# Mission: German Fluency

## Why

Living and working in Heitersheim, Germany, with a German employer (cn-mobility GmbH) and children in German schools. The gap between passive survival-German and confident, fluent German is costing real connection — with colleagues, with the community, and with my children's daily lives. This is about belonging, not just communicating.

## Success looks like

- Speak without searching for words or restructuring thoughts mid-sentence
- Write work emails in German confidently, without second-guessing register or grammar
- Understand German TV, radio, podcasts, and films without subtitles
- Join conversations at school events, with neighbours, and in community settings without anxiety
- Read German news (e.g. Badische Zeitung, Der Spiegel) fluently

## Constraints

- B1.2 level, attending Goethe Institut twice a week (class already handles systematic grammar)
- 30-60 minutes per day available for self-study (reading, listening, speaking practice)
- Native English speaker — Germanic false friends and article/case system are the main structural hurdles
- No budget constraint mentioned; apps, courses, and resources are fair game

## Out of scope

- Academic German (literary analysis, formal register beyond professional email)
- Translation or interpretation work
- Dialect study (Alemannic/Badisch) — standard Hochdeutsch is the target