German language courses in/near Cologne

hey i was wondering if anyone knew of or had gone to any german classes in the cologne area to learn how to speak german. i know of inlingua but thats a bit to expensive unless there was other people that were wanting to form a group. any suggestions please?

Hi,

I went to a Volkshochschule course in Cologne and it was pretty good. Check out:

Volkshochschule Köln

This is part of the Cologne town website where you can search on all the Deutsch als Fremdsprache courses that are available in the different areas of Cologne. They're cheap too and you'll meet tons of people from all over the world.

Best of luck!

Pumpkin

thanks for the address but i cant navigate around the schools web page which is all in german. which seems strange that they offer courses for other languages but dont let you know anything other than in german

What you could try maybe is going to the University and seeing if there are any students who offer private tuition. Back in '95 (!) I actually got my first lessons from a Norwegian who was studying here, and he knew what bit of German are most difficult to learn (agreed - doesn't count out much !). As far as I remember they had some sort of notice board offering the services. Is by far the cheapest option (I paid in beer and cigarettes).

Later I went to the Goethe Institut in Bonn (Bad-Godesberg), then Carl Duisburg School. Both were really good, but more than a little pricey.

Hope that helps

Anyone had experience with learning German at evening courses in Cologne? I tried the first course with the Volkshochschule but it was pretty dire, and for some reason there is no Goethe Institute here.

Have also read about Germans looking for 'tandempartners' to exchange conversation, but not sure how to go about finding one...

Any recs most appreciated.

Best place to post for a tandem language practice is on the TT classifieds

Hello everyone,

Apart from Goethe Institute (actually there's no Goethe Insitute in Köln, but in Bonn and Düsseldorf), Eurocentres (too expensive) and the Volkshochschule (some people told me the tuition is not very good there), does anyone know where I can find a good German course in Cologne?

I've seen on the Internet some other 6 German courses in Köln, but I don't really know how good they are...I mean, they all say their teachers are native speakers and well prepared, the atmosphere is relaxed, etc.

I would be glad if anyone could help me with this question.

Thanks and all the best

Try Carl Duisburg - on the Ring, not far from Saturn

Like most teaching it can be down to the quality & enthusiasm of the individual teacher rather than the general "tuition" itself. They currently follow the Berliner Platz series published by Langenscheidt, but my teacher certainly brings in lots of other materials as well.

Before you discount the VHS entirely it may be worth having a look at the course books in the shops to see what you think. If possible, if you know which your local outlet would be, try & find out what your actual teacher is like. If you are free in the day, they do intensive courses which I have heard recommended. If cash is tight they are cheap - I pay just over €100 for 28 sessions (1/2 a years worth).

Hi there, this is my first post on the forum. I have been tempted to reply because of the misinformation about the VHS.

I learnt my German, starting with the VHS and it gave me a good footing and the confidence to go out and learn German properly. This is where the learning starts, not finishes. I can only commend the teachers who taught me. The VHS gave me the opportunity to meet people from all over the world in an environment where we were more or less equal, although, with English as a Mother tongue you are always at an advantage.

Try it, stick at it and you may be surpised, I was, positively.

Because other people are more likely to speak English in addition to their own language, or what?

I went to Berlitz on Schildergasse when I arrived here.
Helped me pick up the basics and set me up with the grammer etc. (just wish I could remember the grammer!) but as with any place it depends on the teacher or how you want to learn, some were great, one was notably not so good for us as he stuck ridgidly to the course material without improvising.
PM me if you want any specific info.

Neil

Well basically yes. It was sometimes hard to resist, reverting back to the mother tongue to get a point across.
Also my German friends at the time looked at me and thought it was a good time to pratice their English.

Then it's more of a disadvantage, if you want to learn German but are prevented from doing so by people wishing to practise their English.
(You could pretend your mother tongue is Swahili or something, that might dampen their enthusiasm )

I went to Inglingua in Cologne. I thought it was super.

