Fluenz Review

Saturday, January 29th

2022 German Lesson Reviews

Fluenz

• Thorough explanations via video
• Great for beginners
• Simplified payment, not a subscription program
• Necessary repetition, but can be monotonous

In the comfort of your own home, and at a time that's convenient for you, you can learn German from a real person. Having a real person teach you German knowing how English speakers process languages is much more personal and relatable than learning language from matching sounds to photos or images, or learning from a written textbook-like page of instructions. We like that the pricing is straightforward, you don't pay for levels of language you don't want, and you buy what you buy with no time-limit subscriptions.

Pay only for what you want, and there's a money-back guarantee

Other language learning programs may offer ongoing monthly subscriptions, so you pay the same amount for the months you use the program regularly as well as those months you didn't get to use it. With Fluenz, you always have access, even if you have to take a break. And Fluenz has you only pay for the levels you want to learn. If you only want to stick to the beginning levels, pay only for that. If you already know German and want to use the more advanced levels, pay only for that. And once you decide your package, you have a 30-day money-back option if the program isn't what you were looking for. We suggest you use the program sufficiently within the 30 days, as this is your only "free trial."

A real person teaches you

Sometimes it's nice to learn a language from a real person. This person is on a prerecorded video, but that's not bad, as you can watch whenever you want, you can pause as much as you want, and skip to new information if you're reviewing material. The classes are taught from the perspective of an English speaker - someone who already knows how one language works, and applies that to learning German. This is helpful for learning how German works, and also for vocabulary and German phrases. A huge benefit to having the video is for pronunciation. Not only can you hear a native German's pronunciation, you can see their mouth move. Both hearing and seeing for better pronunciation is a really nice feature.

Practice activities are called Workouts

The exercises after the lessons are called Workouts. They give you dialogs that you listen to with or without English subtitles. Best to start out with subtitles when the material is newer to you, and with practice, gradually eliminate using them. They create the dialogs focusing on certain words and phrases that later you will practice using your listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills. In between each activity, a video will pop up to explain these phrases. They will be used again and again so you can commit them to long-term memory.

You might need a hint

The technology for grading your written work is a bit antiquated. When writing a sentence, you will find out that your work is either perfect or wrong. If you have a letter out of place or any small error, your answer is just wrong. You don't know if you have one mistake or several mistakes, and there's no hint as to where that error or many errors might be. You just know you are wrong. This is really frustrating. It would be great if Fluenz would update their software here.

Workouts require repetition

One of the complaints about Fluenz is that there is a lot of repetition with their Workouts. They repeat their vocabulary several times and some people find it a turn off or insulting. We disagree. Research says that a person needs 17 exposures to a word or phrase to remember it. The more you hear, see, speak, and write the word, the more likely you will remember it.

How are you doing?

There's a section called My Data where you can see how well you're doing: how much time you have spent on each lesson, how many tries per answer, and more. It might help to know if you needed many tries to get to the correct answer, so you might decide to repeat either the video, the Workout, or both.

Costs

• Level 1: $187
• Level 2: $187
• Levels 1 and 2: $258
• Levels 1, 2, and 3: $308
• Levels 3, 4, and 5: $320

Great for beginners

Beginning German students know where to start - the beginning - and they know to purchase Level 1 lessons. On the other hand, if you know some German already, there's no placement test. You will need to look at the curriculum for each level, decide where to start, and pay for that level. You should decide if this is the right program and level for you within 30 days so you can get your money back if needed.

Fluenz has the right idea

Fluenz is unique in that you learn from a real person on video. You choose your class time - and your instructor is right there, waiting for you, so to say. You can skip, pause, repeat as much as you like. The lessons are straightforward and have clear explanations of grammar and vocabulary. They know you already know English, so their instructions use that to your advantage. Some critics complain that the repetition of new material is boring, but research would say that it's necessary for language acquisition regardless of level of excitement. Our suggestions would be the improved technology on assessing written work, a creative way to make necessary repetition a little less boring, and a placement test so you know for sure which level to start at if you already know some German. Still, all shortcomings aside, Fluenz provides a solid choice for German lessons, especially if you feel more comfortable leaning on what you already know in English throughout the process.