Do you perform well in your job, but worry that your limited language skills in German are holding you back?
It could be. Many executives I have spoken to are worried about their company’s reputation when employees, who don’t have a high level of German, communicate externally to clients.
I know that it can be really frustrating to try to improve writing emails. There are several reasons why, including:
After going through this email program, clients I’ve worked with always say they notice a significant improvement in their ability to write emails and people comment on their advances. As a result, many of them have also received a promotion or gotten an interesting project to their improved writing skills, which they directly attributed to their improved written communication skills.
You may know this situation: You work hard on different projects and in your team. You meet tight deadlines and deliver more than is expected. But when it comes time to fill a new and interesting position, someone else gets the nod, even though she or he hasn’t worked nearly as hard as you have.
Many professionals have quickly improved their German language skills and made a big step in their careers by improving the right skills. They’re now longer held back in their career. When a project or promotion comes their way, they don’t get pushed aside because of their language skills.
The emails you write at work are an important starting point for your learning. Instead of unrelated or hypothetical situations, we’ll use your actual emails. You’ll learn exactly how to use German in your work setting while performing your daily tasks and you’ll see improvement immediately — guaranteed.
Imagine receiving an email with several obvious grammatical errors and awkward phrasing. You can tell immediately that it was not written by a native speaker.
Notice how much you focus on the language – probably at least as much as on what they are trying to say.
Often these mistakes lead to a hasty – and often subconscious – judgment. Emails with errors lead to the assumption that the person who wrote them is less competent. When you send emails with mistakes, people may question your competence.
It is inevitable that these mistakes will draw attention away from the intended message of the email.
I help international executives communicate more effectively in German so they feel more confident and proficient in their communication at work and in life.
At the University Basel I studied language and literature in my mother tongue German, German as a foreign language as well as geography and pedagogy. Following that, I completed a Masters in Education and Competence Management in Berlin. I have taught German as a foreign language for more than 20 years.
I believe it is very effective to integrate learning into one’s work. The specific challenges people are facing at work should be the basis of their learning, so that they can immediately apply and implement what they’ve learned. This approach allows people to quickly reach a new level in their communication in German as a foreign language.
You can find more about me on LinkedIn.
This is a 6-week program.
To ensure the fastest results, this program consists of several components. They are briefly summarized here. For more details, see the description below.
It all starts with an evaluation of your emails. In this assessment, we find the areas you should improve first if you want to write better emails.
You will benefit from individual coaching sessions. In these sessions, we work on your written expression, develop strategies for better writing, or deal with a grammatical topic of your choice.
The email review will support you through the entire program. You send emails from your daily work to me. I analyze them and give you my feedback in videos or in writing.
Tutorial videos help you develop specific language structures to improve your emails.
Tailor-made tasks help you to develop your language skills in a targeted manner.
Individual coaching is the guarantee for your success.
There are five 45-minute coaching sessions included in this program, which are scheduled at the time that is best for you.
Here we work on your personal challenges and the topics of your choice.
Some common themes include:
You choose examples of the emails you typically send and I analyse your writing for accuracy, grammar, structure, tone, etc. Once I have analysed it, I will go through these topics and will give you feedback. Or we work on the subject in the individual coaching sessions. This way, it will be easy for you to implement the improvements.
One reason why it can be really frustrating to try to improve writing emails is: lack of feedback. Maybe you know one or more of these situations:
Therefore, regular feedback is another key to your success. There are several ways to give you feedback build in this program: in form of videos, written or in the individual coaching sessions.
At the end of the program you will be more clear about what in your emails is good and what isn’t.
Every week you get access to learning videos. These videos focus on language structures and help you improve your emails quickly. This part is intended for self-paced learning. You can decide for yourself when you want to watch the videos.
Customized tasks help you to develop specific areas of the language in a targeted manner. These tasks focus on a specific topic you want to work on to improve your emails. When you send in the assignments, you will receive feedback for them as well.
Below you will find the recommended sequence of the program. The sequence may change if you have individual needs you want to focus on.
Tips and tricks to immediately improve your emails.
Often, bad habits creep in over a long period of time and mistakes no longer register as errors. At some point, somebody will tell you about your mistakes and you may feel embarrassed that you did not find out earlier.
We’ll find the most common mistakes made in emails by non-native speakers.
Learn how to justify your explanations, opinions, and arguments with a varied range of language.
This week we’ll focus on specific formulations for your arguments and opinions. You will learn how to use connectors to give precise and varied reasons. This makes it more likely that people believe what you actually say.
Be clear about how to describe dates, timelines, and deadlines while avoiding frequent errors. This way your partners will never miss a meeting because they misunderstood your email.
In this week, we’ll look at the correct form to use to indicate dates and times, the subtle differences between commonly used words, and which words you should avoid when you need to move quickly.
Clear descriptions of your solutions and their implementation steps are an important element of your professional communication.
In this session, we will look at how you can make people easily understand the solution and implementation steps you propose.
You will learn key phrases to describe them in detail and how to avoid unclear wording.
This week we cover how to describe desired outcomes. How well you describe what people need to do determines if they are going to move forward with your plan or not.
We’ll also cover what you need to pay special attention to in the wording so that undesired outcomes are avoided as much as possible.
This last session of the program is entirely dedicated to answering your questions about writing better emails.
Over the duration of the program, questions often keep coming up, for example about certain grammatical topics or cultural differences in communication.
If your questions haven’t been answered in the other lessons because, for example, the answer takes more time to explain, there will be plenty of time in this last session to address them.
After the program, your emails will be clearer. You will have fewer follow-up questions from customers and colleagues. Writing will be quicker and easier for you.
Following an analysis at the beginning of the program, we will identify your systematic mistakes and develop strategies in the individual coaching sessions to avoid them.
During the course, you develop a set of your favourite phrases and variations. You will know exactly how to say common things you need to say like: “I’m happy to help you with all your questions.” It will feel natural to you to vary these common phrases correctly and you won’t repeat yourself all the time.
When people read your emails, they're just reading the email instead of being distracted by mistakes or awkward wording.
This is a proven concept.
However, if you feel that your emails have not significantly improved, you will get your money back.
Let me know by the end of the course if you are not significantly more confident in writing emails, or if you still have questions that were not answered. We will then have an additional individual coaching session to address any questions or concerns you have. If you’re still not satisfied with the results, you’ll get your money back in full.
After this program at least one of these situations will be different for you. Usually, it is more than one:
Normally this program sells for CHF 970. But if you register for the first group this year, you will only pay CHF 850.
To ensure you get the attention you need, this first group has a maximum of 8 participants.
You have personal access to me and you can write at any time to ask your questions.
You will see immediately where you can improve your writing.
Here’s how it works:
When you sign up for the program, you can send me emails you want feedback on, even once a day. I will comment on it and correct your email.
You will have your feedback directly in your inbox within a maximum of 48 hours, often in much less time.
This is for the entire 6 weeks of the program.
This bonus is limited to the year 2022 and will be offered in from 2023 as an additional benefit for CHF 300.
If you regularly write e-mails in German and question if they are correct and understandable, this program is for you. After six weeks you will confidently write better emails.
If you are not satisfied with the result, you will get your money back as described in the guarantee.
6 weeks, but will likely start to see significant improvements after the first two or three weeks.
The time for the individual sessions is flexible. You will book what’s best for you using our online booking tool.
The five individual coaching sessions are 45 minutes each.
The program is designed to keep learning time down. It is closely linked to your everyday work, where you write emails in German. If you invest 2-3 hours a week for learning, you will write better emails, guaranteed.
Yes! The individual sessions are the perfect time to deep-dive into the areas that are most important for you.