Language Learning

Learning a Second Language

Several years ago, I set a goal for myself: learn a second language. It didn't really matter which one, but it had to be a language of a culture I was interested in visiting or fascinated with. That ended up being German. I believe being multilingual is a core part of being a well-rounded individual—a second language unlocks another culture's perspective and way of thinking, and learning a new one is one of the best exercises for the mind.

In the United States, learning a language is hard because there's no need to know any language other than English. Everybody speaks English, and everything we read, watch, and consume is in English. So as an American, it takes a concerted effort to make the time and effort to learn a new language. Not knowing where to start, I went where my friend Richard pointed me—Duolingo. Duolingo felt like a toy to me at first. I didn't believe you could learn a language in five-minute lessons on your phone. But Richard teaches French and Spanish, and his credibility alone was enough for me to give it a try. I downloaded Duolingo, started a free trial of Duolingo Super, and set out to make consistent progress in the German course every day.

I didn't start the German course casually. I set real goals: X lessons every day, X sections every month. The course promised to bring learners to B1—enough to speak independently in common scenarios like travel, hobbies, and everyday life. And when I finished, my reward would be a three-week trip to Germany, where I'd put everything to the test.

I was consistent with my plan, spending about 45 minutes to an hour on Duolingo lessons every single day. I did them wherever and whenever I could: in bed before going to sleep, in my car before going into the office, and in any pocket of spare time I had. Ideally, I would knock out the day's lessons all in one go to keep my concentration consistent. Whenever I didn't understand the grammar in an exercise, I took a screenshot of the sentence and looked it up later with ChatGPT. I also subscribed to Duolingo Max for its AI speaking practice—being able to have a real back-and-forth conversation, even with AI, turned out to be crucial for getting comfortable before the trip. And I had a friend in Germany—Jonas—who I'd call every other week for an hour-long session. We'd go back and forth between German and English, and every call, the improvement was noticeable.

On day 588, I finished the German course on Duolingo and maxed out my score to 80—a solid B1 level. It took a year, seven months, and 11 days, and despite my initial skepticism of Duolingo, I must admit it worked—really well. I finished with two weeks to spare before my flight. After 588 days, I was ready to find out what I actually knew.

The Journey

From setting the goal to finishing the course and landing in Frankfurt—a year and a half of daily practice.

The Trip

On April 10, 2026, I landed in Frankfurt. My plan was to stay in Germany for three weeks, not to take a vacation, but to put myself in places where I could practice German. That meant going to the non-touristy parts of Germany and spending time in places like coffee shops, bakeries, and restaurants—speaking wherever I could. Jonas and his wife were kind enough to host me for a week and show me what a normal German week looks like.

My first attempt at speaking German actually came before I even landed. It was a Lufthansa flight, and the crew was German. I told one of the flight attendants I was heading to Germany to practice the language and asked if we could interact in German. They were totally receptive—spoke clearly, gave me time to respond, and over the course of the flight I picked up a few tips I'd use for the rest of the trip. The most useful: if you don't hear or understand something, just say "wie bitte." I used this phrase throughout the trip and it proved to be especially helpful.

Once in Germany, it was far more intimidating than I'd expected. Until then, all my practice had been with Jonas or Duolingo's AI—neither of which is rushed. The point of those is to practice, so if I messed up or spoke too slowly, it was fine. But in Germany, the stakes felt higher. In line at a busy restaurant, I didn't want to hold up the queue by stumbling through my order. At a checkout counter, if an employee asked me something I didn't quite catch, I felt the pressure to answer accurately—I didn't want to accidentally agree to buy anything else, for instance. I said "wie bitte" in nearly every interaction I had at least once.

What helped was context. Once an interaction started and the topic was clear, missing words became guessable. If you're buying water at a kiosk, they're almost certainly going to ask if you're paying with cash or card—so if you miss a word or two, you can fill in the gap. That made initiating an interaction the hardest part, not continuing one.

The gains in that first week were fast. Every interaction taught me something—the rhythm of small talk, the flow of ordering food. I was picking up words and sayings I'd never encountered, like "krass," and working them into my own speech.

