Beginners German 3: richtig so!

This course further continues your journey to Germany, Austria and Switzerland and progresses your skills to understand and use the German language in everyday situations and while travelling. Studying 3–4 hours in each unit, the course offers the perfect opportunity to continue the development of your language skills. You will learn to agree, disagree and express your opinions, and master everyday situations. You will also further increase your awareness of the cultural diversity of German-speaking countries.

After successfully completing this short course, you will receive a digital badge. This can be shared on social media, added to email signatures or act as a certificate.

Standalone study only

You will not be awarded credits for studying this course. It is available for standalone study only and cannot be counted towards an OU qualification.

Short course

Short course code

LGXG003

Credits

This is a non-credit bearing course.

What you will study

Almost 100 million people speak German as their main language. Most of them live in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, making German one of the most widely used languages in Europe. Now associated with economic success, science and technology, German also has a long-standing reputation as a language of poets and thinkers.

This short course offers you an excellent opportunity to take further your basic knowledge of the German language. You’ll continue to develop the essentials of reading, writing, speaking and listening in German. You’ll also develop key skills that will enhance your future study of the language.

Throughout 16 units studying Beginners German 3: richtig so! you'll learn to:

express your opinions on a variety of themes and topics, such as television, sports, cinema and theatre, accommodation, household items, and furniture
communicate in typical situations
understand and employ key issues of German pronunciation, especially the sounds alien to non-German speakers, such as Umlaute
express your agreement and disagreement
master everyday situations such as shopping as well as online shopping in the German-speaking world.

Furthermore, you will have many opportunities to enhance your intercultural understanding through engaging with learning materials which reflect German speaking countries and their people, and through learning about places and sightseeing in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

Delivered through user-friendly, ‘bite-sized’ blocks, in each unit you’ll discover useful words and set phrases. Audio material, featuring recordings by native speakers of German, and a wide variety of speaking activities will aid your pronunciation. Throughout the course you’ll build up your own German phrase book covering a variety of topics and typical situations. You will also practise using important grammatical features such as the dative case, prepositions, separable verbs, and the past tense.

You'll learn and improve your strategies to memorise and use German vocabulary and grammar as well as practised learning strategies such as skim reading, using fillers, and speaking from key words.

Along with completing the activities and quiz in each unit to strengthen your learning, you’ll have built and developed your own language notebook and gained a solid foundation of basic German to move onto the next level.

Viel Erfolg, und weiter so!

Please note that although this course is non-accredited, it can be used towards the module Making your learning count (YXM130) to gain OU credits.

You will learn

After completing this course, you should be able to:

communicate with speakers of German in a range of predictable and simple contexts relating to everyday life
know and use the principles of German pronunciation
understand and use the special German characters (such as the ‘Umlaut') and be able to word-process or hand-write them
better understand the cultural differences and customs between German-speaking cultures and your own.

The course is designed to help you achieve a level of language proficiency equivalent to level A2 of the Council of Europe Common European Framework of Reference for languages (CEFR).

Learner support

You will have access to discussion forums that you are strongly encouraged to participate in as these forums combine support from fellow students with input from a language-specialist learning adviser. Other support is available via the StudentHome website and Computing Helpdesk.

If you have a disability

The course is delivered online and makes use of a variety of online resources. If you use specialist hardware or software to assist you in using a computer or the internet you are advised to contact us about support which can be given to meet your needs.

The OU strives to make all aspects of study accessible to everyone and this Accessibility Statement outlines what studying LGXG003 involves. You should use this information to inform your study preparations and any discussions with us about how we can meet your needs.

Regulations

As a student of The Open University, you should be aware of the content of the academic regulations, which are available on our Student Policies and Regulations website.

Entry requirements

There are no entry requirements for this course.

However, it's beneficial if you have some basic knowledge of German, similar or equivalent to the language, skills and vocabulary practised in Beginners German 1: fang an! (LGXG001) or Beginners German 2: mit vergnügen! (LGXG002).

You will be given guidance on developing your language-learning skills such as different techniques to memorise vocabulary and approach grammatical topics.

Getting started with German 3 is an extract from Beginners German 3, which you can study within 8 hours on OpenLearn – the home of free learning from The Open University.

If you have any doubt about the suitability of the course, please contact us.

Course length

The course is made up of 16 units, with each unit expected to take about 3–4 hours to study. In total, you’ll need around 64 hours to complete the course.

You can begin at any time during the life of the course and study at your own pace. The course will be open to you for a time period of between 6 and 18 months depending on your course registration date and you will be advised of the specific time limitations upon enrolment.

Register

Start	End	England fee	Register
At anytime before registration end date	Jan 2026 - see Entry requirements for more detail	£195.00	Registration closes 31/07/2025 Register

Ways to pay

Credit/Debit Card – We accept American Express, Mastercard, Visa and Visa Electron.

Sponsorship – If this course is geared towards your job or developing your career, you could ask your employer to sponsor you by paying some or all of the fees. Your sponsor just needs to complete a simple form to confirm how much they will be paying and we will invoice them.

The fee information provided here is valid for short courses starting in the 2024/25 academic year. Fees typically increase annually. For further information about the University's fee policy, visit our Fee Rules.

Can you study an Access module for free?

Depending on eligibility and availability of places, you could apply to study your Access module for free.

To qualify, you must:

be resident in England
have a household income of not more than £25,000 (or be in receipt of a qualifying benefit)
have not completed one year or more on any full-time undergraduate programme at FHEQ level 4 or above or successfully completed 30 credits or more of OU study within the last 10 years

How to apply to study an Access module for free

Once you've started the registration process, either online or over the phone, we'll contact you about your payment options. This will include instructions on how you can apply to study for free if you are eligible and funded places are still available.

If you're unsure if you meet the criteria to study for free, you can check with one of our friendly advisers on +44 (0)300 303 0069, or you can request a call back.

Not eligible to study for free?

Don't worry! We offer a choice of flexible ways to help spread the cost of your Access module. The most popular options include:

monthly payments through OUSBA
part-time tuition fee loan (you'll need to be registered on a qualification for this option)

To explore all the options available to you, visit Fees and Funding.

What's included

All learning materials are delivered entirely online and there is no formal tuition for this course.

Your study is self-directed and you’ll have access to a course website, which includes:

a unit-by-unit study planner
course-specific materials and activities
audio content
discussion forums
support from language-specialist learning advisers.

Computing requirements

You'll need broadband internet access and a desktop or laptop computer with an up-to-date version of Windows (10 or 11), or macOS Ventura or higher.

Functionality may be limited on mobile devices. For example, voice recorder activities, which are common in language short courses, may not work on iOS/Apple devices.

Our module websites comply with web standards, and any modern browser is suitable for most activities.

Our OU Study mobile App will operate on all current, supported versions of Android and iOS. It's not available on Kindle.

It's also possible to access some module materials on a mobile phone, tablet device or Chromebook. However, as you may be asked to install additional software or use specific applications, you'll also require a desktop or laptop as described above.