Susana is an Expat living in Künzelsau (Germany).
She’s working as a Software Engineer at Silver Atena GmbH.
She started my program “From Zero to C1 in 25 Minutes a Day” at A1.
My program offered her a structured learning system that she could easily integrate into her busy life.
Step-by-step she has been improving her German by developing a better understanding of grammar, vocabulary and sentence structure and growing her confidence in expressing herself when speaking.
She was able to pass her official B1 Goethe exam with an incredible 88% score in Speaking.
- Reading: 93/100 (93%)
- Listening: 87/100 (87%)
- Writing: 89/100 (89%)
- Speaking: 88/100 (88%)
And one year later she passed her official B2 Goethe exam as well:
- Reading: 80/100 (80%)
- Listening: 67/100 (67%)
- Writing: 60/100 (60%)
- Speaking: 75/100 (75%)
Here’s a complete interview I did with her so you can learn from her journey going through my program.
Let’s jump right into it.
Susana,
What did you try before starting with my program “From Zero to C1”?
I took many conventional classes in my country and here in Germany, but these typical classes were full of grammar. I didn’t want more grammar classes, I needed more flexibility and results, so I wanted to try something different.
What was your biggest challenge you faced with learning German?
The most challenging part of learning German is speaking. For me, it is really the last stage in my personal process of learning a language.
What kind of program were you looking for?
I was looking for something different, no more conventional classes, no more German books and no more sitting in a room without feeling progress.
What was your goal when you started?
My goal was to just speak, understand more, be more confident with myself, and not be afraid to make mistakes.
What was the big difference between my program and the way you learned German before?
You learned useful phrases and words, the ones that you use everyday. It was like applying the grammar that I learned before in real life.
What are some of the results you’ve achieved so far going through my program?
So far, I passed my B1 and B2 exam. There is still a lot of room for improvement, but I definitely made a lot of progress since I started.
How did you prepare for your B1/B2 exam?
For the B1 exam, I didn’t study so much, I just made the example exam and one additional exercise for speaking and that was all.
But for the B2 exam, I found that understanding the exact structure of the exam would help me to get a little advantage, but at the same time I knew that writing and speaking could be the most challenging parts for me. So, I took some topics and I did some writing and speaking exercises. My boyfriend helped me correct them.
How long did it take to prepare for your B1/B2 exam?
For B1, I just took a couple of hours to prepare.
For B2, I tried to do one exercise per day (writing and speaking). In total I did like 10 exercises in approximately 20 days.
What was the most difficult part in the exam?
For B1, I remember I felt it was easier than I expected.
For my B2 exam, I found the listening part more difficult. This part is more complex than the B1 exam. You can notice that they really test your understanding.
How did you stay focused and motivated through the program?
Motivation is difficult to maintain, because sometimes you feel you are not making progress or you find yourself in situations that you don’t understand enough or you cannot express yourself, but then you have to build the habit of listening even if you don’t want to.
Then when motivation fails, your habit is there.
And with the time, you see that it was worth it, that there is real progress and the program works.
How did you manage to combine a full-time job and learning German on the side?
Learning German is also a full-time job, but I could combine it. I listen during the way to work, during cooking, during cleaning, waiting for something even just to distract myself. At the beginning you think that you don’t have time, but then you find a lot of gaps and opportunities where you can listen.
What did a typical daily learning routine look like?
For me, I always listen on the way to work and after work again. Then when I am preparing my dinner or my food for the next day.
How much time did you spend daily on average for your learning?
I spend an average of 1.5 hours every day.
What was your biggest obstacle and how did you overcome it?
Keep the motivation, because sometimes I really felt that I was not making progress. But, I build the habit of listening, and then my learning doesn´t depend on my motivation.
What was the most important thing that helped you become more fluent in speaking?
Just listening helped me, it just suddenly happened, suddenly after a while I started to feel more confident, the words appeared in my head without effort.
What helped you the most to overcome the fear of speaking to others?
For me, fear of speaking was a mental game. I tricked my mind with the habit of listening to the program. When my mind knows that I am doing something for German, then my mind starts to think that I can speak german.
What’s one piece of advice you would give to someone who wants to learn German but finds it hard to find the time due to his/her busy life?
We are always busy, but you have to give a little bit of priority to german. For example, for me at the beginning it was tough to listen to the program instead of music, but after a while I found that I can have both, but I used music as a reward after listening german.
My advice: don´t give up, build the habit and be patient, the results will come.
“From Zero To C1 in 25 Minutes a Day” is my All-Inclusive, complete, step-by-step, no fuss, hassle free 75 Lessons online program (yes, only 15 lessons for each Module A1/A2/B1/B2/C1) for Busy Professionals like you, so you can go from scratch to become fluent and confident to join meetings with your colleagues, negotiate with your clients and give presentations in front of your bosses IN GERMAN. Even if you have a busy working schedule.
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