I tried an evening course at the VHS and had a pretty poor experience. The teacher was quite good, but the other students made things painfully slow. There were about 25 of us, which is very large for a course like this, and most were housewives who had moved to Germany 10 years ago and had never made any effort to learn German. They just weren't able to pick up the material quickly enough to follow the class. I've heard of others taking VHS courses that were much better due to a better mix of people, but it is a bit of a gamble.

I was also in an evening course until a few weeks ago at Inlingua, which has about the biggest selection of evening lessons of any private school. It was quite good, with small groups of students and young professionals who were dedicated to learning. The teacher (Wolfgang) was also really good. It's about three times more expensive than VHS (165 EUR for a month vs about the same for three months), but it was definitely more worthwhile for me.

I just finished the evening course at the VHS last week in Düsseldorf and personnaly think I jumped in too quickly as I have only been here for 5 weeks and since it was the only intensive course which is done every Summer I had to take it and it was quite hard for someone being introduced to German for the first time, as the teacher would only speak German as it was a mixed class and being out numbered by Poles who didn't understand English that well, She had no choice but to speak German all the time and would still come round and explain in English to those of us who were still strugling with the German language.

Being quite intensive as we learn how to Speak, Write, Listen and Read German for 5 days a week for 4 weeks ensured I pick up a lot about the language and have decided to take the same level again only one day a week as I think I was bottom of the class and at least I didn't dropout and didn't miss a single class as quite a few dropped out after a week.

Hi there,

well, I would recommend the Steinke-Institut in Bonn. You can reach Bonn from Cologne either by train, by car or by tram in only 30 minutes. The Steinke-Institut is situated directly in the very centre of Bonn, so from the main station you've got to go only about five minutes and you're there...

I've learned German there and was quite content. Some friends of mine have recommended it. Both the quality of teaching and the prices, atmosphere and the rooms are really OK.
Except from the German-language course I also booked a Turkish course (they offer almost everything: German, English, Spanish, Polish, French, Italian, Hungarian, Russian, Chinese...), for I need it sometimes at work. Most German teachers I had to do with have also spoken many foreign languages.

It may be worth mentioning that the prices may seem a bit expensive - but here an intensive course is REALLY intensive, and, starting at zero, after eight weeks you are able to do conversation and you understand the most important details in newspaper articles.

Hello, I would like to know if anybody can recommend a Geman language school that is very fleixble with its timetable. I am an English Trainer in Cologne and I dont speak any German. I dont want a shool that has intense lessons, I would just like 2 or 3 lessons a week. Or can somebody recommend a private German Teacher?

Thanks
Laura

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Hi Laura,

If you can't commit to any fixed time schedule, you probably won't be able to take any group courses, leaving private lessons as your only choice. Most schools have teachers available who will tutor on an hourly basis. Then you just need to arrange your lessons with the tutor.

For a selection of schools:

Activ Lernen: I hired a tutor from here about a year ago for about 18 EUR per hour, which is much cheaper than normal language tutoring rates. It is a small school where most of the teachers are students working part time. That means the teachers aren't necessarily as qualified as other schools, but if you find a tutor you like, that probably isn't important.
Inlingua: Inlingua is a middle-of-the-road school. I took a decent course here for several months this year. I haven't specifically asked, but they likely also offer tutoring.
Carl Duisberg Centre: This school is on the upper end of the spectrum. The courses are fairly expensive, and the teachers are a bit better qualified than most. I don't know if they officially offer tutoring through the school, but likely some of the teachers will.

If you really want something that doesn't cost much, you could also try looking around some university bulletin boards. You would also likely get lots of calls from students if you put up a posting looking for a German tutor.

Good luck!

Hello, I have just came across this board and I find very helpful!
In November I am planning to take a German Language course in Köln. I have arranged to visit 2 schools next week. I was wondering if anyone has heard anything about these? MartinH has alerady mentioned Active Lernen, but did anybody hear anything about school Tandem (www.tandem-koeln.de) ?

