Lingoda Sprint Review 2024: Best Way to Learn German Online?
Updated for 2024: My honest review after completing the 2-month intensive online German language course with Lingoda
A few months ago, I found myself in the same situation you find yourself in now. Searching the internet for “the best way to learn German online” or “the best online German course”.
My girlfriend is German, you see. And I’m from New Zealand. We’ve been together for well over three years now. I’ve even lived in Germany with her for more than a year. I desperately wanted to learn how to speak German, but… I also happen to be really good at procrastination.
In the middle of 2022, I forced myself to make a decision. That’s when I decided to give Lingoda a go.
I’d come across Lingoda during my research into German language courses. And when I saw that the deadline for the next Language Sprint was fast approaching, I thought “why not?” and signed up.
I’ll explain more about the Language Sprint below, but it’s basically a two-month intensive online language learning course where you take 30 lessons in 60 days. Sounds a bit crazy, right? But I thought it would be a great way to immerse myself in the language and make fast progress.
In this article, I’ll provide an honest review of my Lingoda Sprint experience, from July to September 2022. Hopefully, it helps you decide if Lingoda is the best online German course for you… or not.
The Pros and Cons of Lingoda
Haven’t got time to read an in-depth review of Lingoda or the Lingoda Sprint? Kein problem! You can quickly browse the pros and cons of Lingoda here.
Lingoda PROS 👍
- Flexibility ⌚: The number one benefit of Lingoda is that you can choose when you want your classes to be — and they have live online German classes almost every hour of the day, every day of the week. That’s because their teachers work remotely from all around the world.
- Quality teachers 👩🏫: I was genuinely surprised by the quality of the teachers. Most of them are formally qualified language teachers. Many of them have university degrees related to languages or linguistics. And a lot of them speak several different languages — they’re legitimate polyglots.
- Small classes 👨🎓: Classes are limited to five students for group classes, but you’ll often be in classes with fewer than five people. You can also book 1:1 classes if you want. I think this is a “sweet spot” for getting plenty of speaking practice.
- Quality lessons 📚: I found the content and structure of the lessons to be excellent. They have a nice mix of vocabulary, grammar and contextual speaking practice.
- Price 💰: Lingoda is really affordable. For the Lingoda Sprint, I paid about $12 a lesson, which is pretty incredible. I’d imagine in-person or 1:1 lessons would be at least double that. I think I used a Lingoda promo code when I signed up, which saved me some money. Also, if you complete Language Sprint and meet all the requirements you get 50% of your money back. Crazy!
- Results 🚀: The most important thing about learning a language is… well, learning the language. And with Lingoda, my German speaking and comprehension improved significantly in just two months. I’m really impressed by how effective it is.
Lingoda CONS 👎
- Personalization 🙋♂️: Because you’re working with a range of different teachers who are teaching standardized lessons, you don’t have the benefit of a personal, custom learning experience.
- Student support 📧: I found there was very little guidance during the Sprint. This may be because Lingoda doesn’t want to help you to earn half your money back. But it would be cool if you knew you were on-track or not (more on this below). Also, the Lingoda Support team wasn’t the best at responding to emails. However, the last email I sent was responded to within a few hours.
As you can see, the Lingoda PROS definitely outweigh the CONS. If you want to learn more about my experience, continue reading below. Otherwise, if you’re already convinced… 👇
Start learning German online with Lingoda today (Free trial available) 🎉
Lingoda Sprint Review: My Experience Learning German with Lingoda
Here I will go into more depth about how Lingoda works and the pros and cons that I touched on above.
How Lingoda Works ⚒️
Lingoda is one of the world’s fastest-growing online language learning services. It’s essentially decentralized the language learning process by hiring remote language teachers from all over the world. This allows them to cover almost all time zones and teach students at scale.
As of writing, Lingoda offers online language lessons in English, Business English, French, German and Spanish. They provide lessons at all levels, A1 (beginner) to C1 (advanced).
It’s really simple and intuitive to get started. You can even get started with a 7-day free trial to see if you like it.
If you do like it, you then have to decide how many lessons you want to take each month. Obviously, the more lessons you can take, the faster you’ll learn.
Once you’ve chosen a plan, you’re free to start booking online language lessons from the easy-to-use dashboard.
What’s the Lingoda Sprint? 🏃♂️
The Lingoda Sprint and Super Sprint are intensive two-month online language learning experiences, designed to help you make fast progress.
The Lingoda Sprint consists of 15 lessons per month (so one every two days on average). The Super Sprint consists of 30 lessons per month (essentially every day).
I chose to do the standard Lingoda Sprint to kickstart my German language learning. I had extra time on my hands and I wanted to progress quickly.
