Hello everyone,
Welcome back, Advent Calendar 2025, day number 14, the third Advent actually.
And behind today’s door is a resource for German learners that is not only super useful but it’s also completely free.
Sounds like a bit like a setup for some kind of twist. But I’m not joking.
I’m talking about.. drumroll…
VHS Lernportal
Those of you who live in Germany may know and appreciate VHS, but for those who don’t know, here’s a little primer.
What is VHS
VHS is short for a word that many learners struggle to pronounce: die Volkshochschule (“the population university”).
The concept originally came from Denmark in the 19th century but it’s very very widespread in Germany and as far as I know also Austria.
It’s basically a place that offers real life courses of all kinds, be it dancing, knitting, tax filing. Whatever you can think of you may find there.
They are run as private businesses, so every VHS is somewhat independent, but they belong to an association and are under the same brand umbrella and the most important thing is that they’re NOT run for profit.
Their original purpose was to offer education to everybody, even those with little financial means. And so they’re partially financed by the states and commune or the EU and the courses are REALLY well priced. And despite that, from what I have heard, you can find really good teachers there, because often it’s people who want to teach their field out of passion (though the do get money for it).
Anyway, if you live in Germany (or Austria) and you like taking course then it’s definitely worth looking for VHS. In any bigger city there are several of them with a wide variety of offerings and it’s also a great way to socialize.
But what I didn’t know until recently was that they also have online offerings.
And they have a really nice one for German learners.
VHS German Online Course
The VHS has put up a series of German practice courses, from A0 (the alphabet), through to C1.
Each level has about a dozen lectures which are each divided into subsections with exercises, videos and tests.
The A2 course apparently has 900 (!!) exercises in total.
Here’s a screenshot of how it looks on the site.
Now, I couldn’t find much (or any) grammar explanation, so I think this is primarily a means to practice, but they do include a lot of audio and listening comprehension, which is great.
And that’s not all. They also have a vocabulary trainer AND a phrase trainer and those can be set to 20 or more languages.
The look and feel of it is a bit dated and not flashy at all, which is kind of on-brand for the VHS. It’s a non-profit after all, partially financed through taxes. These organisations rarely have good looking websites. But I think the content is definitely useful.
And you know what… they actually also have Apps for each of the courses.
And you know what… all of that IS COMPLETELY FREE.
You create your account and you’re good to go with thousands of exercises. No credit card, no ads, no newsletter, no nothing!
I mean… capitalism is great and all, but some socialism here and there ain’t so bad either.
People on Reddit had good things to say about it overall. I only checked it out really quickly, and what I saw (I looked at A2) was definitely great if you need to practice vocabulary and listening comprehension.
So I’d say, definitely do check it out and don’t let the design that seems like from 2008 make you miss out on a great resource.
Here’s the link to the homepage of the courses. You can find everything there
VHS Lernportal – Free Online German Courses
And that’s it for today.
Let me know in the comments if you like this or if you maybe knew it already and what you think about it.
And also, if you have any VHS stories, please share and spread the word. I’m really glad something like this exists, even if I never go. I’m more like that “doing my own research” type of guy, you know. On YouTube. With science podcast for example, like the Joe Rogan experience. My favorite episodes are when someone who works for the government is there and they complain about the government together. This makes me immune to propaganda. But… I digress :D.
Have a great day everyone and I’ll see you tomorrow.
VHS was soooo useful learning German when I moved to Wiesbaden. I’m still Facebook friends with some of those folks 10 years later and 5 years after moving back to the States. We have something similar in the U.S. called community colleges. Most local governments support one. They offer 2 year (A.A. or Associate of Arts) equivalent to the first two years of a university degree. Some also offer job training, fun courses, etc.
“I’m still Facebook friends with some of those folks 10 years later and 5 years after moving back to the States.”
Wow, that’s amazing!! It takes work to stay in touch like that, so the fact that you all are doing it means there really is a great connection.
Many local school districts in the United States have an adult education program which may be more similar to VHS than the Community College system is. Adult Ed programs offer low cost classes in things like English as a second language, preparation for the high school equivalency exam, and topics of interest to adults like film courses, art appreciation, flower arranging, and (luckily for me) foreign languages like French, Spanish, Italian and German, often geared toward vocabulary for travel, if they are able to find instructors for those courses. Our local school district lost their German teacher and has not been able to replace her, but I have been happily learning Italian, not very intensively, as a hobby instead.
Yeah, that does sound similar. For Volkshochschule, if they don’t have a teacher, they don’t have the course too, as far as I know. They’re not obliged to offer anything. And topics like art appreciation or flower arrangement are definitely what you could find at VHS, next door to Bitcoin basics or Furry costime creation 101.
When I worked in Germany my wife went to the VHS. It was a great experience. She met other students – mostly English speakers (either from England or Ireland).
It helped her learn German and she had some social connections that also helped.
She took courses in German, knitting and cooking. I still remember the Rinderrouladen!
Hello Emanuel
Is there any article on Indirekte rede i,e reporting speech?
No, not yet.
Do you have any specific questions about it?
whole topic :)
have read from the textbook but wanted to see your view and how you would explain it.
I always read yourblog first before diving into textbook explanation.
Are the rules that simple ?