I have seen a couple of such ads looking for a tandem partner in their gest book - http://www.tandem-koeln.de/deutschkurse_koeln.html

My level of German is about intermediate/advanced and I am gonna take intensive or very intensive course. It is important to me that the school offers either small groups or reasonably priced one-to-one lessons.
Active Lernen has only bid groups, abot 10 poeple but the private lessons are very reasonably priced 18 EU

I am living in Swtzerland and as it is not that easy to learn German here (very strong dialekt - practicly a different language) I have decided to try in Germany that is why I would appriciate any information. Also about the town, I never have been to Cologne and in Germany only few times ..

Thank you

The website has a link at the top named English. Click that to navigate the site in English.

Hello all,

Thought I'd drag this post back up to see if anyone has any new information on this topic as I'm looking for evening classes to learn German. Anybody want to update us on their experiences that they've had?

Thanks in advance

Hello all,

I am looking for advice/ opinions about learning German. Any help much appreciated! A bit of context if it helps: I am moving to Köln at the end of the summer and plan to do three months intensive learning, then follow this up with night classes and maybe some intensive classes again when I can face it! I have done a couple of years of night classes so know the basics but have a long way to go. So I have a few questions really...

- 1. I wondered if anyone could recommend a language school in Köln?

- 2. Advice on what to be aware of when comparing language schools? e.g. I have been to visit 'Inlingua' and they seem good, but then they all do so am not really sure what to base the decision on. Carl Duisberg also seems good but quite expensive compared to some?

- 3. How long do you think it takes to learn a reasonable standard of German? Any hints or tips for how best to go about it?

Many thanks,

Cx

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My friend came to Germany with absolutly no German knowledge, went to Goethe Institute for 6 months, and he than went off to complete his education in German University. There is a Goethe Institute in Bonn, perhaps you can look into it http://www.goethe.de/

Personally I took private lessons provided for the company I worked for when I first came, and it was a disaster. The teacher was great, in fact, he is one of my best friends now, but the fact that it was from the company where I worked, there was always a reason to cancel, an urgent meeting, a deadline etc.
After 8 years of living in Cologne area, but working for Dutch and French companies, I never needed to use the language except shopping and normal converstaion, but now that I am on my own, I clearly see the need and am considering Goethe institute myself.

Another thing that might be helpful, is that here on TT, there is a group in Cologne that meets for conversational German.

Carl Duisberg do have a good reputation, they certainly pay their teachers better than Inlingua. Goethe Institut are also good.

Wherever you go, insist on a trial lesson before you pay out for a block of lessons or a set of books.

Inlingua is useless, but good at marketing. Probably OK for teaching foreign languages to German businessmen, but they do not have experienced people to deal with foreigners learning German, and are anyway more interested in taking corporate money.
I took two courses with the Volkshochschule and found these to be really good and cheap. There are a lot of foreigners taking German courses there, and the teachers have a lot of experience. CD and Goethe also have good teachers.

Thats great, thanks guys! I will look into the Goethe Institute, the Volkshochschule, and Carl Duisberg. The conversational german group sounds good too. It would be nice to speak with people who are also learning - I sometimes end up feeling really stupid/anxious with native Germans so would be good to practice in a less pressured way. I really need to learn - boyfriend is German and have spent far too long already feeling like a dimwit at his family dos!

Villager - would you be able to say a bit more on why you think Inlingua is useless?

Thanks!

Cx

I'm currently doing an intensive German course (4 mornings per week) at the Volkshochschule and I find it fine.

I guess the main difference between the VHS and private schools - from what I have heard - is that at the VHS the classes can be larger, though it helps if you avoid the classes at Neumarkt as the other centres tend to be slightly quieter, or so it seems.

As said, the VHS is cheaper, so I guess it depends on how deep your pockets are.

