Hi, I'm Birte Harring!

After many years of teaching in schools and offices, I founded Better German in 2017 to support expats and business travellers in Germany who want to master the German language with clarity and confidence.

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In 2024, I launched the Better German Community Hive to offer a fully comprehensive, one-stop learning platform for professional German learning, combining teacher-led guidance and self-study with the power of community-backed learning. The Hive brings learners together to practise, connect and grow because learning German is easier, more effective, and much more fun when you’re not doing it alone.

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I know what it’s like to adapt to new languages and cultures. Born in Aachen, Germany and raised across Germany, the USA and the Netherlands, I had to learn English and Dutch as a child quickly to join in and connect. That early experience sparked a lifelong fascination with language, communication and the joy of feeling at home in a new place.

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After studying at Marburg and Göttingen University, Germany and qualifying as a teacher in the UK, I’ve worked with hundreds of learners who want to feel confident speaking German in real-life situations:

not just in small talk and on the street, but in meetings and in moments that matter.

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Better German’s unique pedagogy is LPA – Learn, Practise, Apply:
 

• Learn a new concept through text, video, or audio

• Practise the new concept

• Apply by making the grammar and vocabulary your own!

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Better German's pedagogy focusses on helping you build real-life fluency from day one. You’ll create your own sentences early and often, because producing language actively (not just passively) is the fastest path to confidence and one of the most powerful tools I have as a teacher to truly check your understanding and give you meaningful feedback.

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Whether you’re learning German for your career, your daily life in Germany, or just for fun, I believe that language is the key to genuine connection. My goal is to help you unlock that connection - with German, with others, and with yourself.

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I look forward to welcoming you to the Hive!