They are pretty simple, yes. But there’s definitely enough to say for a lesson. I’ll add it to my list for next year :)
Wow that’s great, please make it before March, my exams are from April !!!!
Danke
Absolutely not going to promise that, so please don’t rely on it.
If you have questions in the meantime, you know where to find me (in the comments).
-Nach den Vorlesungen gingen Hans und er zusammen zum Essen in ein Gasthaus, das ganz in der Nähe liege.
-Nach den Vorlesungen würden Hans und er zusammen zum Essen in ein Gasthaus gehen, das ganz in der Nähe liegt
2.Danach machen wir meistens einen kleinen Spaziergang.
-Danach machten sie meistens einen kleinen Spaziergang.
-Danach würden sie meistens einen kleinen Spaziergang machen.
Which form is used in spoken german when indirect and präsens forms are same i,e direct – wir gehen, indirect – wir gehen. so we use würden form or präteritum ?
1.
Both options are wrong. There is NO conditional used here ever.
2.
Again, no würde form.
When you speak, you’d use the same tense paradigm as always. So verbs that go with spokenn past, go with spoken past and those that go with written past go with written past.
– Danach haben sie einen Spaziergang gemacht.
– Nach der Vorlesung sind …. , das ganz in der Nähe lag.
If you do this in an exercise context, you need to pay attention though. THey might require preterit all the way. But NEVER conditional, unless it’s already in the original.
I wouldn’t call this indirect speech by the way.
– Ich habe gehört, dass sie danach meistens einen kleinen Spaziergang gemachen.
This is indirect speech.
I finally figured out how to register. Having the directions in English would’ve been helpful.
Yeah, the German only interface is definitely one of the shortcomings.
Wunderbar! Ich habe gerade registriert. Was bedeutet AGB (wozu ich habe stimmen mussen)
AGB = Allgemeine Geschäftsbedingungen … so in etwa wie “terms of service”.
Danke : )
The concepts probably don’t overlap 100%, but in the USA “community colleges” are common. They’re both for continuing education and hobby learning for anybody and an affordable option for students who want to study at a university but not pay the exorbitant price for a four-year degree – you can knock out a lot of the basic courses that are part of a bachelor’s in the US and then only pay for the ones specific to your field at the university (and often put yourself in a better position to get a scholarship if you didn’t do as well in high school).
Glad you brought that up and also highlighted the differences a bit, since for “Volkshochschule” it is tempting to translate it as “community college”. Where does the funding of community colleges come from in the States? Is it all state funded or pure private or a mix?
It’s definitely a mix, but I think most are state- (or city-) funded.
For me, it’s one of those places where it’s definitely a “close enough” gloss for the US context, because what a VHS does in Germany, you’d look for at a community college in America. But CCs are tertiary education institutions, though they usually grant only associates’ degrees (basically half a bachelor’s).
Ah nice. For context for others: completing a course at Volkshochschule will NOT be considered an actual qualification in the field.
Hi Emanuel,
Many thanks for the VHS suggestion. Had a look, and I like it, despite, as you say, it being a bit dated! It says one can learn auf Ihrer Muttersprache, but it‘s all in German – no bad thing actually -, but I can‘t imagine many native Germans wanting to learn German in German! Did I miss how one can switch to explanations auf Englisch?
As far as I saw it, you can switch the language for the Vokabeltrainer and the Phrasentrainer of each lesson. But not the website entirely. So I don’t think you can switch the instructions.
Hallo,
A couple small typos:
“though the do get money for it” (though they do get money for it)
“you like taking course” (you like taking courses)
“With science podcast for example” (With science podcasts for example)
Thank you soooooo much for this info, I will definitely be checking it out, didn’t know about it and won’t even be put off by the interface, as I’m a bit old-fashioned when it comes to technology :)
And knowing there are courses that one can do in Germany is also good, as I think it’s a great way to meet people and make friends if one’s a newcomer, which I intend to be at some point :)
Bis morgen!
What a great resource! Will definitely check it out! Thanks so much for letting us know about it!
Thank you, Emanuel. You are very generous and it is very much appreciated.
Oh yes! I know of these from Norway. A friend’s daughter went to one for studying Manga; it’s history, styles and how to make your own. It was fantastic for her in many ways.
Stadt Zürich bietet eine Volkshochschule mit vielen interessanten Kursen an, die allerdings leider nicht kostenlos sind.
Ich hatte die Deutsch VHSWebseite auch irgendwann als Lesezeichen gespeichert, sie aber nie benutzt. Ich werde sie mal ausprobieren.
Yep, just as I suspected, I found it in my list of 1000 other German-learning bookmarks that I probably saved when I was A1-A2, and now that I’ve reached C1 without looking at any of them I know I probably never will. In fact you should be very proud that you’re one of the couple of German sites I actually decided to use, and definitely don’t need a bookmark to remember :D
But maybe I will give this one a shot with the advanced courses, thanks for the reminder!
Oh, I have a bookmark cemetery as well.
So I do feel proud that I made it into the actual resource rotation :)
When I visited Denmark years ago, I remember a Danish friend of mine invited me to a “folkehojskole”, as she called it, in Copenhagen to sit in on a German lesson. Most enlightening, although the instructor was not a native speaker.