Sergiusz is an expat living in Bern (Switzerland).
He works as a Test Automation & AI QA Consultant at Akros AG.
Before joining my program, Sergiusz had already tried almost every German learning method you can imagine, from apps and courses to tutors and self-study systems.
But despite all that effort, real conversations still felt exhausting, and understanding spoken German in daily life remained a constant struggle.
He joined my program “From Zero to C1 in 25 Minutes a Day” looking for something different, a clear system he could integrate into his busy professional life.
Step by step, he stopped chasing random methods and started building solid language patterns, improving his understanding of sentence structure, and gaining confidence in speaking.
Two months ago, Sergiusz decided to put his German to the test and took the official Swiss fide B1 exam.
He passed the exam with an extraordinary 96% score in Speaking.
Here’s an interview I did with Sergiusz, so you can learn directly from his journey through the program.
Let’s jump right into it.
What did you try before joining my program, “From Zero to C1”?
Oh, what didn’t I try? I was the buffet champion of failed language methods.
Online courses, offline courses. An e-School with a private tutor who, I’m convinced, was just a very advanced chatbot.
Books. Flash-cards — so many trees died just for me to still not know the gender of ‘table’.
Mobile apps that pinged me at 3 AM: “You forgot die Katze! Are you even trying?”
Pimsleur. Language caffes, which is just paying 5 francs for a coffee to misunderstand someone.
Following influencers who know “50+ languages” — which sometimes just means they can say ‘hello’ in 50 ways, which isn’t a skill, it’s a weird hobby.
Reading articles and listening music.
I tried everything except, apparently, success.
What was the biggest challenge you faced while learning German?
First? The Swiss-German multiverse. It’s a conspiracy.
You spend months learning Hochdeutsch, you’re so proud, you can finally order bread.
Then you walk into a room in Bern, and it’s like five people are speaking five different, secret languages. Bern-Deutsch, Zürich-Deutsch, Walliser-Deutsch… which isn’t a language, it’s just the sound of rocks falling down a mountain.
You learn one language, but you hear seven. I’d understand 2% of a conversation. It’s like studying to be a chef and then being asked to fix a nuclear reactor.
Second? Grammar.
Applying it. Knowing the rules is not doing the rules.
It’s like reading a book on “How to Be Charming,” then going to a party and just standing in the corner staring at the cheese, unable to speak.
You know the theory. But you’re still just the weird guy by the cheese.
What kind of program were you looking for?
At that point? A miracle. An exorcism.
Something that would fit into my brain like the last piece of a puzzle I’d been building for 9 years in a dark room.
I needed a quality shift.
Something to install the good patterns, not the ones I had, which were “panic” and “just say ja, ja, genau“.
And ideally? Without pain. With joy. Which, for German, seems like an illegal request.
What motivated you to start learning German, and what goal were you aiming for?
Survival. To live in a German-speaking canton, you must speak German. Or Swiss-German.
So I had to start with a German. Any German. It’s an enabler. It lets you “bond” with people — which I think means “understand why they are laughing.”
To enjoy the socializing side of life, instead of just smiling and nodding for two hours hoping nobody asks me a direct question.
Short-term goal: Finish the next course step, fatality style.
Long-term: C1/C2. I want to “speak pretty.”
I want to say exactly what I am thinking, not just the three sentences I have practiced.
AI can write my emails.
But AI cannot go to after-work drinks for me and have a great conversation. Yet. Give it time.
What struck you the most when you first came across my program?
The promise: “25 min a day.” From zero to C1.
My first thoughts: “That’s a lie.” “That’s impossible.” “This is a scam.”
‘Sure, 25 minutes. And I suppose in 3 weeks learn to levitate.’
It’s just so… specific. Why not 24? Why not 26? The specificity made it feel even more suspicious.
Next, I thought: “What if it’s not a lie? How?”
I can find 25 minutes.
I spend more time than that just staring at my coffee machine, wondering if it’s judging me.
It felt like a beautifully crafted false advertisement, where I was exactly the target audience.
It was the perfect pitch for a professional procrastinator like me.
What was the moment you realized this program worked differently from anything you’d tried before?
The sudden cascade of “Ah-ha!” moments. And “Ha!” moments.
A rule that seemed like a trap set by an angry grammarian 300 years ago just… made sense.
It was like my brain, which had been a locked door, suddenly found the key. Or at least the keyhole.
Was there a specific habit, lesson, or tool inside the program that made the biggest difference for you?
A few. The “Scriptorium” technique. The 30-day reading challenge. The Q&A sessions.
And the live conversations… actual, terrifying, live conversations, where I could ask my paranoid questions.
What results have you achieved so far, and what impact have they had on your life or studies?
This is where it gets weird.
The program changed my entire philosophy.
I now choose “systems over goals.”
Goals are just a vague direction, like “North.”
A daily system is what makes sure you don’t just sit down and cry.
So, the results:
- I passed the Swiss fide B1/B1 test. I’ve maxed out the “Polite Small Talk” skill tree, but the “Argue About Philosophy” expansion pack is still locked. I can prove I know German and show the “Sprachenpass.” Which is a weird word, isn’t it? A “Language Passport.” A passport lets you cross borders. What does a “Language Passport” let you do? Order Kaffee with… jurisdictional approval? This test is the official Swiss “how well are you integrated?” check. Think about that. Before this, I was just… unofficially integrated? Like a beta feature? “WARNING: This consultant’s grammar may suddenly revert to English. Proceed?” Now, I have the paper. The paper says I belong.
- From January to November 2025, I lost 39 kg. Yes. 39. Apparently, the program is so effective, it also optimizes your body. Maybe the grammar rules burned the calories? