Fundamental Vocabulary to Learn German

Are you studying German? OH BOY do we have a great tool for you! Our optimized and beautiful immersion focused vocabulary deck will kickstart your German comprehension and get you understanding German gems like Wurstglückseligkeit (that feeling of bliss you experience after immersing in some delicious sausage) in no time.

What's included

  • 100 days of vocabulary practice

  • Hand-picked example sentences

  • Authentic native audio

  • Downloadable Anki flashcard deck

  • Access on desktop, mobile, or web

USD $19.99

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The most critical vocabulary to learn German

At Refold, we’re focused on teaching you to understand real German. The biggest obstacle to understanding a language is vocabulary.

How much vocabulary do you need?

Some language learning sites like to say that you can get by with just 1000 words. That may be enough for a “survival-level speaking”, but it’s not enough to understand real German.

If you want to understand German, you’ll need at least 5000 words.

How to learn 5000 words quickly

  1. Study the most common words.
  2. Immerse in German content: expose yourself to the language to notice and reinforce the words you’re studying.
  3. Once you’ve studied the most common words, study the words you see most often in your German content.

Introducing DE1K

The DE1K deck is optimized to help you understand native German content as fast as possible.

We painstakingly analyzed and categorized the top 5000 words used across dozens of German TV shows to make sure you’re focusing on the most important vocabulary.

We rejected all words shared with English (i.e. cognates), all derivations, and all easily guessable words that you can learn directly from immersion.

According to our analysis, if you combine the DE1K deck and immersion, you should be able to learn 3137 words in about 4 months:

  • DE1K Words: 1000
  • Cognates: 857
  • Derivations: 607
  • Easy Words: 673

When combined with German immersion, the DE1K deck is the perfect tool for jumpstarting your German understanding.

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The hardest part of learning a language is basic comprehension. Once you can understand enough to have fun, you'll never want to stop.

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Features of the deck

Native Audio

Learn what German is supposed to sound like with high-quality audio recorded by a native German speaker.

Descriptive Images

Reinforce what you learn with concrete high-resolution visuals.

Example Sentences

Learn words in context with real example sentences, handwritten by German teachers and sorted by difficulty to optimize your learning.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Couldn't I build my own deck?

    Yep! It just takes time, energy, and effort. The German deck took our team of data scientists, high-level German learners, and German natives about 150 hours to create. We’ve done the hard work so you don’t have to.

  • Why shouldn't I use Duolingo?

    If it’s your first time studying a language, then you probably should.

    Duolingo is a language-learning video game. It’s a great way to try out a language to see if you like it and to build a daily habit of engaging with the language.

    Unfortunately, it doesn’t get you very far, and definitely won’t help you understand German.

  • Aren't there free decks available?

    Yep! But they have a few problems:

    1. They aren’t focused on helping you understand TV shows and casual conversation.
    2. They haven’t filtered out the “easy words”.
    3. They don’t have native audio.
    4. The example sentences are crowdsourced and usually low quality.

    If you want to use a free deck, here’s the best we’ve found: https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/1698672280

  • Will this make me fluent?

    NO! This just builds the initial foundation for understanding German. Fluency comes after thousands of hours spent with the language.

  • What content should I consume with the deck?

    Check out our German quickstart guide for content recommendations.

  • I finished the deck, now what?

    Congrats 🥳! Head on over to our guide on sentence mining to learn how to make cards directly from your immersion.

  • How were the words chosen?

    We painstakingly analyzed and categorized the top 5000 words used across dozens of German TV shows to make sure you’re focusing on the most important vocabulary.

    We filtered out all words shared with English (i.e. cognates), all derivations, and all easily guessable words that you can learn directly from immersion.

    According to our analysis, if you combine the DE1K deck and immersion, you should be able to learn 3137 words in about 4 months:

    • Words in the DE1K: 1000
    • Cognates: 857
    • Derivations: 607
    • Easy Words: 673

     

    Native German TV shows used:

    • Berlin, Berlin: Seasons 1-4
    • Charité: Seasons 1-3
    • Charité at War: Season 1
    • Der Tatortreiniger: Seasons 1-7
    • How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast): Seasons 1-3
    • Kitz: Season 1
    • Ku’damm 56: Season 1
    • Ku’damm 59: Season 2
    • Mord mit Aussicht: Seasons 1-3
    • Das letzte Wort: Season 1
    • Türkisch für Anfänger: Seasons 1-3
    • Wir sind die Welle: Season 1
    • Babylon Berlin: Seasons 1-3
    • Bad Banks: Seasons 1-2
    • Barbaren: Season 1
    • Biohackers: Season 1-2
    • Dark: Seasons 1-3
    • Dogs of Berlin: Season 1
    • Freud: Season 1
    • Life’s a Glitch: Season 1
    • Oktoberfest 1900: Season 1
    • Parfum: Season 1
    • Skylines: Season 1
    • The Billion Dollar Code: Season 1
    • Tribes of Europa: Season 1

     

    Non-German TV shows with German subs used:

    • Community: Seasons 1-6
    • Friends: Seasons 1-10
    • Modern Family: Seasons 4-6, 8, 10-11
    • Seinfeld: Seasons 1-9
    • The Office: Seasons 1-9
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