I'm learning German for citizenship and built my own app because nothing had what I needed

I started learning German for the B1 exam and citizenship and realized that all the apps lack the features I need. Textbooks have good structure but no modern digital features. And learning with a tutor is still 90% self-learning anyway.

I decided to build my own solution with Claude. I’ve been using it for a while now and the approach actually works, so I’m sharing it with others. I’ll be honest, it doesn’t cover speaking, but I’ll share a few ways to handle that too.

Apps - Duolingo, Babbel

I tried both. They felt like they’re made for people who like scores and want to learn to chat. My goal was different: understand grammar, learn A1 through B1 vocabulary, pass the Goethe exam.

They don’t teach you how German sentence structure works. They don’t explain why “Ich gebe dem Mann das Buch” uses dative for the man and accusative for the book. They don’t prepare you for writing a semi-formal email or giving a structured presentation, which is what the B1 exam actually tests.

It was not what I needed.

Flashcard apps

Then I tried flashcard apps for learning words. They also lacked features I needed.

First, all the flashcard apps are just… words. My visual memory is much stronger, so why not use it? I knew about the memory palace technique, where you associate words with vivid, bizarre images to anchor them in memory. No app was doing this.

So I built it. Every word gets a vivid scene. Not a stock photo, a surreal memorable image. “Der Kopf” (head) doesn’t just show a head. It shows a giant patchwork head floating in the sky like a hot air balloon, with a castle on top of it. You see it once and you remember it. I can confirm that after learning the words I can actually recall the images that come with them.

Then I started adding other things that no flashcard app bothers with:

Color-coded genders. Every German learner struggles with der/die/das. I use blue for masculine, pink for feminine, green for neuter. Verbs and other word types get a neutral gray. After a while your brain starts associating the color with the gender before you even read the article. It sounds small but it helps a lot.

Verb forms on the card. When I’m learning a verb I want the three forms right there. Infinitive, past, participle. Not in a separate conjugation table I have to look up somewhere. I also added present, past and perfect forms at the back of the card for a quick lookup.

Conjugation and case tables. Interactive reference tables built into the app for quick reference.

Spaced repetition. Shows you words right before you’d forget them. Paired with the imagery and the mnemonic descriptions, it works really well.

I actually wrote an email to the creator of one of the flashcard apps I tried suggesting some of these features. They replied that these are not a priority. I guess you have a competitor now, how about that?

Textbooks

I bought the Hueber Motive series. I like the structured approach but I hate that they lack digital features. For each listening exercise I have to spend 5 minutes finding the audio file and then downloading an MP3. It sounds ridiculous in 2026.

The exercises themselves: you read them, do them in your head or on paper, flip to the answer key. No immediate feedback and no tracking.

Good structure but terrible delivery.

What I built

I took the structured approach from textbooks and combined it with everything the apps and flashcards were missing.

Interactive units from A1 to B1. Each unit follows a textbook-style progression: receptive input first (reading and listening), then guided practice with grammar focus, then free production. Various exercise types covering reading, listening, writing, speaking, grammar, vocabulary. The exercises mapped to the Goethe exam format.

Audio is just there. No downloads, no track hunting, just click play.

Exercises you can interact with. Gap fills, sentence ordering, conjugation tables, true/false, multiple choice, dictation, email writing. Speaking of writing, I added a button to quickly copy a prompt and your text to send it to Claude/ChatGPT/Gemini for a quick check.

Vocabulary engine. The memory palace approach with AI-generated images, color-coded genders, verb forms, mnemonic descriptions, and spaced repetition. Words from lessons are added into the vocab lists so you don’t have to create flashcards manually.

Chrome extension. When I browse German sites like news, I want to quickly add new words. One click sends a word to my word list and uses AI to enrich it with a mnemonic and an image. It enters the spaced repetition queue automatically.

Everything in one place. I don’t juggle three apps and a textbook anymore.

Speaking - the gap

The platform doesn’t cover speaking practice. The B1 exam has a 15 minute speaking module: joint planning, a presentation, and a discussion. You can use AI, but I think speaking to a human is better. There are many apps for exchanged conversations. I also think hiring a tutor for the last 15-20% is the most efficient way.

Speaking and closing the gaps is maybe 20-25% of your preparation. The other 75% you can handle on your own.

Cost comparison

Approach	Cost
Intensive language school	800-1500 EUR
Private tutor 2x/week for 6 months	1200-2000 EUR
Textbooks + apps + tutor for speaking	300-700 EUR
OWL + targeted speaking practice	~70-140 EUR platform + 150-400 EUR tutor

Try it

A1 is free: 8 units, all exercises, vocabulary with images, audio. No credit card required.

If you’re serious about the exam, premium gives you A2 and B1 content, the Chrome extension, and image generation with Nano Banana for any word you add. It’s going to cost you about the same as the books across the 3-6 month period you usually need to prepare for B1.

I’ve been using it for a while now and since I proved to myself that it’s a more efficient way of learning, I decided to make it a product and share it with others.

If you have feedback or feature ideas, I’d love to hear them.