speaking and listening score of 3 on the Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) scale. Free material can carry you a long way through that, because Deutsche Welle's courses continue up to C1. The limit is not the content. It is whether you keep a routine, and whether you get to speak.
Make free study work harder
A 2013 review of ten learning techniques, led by John Dunlosky, rated two as high utility: practice testing and distributed practice. Rereading and highlighting were rated low.
- Do every exercise attached to a video. That is the testing part.
- After an episode, say aloud what happened before you check the text.
- Go back to last week's episode instead of only moving forward.
- Repeat sentences out loud. Watching alone does not train speaking.
A free weekly plan
- Monday to Friday, 25 minutes: one episode of Nicos Weg with its exercises.
- Every day, 10 minutes: Deutschtrainer vocabulary, testing yourself on earlier topics first.
- Twice a week, 15 minutes: one Goethe-Institut exercise on everyday life or work at your level.
- From A2: Kurz und leicht three times a week.
- Once a week: record yourself describing your week in German and listen back.
What free courses do not give you
Free video courses do not hold a conversation with you or correct your speech. The Goethe community helps you find other learners; beyond that you need a partner, a class, a tutor or a speaking tool. Language Lab's German course is built around voiced real-life scenarios with an AI tutor, so it can supply the speaking practice that video courses leave out.
Frequently asked
Can I learn German for free?
Yes. Deutsche Welle offers German courses free of charge from beginner to proficient level, and the Goethe-Institut publishes free exercises from A1 to C2. You will still need speaking practice from somewhere else.
What is the best free German course for beginners?
Deutsche Welle's Nicos Weg, a video course for beginners at A1 with detailed grammar pages. Pair it with Deutschtrainer, which teaches vocabulary on 100 everyday topics.
Is Nicos Weg free?
Yes. Deutsche Welle says its German courses are free of charge. Nicos Weg is its video course for beginners.
Does the Goethe-Institut have free German lessons?
It has free practice material: exercises, apps, videos, podcasts and games, plus the Deutsch für dich online community with more than 260 exercises.
How do I find my German level for free?
Deutsche Welle's Learn German site has a placement test, and its courses are labelled by level from A1 to C1.
How long does German take with free courses?
It depends on your weekly hours. For scale, the US State Department allows about 828 class hours for German to reach a speaking and listening score of 3 on the Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) scale.
Sources: Deutsche Welle, Learn German; Goethe-Institut, Practise German for free; US Department of State, National Foreign Affairs Training Center, Foreign Language Training; Dunlosky et al., Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 2013. Checked on 13 October 2026. Photo: Warehouses of the Speicherstadt, Hamburg, Frank Schulenburg / CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons).
