04/10/2026
TODAY’S GERMAN CONVERSATION PRACTICE: What I learned from today’s group
What if your German isn’t the problem, but the way you think about your German is?
Today, there were only four people in our German Conversation Practice. And honestly, that turned out to be perfect.
We tried something different today.
We read a German text together. Each person read one section and then explained, in their own words, what they had understood.
And I learned something important.
The German levels within one group can be very different. Some participants already speak German very well, while others are still at the beginning. So today, I had to correct a lot, translate, explain words and help with pronunciation.
For me, this was an important lesson too.
When I create future groups, I need to pay much more attention to the different language levels. Advanced speakers shouldn’t get bored while I explain something, but beginners shouldn’t feel overwhelmed either.
But something else happened today that I found even more interesting.
Again and again, I hear the same thoughts:
“My German isn’t good enough.”
“Maybe people don’t understand me.”
“Maybe my pronunciation is terrible.”
“Maybe people won’t take me seriously.”
We are often much harder on ourselves than other people are.
And today we could actually hear the difference that practice makes.
Some participants struggled quite a lot with reading and pronunciation at the beginning. We corrected words, repeated them and tried again.
And by the end?
Everyone in the group noticed how much better some of those same words were being pronounced.
Not after months of studying.
Not after another language course.
After one session of actually speaking, reading, making mistakes and trying again.
That is exactly why I’m starting to love these groups so much.
You don’t need perfect German before you start speaking.
You need to start speaking so your German can become better.
And apparently we were enjoying ourselves a little too much today, because when our planned time was over, we simply continued for another hour.
By the end, I think all of us were completely overloaded.
But in the best possible way. 😅👍