As I said, I think that Inlingua specializes in teaching German businessmen some foreign tourist phrases handy for business. After two very productive courses at VHS, paid by me, my employer offered me courses at Inlingua. The class was smaller (three people), but the book was the same and the teacher just did the drills out of the book, no extra info about German culture or language, no shared enjoyment of learning the language. The other members of the course were businessmen's wives who were here as ex-pats, not the eastern/central European and Asian students at the VHS who really have to learn in order to study here in Germany. The atmosphere was completely different.

In order to learn the language you must learn some grammar and do a lot of reinforcing drills, there is just no other way, there is no magic formula, it is work. Having individual classes sounds good, but hearing a class of 10 to 20 recite the same construction over and again is really helpful, you can laugh at others' mistakes; this will reduce your fear of embarrassment and lead to a more productive exercise. Besides which, VHS is subsidized, you can take more classes for your money, and this is much better than an expensive twice-a-week tutor.

yes, the classes at Neumarkt are larger than the Ehrenfeld and other centers , but the city library is there and it is a great place to study, rent some Hörspiel CDs (spoken language), DVDs, read some magazines, etc. besides which there is a great goulash bar across the street.

Thats great - thanks Villager - I will definately look into the VHS option! Sounds like great value for money and more genuine than what you experienced at Inlingua.

Cx

Have a look at www.sprachhaus.com

I have been there twicw and it was excellent. I think they do intensive courses (20 hours a week) for 2/4/6 weeks etc. and also 2 evenings a week which I did after work for about 12 weeks. They cater for all levels and will tailor training if required and prepare you for certificates if needed. Classes are small and the teachers great. Its a small independant language school and is about 10 minutes bus ride from Heumarkt at Sechtemer Str - in fact, I need another batch of lessons so will look to going back there soon...

Ok.

I work from 9 to 6pm Monday thru Friday. I dont get paid much for it is an internship.
I plan on taking german classes ASAP for I really want to learn the language.

Which school is best?
I tried one time the VHS but didnt learn that much bc the teacher could barely speak english. Although it was partly my fault for I attended half of the classes and didnt practice german outside of the classroom.
I am willing to give it another chance to the VHS. Classes start in Sept, 23hrs for 195eur.

I have been recommended to Activlearning. Much much more expensive (around 200eur per month!).
I am willing to spend this amount If I know that I will learn for sure.

Is the VHS a good deal?
Which schools are good too, and most important .. in the evenings.

HELP

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there is a school called Tandem in the Suedstadt, honestly i havent tried this one but i trained with them in santiago learning spanish and would assume that the quality over here for german would be the same. they usually give you a tandem partner to practise your skills after classes. if you are willing to study a bit after hours you can learn there a lot. no idea about prices over here, just give them a ring and have a chat with them. Tandem Sprachschule

My husband took the super intensive German classes at the VHS this last year, and found they were great. I think it is important to have a teacher that will not speak to you in English, since that is the best way to learn a foreign language. With the VHS classes, the native language of the students is mixed, so you end up speaking German on class breaks, etc.

This topic has also been discussed here, and there is lots of advice: http://www.toytowngermany.com/forum/index...40414&st=20

Hey all!
Thanks!

The fact that kind of discourages me is that the teacher of the class at the VHS is not german. Which shouldn't be a problem. But I am hesitant on this.
Today I am going to the VHS and see if I can register for their Sept classes.
If it doesnt work, well I will try the private more expensive ones.. until I learn german!

So far the only school that really caters my time constraint is the VHS (2x per wk after 18hrs)

Did somebody said there was a conversational group in TT?

Thanks alot!!

You should find info about the conversation group here

One of the best German teachers I had at the VHS (in Stuttgart though) was not German. Although she was Chinese, she moved to Germany more than 30 years prior and spoke excellent German. I found she was a lot easier to learn from because she had to go through the process of learning German as well.

A lot of people say it's the luck of the draw when it comes to VHS teachers, but I've been to a lot of other German schools where the teachers have been much worse, so I'm a VHS fan.

That being said, make sure you actually go to your classes and do your homework this time.