But it wasn't just the language—I picked up a lot about the culture too. Before I left, plenty of people told me how different Germany would be. I'd be immediately recognizable as an American by my clothes. The food would be noticeably fresher and healthier. Public transportation would be so good I wouldn't need a car. Germans are reserved and don't chat with strangers the way Americans do. None of that turned out to be quite right. Germany is a lot more similar to the United States than people seem to think.

I expected lighter, fresher food across the board. What I found was mostly familiar—German grocery stores have the same processed, high-sodium options we do, and I saw more people walking around with a bottle of Coke than I typically see at home in North Carolina. The real differences were smaller. Grocery stores don't sell pre-sliced bread in bags; you pick a fresh-baked loaf and feed it through a slicing machine right there at the store—you can even set the thickness. The restaurant scene is different too: Germany doesn't really have fast casual. It's McDonald's on one end and sit-down restaurants on the other—no Chipotle, no Panera. As a result, people just eat out less often.

The public transportation really is excellent—in the cities. But Jonas and his wife live in a village near Neuwied and drive everywhere, because there's no other option. The same is true for any similarly sized town outside a major metro. The picture of Germany as a place where you don't need a car is really a picture of Berlin, Munich, or Hamburg. Anywhere else, a car is essential.

A few things surprised me. American cultural influence is more visible than I expected—I saw plenty of people in America-branded clothing, and pop culture references came up often. Germans were also far friendlier to strangers than I'd been led to believe; everyone I spoke to was as warm as anyone I'd meet at home. Coffee shops there aren't really coffee shops—they're bakeries, and nobody's lingering with a laptop for three hours.

A memorable small moment: I put my napkin in my lap at dinner, and Jonas and his wife both looked puzzled. "You don't have to put it there," they said. I looked back, just as puzzled. "That's normal in the United States." Apparently not in Germany.

After about 10-14 days, I started to see slower gains in my understanding and speaking ability. It was much easier to hear and understand words I already knew, but for vocabulary I didn't have beforehand, I struggled in those interactions for the entire time I was there. So midway through my time in Germany, ordering food and having simple conversations was no sweat. But more complex conversations didn't get much easier.

By the start of the third week, the focus had naturally shifted from seeking out conversations to sightseeing—touring Berlin, Hamburg, and Frankfurt. The immersion had done its job. I'd gotten what I came for, and I was ready to head home. I left with a clear sense of what came next: the way forward wasn't more time in Germany—it was more study on my own. As it turns out, a week or two of immersion is good enough in a case like this.

The way forward was not more immersion—it was more study on my own.

The Road Ahead

On my last night in Germany, while I was in my hotel near the Frankfurt airport, the German course on Duolingo updated for me. They had essentially doubled the amount of content, extending from B1 all the way to B2—the level where you could realistically hold a job in the language. It was perfect timing; I could pick up right where I left off. But, now that I'd accomplished my original goal of becoming a B1 speaker and then going to Germany to try out my skills, would it be worth it to continue? I have other things I want to do and new skills I want to learn, and all of that takes precious time that I otherwise would be spending learning German.

After this experience, I knew I would have to continue. Before my trip, I thought my B1 comprehension would be enough to do everything comfortably—that I would be able to understand everything that mattered for a casual conversation and other everyday interactions. But while I was there, there were too many scenarios where I couldn't follow. There were several nights where I was hanging out with folks who were speaking German, but I just couldn't follow along. Sometimes I didn't know the vocabulary around that topic, and sometimes it was just too difficult to follow several people speaking at once. That's beyond what the B1 level affords, and I was dead in the water. Having not been able to participate, I knew that I wanted to keep learning until I could. I don't necessarily need to know complex scientific terminology or obscure vocabulary, but I want to expand my skills enough to cover virtually every topic of group conversation—not just hobbies and what you're doing this weekend. I want to be able to understand sermons without stressing. At one point, I had a great discussion with somebody about the dangers of AI, in English, because at the B1 skill level, that level of conversation is too complex. Those conversations, I want to have in German, because without that higher level of understanding, I'll always be on the outside looking in.

It will take close to two more years to finish the new content on Duolingo, but that can't be the only thing I do. At this point, I'm at a threshold where watching TV works—I can understand enough of what's going on to fill in the gaps. And watching TV is easy! Podcasts work in the car, which means every commute becomes study time. Jonas and I will keep up our regular calls. In another two years, I expect to be at a strong B2 level—and at that point, I'll be ready to go back.