There are THREE key incentives for doing one of the Sprints…
- Rapid progress: You’re going to learn the language much faster.
- Price: The price per lesson is slightly less than purchasing a standard lesson package.
- Cashback: If you complete all the requirements of the Sprint (which are very specific), you can get 50% of your money back with the Sprint and 100% back with the Super Sprint. Pretty cool!
Get more info on the Lingoda Sprint and Super Sprint here ℹ️
Booking Lessons with Lingoda 💻
Once you’ve decided on the language you want to learn and the level you want to start at, you simply go to the ‘Book classes’ tab in your Lingoda dashboard.
Here, you can see the full list of lessons on the left. You can then select your availability by days of the week and hours of the day.
This will filter all of the classes that suit your schedule. It will also show you which teacher is taking the class and how many other students have booked the lesson.
Once you’ve decided on a lesson, you can book it with one click.
In my opinion, the fact that Lingoda offers online language lessons 24/7 is one of its biggest strengths. I had teachers from all around the world — Germany, England, Spain, Italy, Ecuador, Thailand — which meant they were able to cover a wide range of time zones.
This flexibility and ability to serve at scale is what sets Lingoda apart.
How do Lingoda classes work? ✍️
You’ll get an email to remind you that a class is starting in 24 hours and again about 10 minutes before the lesson.
All Lingoda classes take place on Zoom. At the beginning, the teacher will ask everyone to introduce themselves in the language you’re learning. This is great practice. The best teachers ask a few questions to try and test your ability to have an impromptu conversation.
Then, the teacher will share their screen and start working through the Lingoda course material — a pdf that’s designed to take one hour to complete.
Teachers will mostly speak in the language you’re learning, which is hard at first, but will get easier. If you don’t understand something, you can just ask.
A typical lesson will have a good mix of:
- Vocabulary
- Contextual speaking practice
- Exercises
- Grammar
Students will generally be asked to read the lesson material out loud for extra practice and will called upon to answer questions — so be ready to speak.
This is what I loved about Lingoda — the fact that I was forced to speak a new language in front of a group of strangers. It’s the BEST way to learn. Even if it’s not perfect, it forces you to think on the spot and figure it out.
At the end of each lesson, the teacher will provide a “report”, which is just a few comments about how well you did and what you can work on.
Each lesson takes an hour. You won’t always complete the lesson material within that time, but you can always access the pdf to go over things yourself.
Lingoda also provides extra “self study” materials, which are great for revision.
Learn more about how Lingoda works here 💡
Does Lingoda use qualified language teachers? 👩🏫
The quality of the Lingoda teachers far exceeded my expectations. I don’t know why, but I just assumed anyone who could speak the target language and wanted to earn some money online could be a Lingoda teacher.
But that’s not the case!.. Lingoda has close to 2,000 teachers at the time of writing and they’re all qualified language teachers.
Many of the teachers I had could speak several different languages, had university degrees related to language and linguistics, and were clearly very experienced.
Most of them were very friendly, professional and helpful and genuinely wanted me to succeed on my German learning journey.
Out of the 30 lessons I had during the Sprint, there were only two teachers that didn’t do a very good job. That’s a pretty good success rate.
You can also rate the teacher and lesson after every class, which helps Lingoda to identify any teachers that aren’t up to standard. If you find teachers that you like, you can try and book more classes with them. But it won’t always be possible. Out of 30 lessons, I probably had close to 20 different teachers.
Overall, I was really, really impressed by Lingoda’s teachers and it’s a major reason why I’m going to continue learning German with them.
Lingoda class sizes 🧑🏽👨🏼👩🏿👨🏻👩🏼
Group classes are limited to five students, which seemed to be the perfect number for getting through the lesson material in an hour.
It allows everyone enough time get some speaking practice, answer questions and ask questions.
I liked the group lessons because knowing I had to speak in front of strangers gave me extra motivation. I didn’t want to look like a dummy so I made sure I was well-prepared for each lesson.
It’s also cool to feel like you’re on a learning journey with others.
You can also book 1:1 classes. I haven’t tried this, but I’d imagine it would be helpful if you were studying for an exam or you prefer this style of learning.
Sign up for a free trial of Lingoda and take it for a spin! 💫
How much does Lingoda cost?💰
Lingoda’s pricing is incredibly affordable, in my opinion. The image above shows the current pricing in USD, which ranges from $10 to $15 per class.
For what you get — 24/7 lessons, qualified teachers, quality lessons, extra self-study resources — I think it’s a bargain.
You may be able to find a Lingoda promo code or wait for a special promotion. Or you can sign up for Lingoda’s newsletter and get a promo code for 10% off your first order.
