Learn German Language: Complete German Course – Beginners vs Preply Portuguese Tutoring

The course covers the complete A1 to A2+ German curriculum across seventeen hours of video instruction. Topics are sequenced logically from alphabet and pronunciation through personal pronouns, verb conjugation (present tense, separable verbs), possessive pronouns, family vocabulary, food and shopping, daily routines, telling time, house and furniture, plural forms, grammatical gender and articles, negation, colours, weather expressions, hobbies, professions, job application vocabulary, prepositions, travel phrases, body parts, and health vocabulary. Each lesson concludes with a dictation exercise — learners hear German sentences and transcribe them — which trains both listening comprehension and spelling simultaneously. The interactive whiteboard format is the course's structural signature: every lesson is built around on-screen annotation, with new vocabulary, grammar patterns, and sentence examples written and highlighted as they are taught. Learners across language backgrounds and age groups consistently describe this format as clearer than talking-head video or slide-presentation formats, because the visual construction of the lesson content reinforces comprehension more effectively than static slides. Content currency is not a material concern for a language course at this level — A1 and A2 German grammar has not changed, and the vocabulary domains covered (family, work, food, travel, health) are stable. Unlike technology courses, language instruction at beginner level ages slowly, making this curriculum as valid for the current cohort as for those who enrolled in the first version.

The course is taught by Razvan Savu, founder of AbcEdu Online, described as a native speaker with over thirty years of language teaching experience. His teaching style is characterised by clear, deliberate enunciation of German pronunciation, systematic explanation of grammar patterns, and consistent use of the interactive board to visually anchor new information. Learners with no prior German exposure specifically cite his pronunciation modelling as the component that gave them the most confidence to begin speaking. Positive reviews frequently describe Savu as "clear," "patient," and "methodical" — three descriptors that reflect a teaching approach optimised for learners who are encountering the language for the first time and need consistent, predictable instruction rather than entertaining variation. The phrase "the instructor explains everything very clearly and is easy to understand" appears in multiple aggregated review summaries from opencourser.com. The limitation of this teaching style is that it is pedagogically oriented rather than communicatively oriented. Savu teaches German through explicit grammar explanation and structured input — a method that builds solid reading and listening comprehension — but the course does not include speaking exercises, pronunciation drills with feedback, or conversational practice scenarios. Learners who need to speak German in the near term will find the instruction method valuable for understanding but incomplete for production.

The course is priced at approximately $12.99 at standard Udemy promotional pricing with regular sale prices available. Seventeen hours of structured A1–A2+ content, downloadable PDF lesson notes, a certificate of completion, and lifetime access represent strong value at this price relative to alternatives. Comparable language learning subscriptions (Babbel at approximately $15/month, Rosetta Stone at $12/month) cost more on an ongoing basis and cover the same CEFR level range with different methodology. The cost-per-hour of instruction is among the lowest available in formal German language learning. For learners who are self-directed and have the discipline to work through seventeen hours of structured content independently, the value relative to a formal language class (typically $20–$60 per hour of instruction) is substantial. The dictation exercises and downloadable PDF notes extend the learning value beyond passive video consumption. The caveat is that spoken German production — which is the goal of most language learners — requires additional investment beyond this course. Babbel, a conversation-focused app with structured speaking exercises, or a platform providing live tutoring sessions with a native speaker (italki, Preply) would need to be added to the learning stack, which increases the total cost of achieving conversational competency above what the Udemy course price alone suggests.

Preply has no Portuguese curriculum of its own — lesson content is entirely whatever the tutor brings. Many Portuguese tutors build a tailored lesson plan after the trial and track progress within the Preply Classroom, which adds a degree of structure absent from a plain pay-as-you-go board. The platform distinguishes Brazilian and European Portuguese clearly, and learners can filter for tutors who specialise in the variety they need, which is more than most apps offer. The ceiling is high — CELPE-Bras prep, business Portuguese, regional-dialect work, pronunciation drilling — but the floor depends entirely on the tutor chosen and on the learner directing sessions. Absolute beginners who expect a ready-made syllabus often feel at sea until they steer a tutor toward a plan.

Preply lists around 2,300 Portuguese tutors, spanning certified teachers and native community tutors from Brazil and Portugal. The pool is noticeably smaller than for Spanish or English, but still large enough to trial several before committing. Tutor profiles show ratings, review counts, intro videos and lesson descriptions, and the platform awards a "Super Tutor" badge to tutors with consistently high ratings, near-perfect attendance and fast response times — a useful signal when navigating an otherwise unvetted marketplace. The key caveat repeated across reviews is that Preply does not control what or how tutors teach and not all tutors are certified, so the quality gap between an excellent teacher and a merely adequate one is real and falls on the learner to screen via trial lessons. European Portuguese tutors are notably fewer than Brazilian ones.

Portuguese tutors on Preply range from roughly $8-15/hour for budget community tutors, $15-25/hour for experienced tutors, and $30+/hour for professional or highly rated instructors, with an overall platform average near $17/hour. That is competitive with italki, where average Portuguese rates sit similarly. The value calculation is complicated by the subscription model: lessons are bought in packages rather than one at a time, and the 28-day auto-renewal means unused credits can be lost. Bulk packages typically discount 15-25% versus single sessions, which benefits committed weekly learners but penalises irregular ones. The lack of free trial lessons — learners pay for the trial, though often at a discounted rate — is another distinction from some competitors.

The subscription credit model cuts both ways on retention. Learners who pre-commit to a recurring weekly slot report it as the most durable Portuguese study habit they built — the auto-renewing package creates a soft commitment that reduces flaking. Learners with busy or irregular schedules find the same model a source of friction: credits purchased in packages up front expire on a 28-day cycle, and several reviewers flagged auto-renewal charges and difficulty stopping the subscription as real pain points. The platform's built-in progress tracking and AI-assisted tools between sessions help active learners stay engaged, but do not compensate for the credit-expiry issue for less consistent learners. Net effect is mildly positive for habit formation.

This is Preply's clearest strength for Portuguese. Regular 1-on-1 conversation with a native speaker is the most direct route from app-bound recognition to real speaking, and reviewers consistently describe twice-weekly sessions cementing pronunciation, verb conjugations and vocabulary they had struggled with for months. The format exposes gaps that apps never surface — the nasal vowel sounds of European Portuguese, the dropped vowels of Brazilian carioca speech, the complex subjunctive usage — and tutors adapt every session to each learner's actual goals, whether that is managing business meetings in São Paulo, travelling through Lisbon, or passing a proficiency exam. Learners who progress to conversational Portuguese overwhelmingly attribute the breakthrough to consistent weekly tutor sessions rather than to any app or textbook.