Recognise letters or writing units, letter names, direction of writing and basic character forms.
Start from the first sound.
A structured foundation for learners who cannot yet read or speak the target language. Begin with the writing system, sounds and pronunciation, then progress into words, sentences, grammar and communication.
German · First stepsA a · Ä ä · B bListen, repeat, trace and recognise the first letters.
Foundation sequence · Before A1
Learn vowels, consonants, syllables, stress, tones where relevant and sound contrasts.
Blend sounds, read short units, copy words and write your first meaningful expressions.
Greetings, numbers, people, objects, places, time, food and essential verbs.
Pronouns, basic word order, questions, negation and simple statements.
Articles, gender, plural, present tense, agreement and core sentence patterns.
Introduce yourself, ask for help, shop, travel, arrange a meeting and describe your day.
Short listening, reading, writing and speaking tasks to prepare for the first CEFR level.
What changes by writing system?
German uses the Latin alphabet with additional letters ä, ö, ü and ß.
This page is the foundation map. Full audio drills and expert-reviewed writing-system practice are being expanded; use the language selector in the Academy to access the current language lessons.