Lingoda Sprint pricing at the time of writing works out as $14.60 USD and the Super Sprint $12.30 USD a lesson (without a promo code), BUT you also have the chance of getting 50% or 100% cash-back, so it can work out to be a lot less.
Note: Your Lingoda subscription will automatically renew at the start of a new month if you don’t pause or cancel it. Hopefully, you’ll want to keep learning anyway.
Get started with Lingoda today! (Take the 7-day free trial) 🔥
Results: Did I learn German in two months? 👨🎓
I started learning German at A1 level (beginner). However, I did know a little bit of German already from my girlfriend, her family, and living in Germany for a while. But my German was very basic. Like, very basic
I could introduce myself, ask how someone is, say that I’m doing good, and a few other simple sentences.
However, after learning German with Lingoda for two months, my German has improved significantly. It’s like night and day.
Today, I can:
- Hold simple conversations in German
- Use dozens (if not hundreds?) more German words (my vocabulary has skyrocketed!)
- Talk about my likes/dislikes, the weather, my work, holidays (general small talk)
- Order food and drinks in a restaurant or cafe
- Communicate better with my girlfriend’s family
- Understand more complex German conversations (it’s still hard to participate, though)
- Read basic German text on websites, signs, social media etc
- … and I’m generally just much more confident using and understanding German wherever I go
It’s a great feeling to have made this much progress in just two months.
I now feel confident that I’m at an A1 German level. I didn’t complete all of the lessons (more on that below), but I’m more than ready to continue with A2 over the coming months.
Start your German language journey with Lingoda today (7-day free trial!) 🙌
Tips for getting the most out of Lingoda
If you think you’re going to take the plunge and starting learning German with Lingoda (or any other language), here’s some advice I have for making the most of it.
1. The Sprint is completely self-directed
When I signed up for the Lingoda Sprint two-month intensive, I thought it would be a more structured user experience.
I thought we’d get emails counting down to the start date. I thought there would be dashboard to let us know how we’re tracking with the Sprint.
But, no… Once you sign up for the Sprint, it’s on you to make sure you’re meeting all the requirements.
You essentially get your batch of 15 lessons each month and it’s up to you how you use them.
I feel like this could be improved, but I also understand that Lingoda doesn’t want to make it easier for people to earn their 50% or 100% cash-back.
2. You don’t have to follow the curriculum
There is a logical and optimal order to each course level, organised into chapters. However, you don’t have to go in order and you don’t have to do every lesson.
It is recommended to go in order as each chapter tends to build upon the last. But it’s not essential.
I skipped a few chapters that covered the really basic stuff, like introductions, numbers, telling the time etc. And I jumped between A1.1 and A1.2 lessons.
You can customise the course according to your priorities. If you’re coming to Germany for a holiday and just want to know the basics, you might not need to do the chapter on communicating with colleagues, for example.
3. Prepare and revise
I have to admit, I wasn’t prepared for how immersive Lingoda learning is. Teachers speak mostly German and you kinda just have to keep up.
Of course, they will translate some words and sentences and you can ask questions in English or say you don’t understand. But for the most part, you’ll be learning in your target language.
The best way I found to cope with this is to prepare for the lesson beforehand.
Download the pdf, go through the questions and make sure you understand what the lesson’s about. Write down any words you don’t know and their translation in your native language.
By doing this, I found I could relax more during the lesson and had a clear idea of what was going on. When you’re learning a new language, context helps a lot with comprehension.
Also, if you have time, I recommend revising your notes or going over the self-study material within a few days of each lesson just to make sure you’re retaining what you learn.
Wrapping up
Overall, I was genuinely surprised by how good Lingoda is. It’s an incredibly effective and efficient way to learn German online. I can only assume the other languages on offer — English, French, and Spanish — are just as good.
I recommend doing the Lingoda Sprint if you want an extra push to make fast progress, or if you generally lack self-motivation. The possibility of earning back 50% of my money was quite motivating.
I will 100% be continuing my language learning journey with Lingoda all the way to German fluency. I really think they’ve found the sweet spot with qualified teachers, online lessons, and small class sizes.
If I was asked to rate my experience out of 10, I’d say a solid 9/10. Please feel free to ask any questions and I’ll do my best to answer you and keep this article up to date as I continue learning German with Lingoda each year.
Get started with your Lingoda 7-day free trial today! 👍
Hey, this is just a friendly heads-up to let you know I’ve used some affiliate links in this article. I only write reviews like this for products and services I truly believe in. If you’ve found this review helpful, please consider signing up to Lingoda using one of the links in the article. Thanks 🙏
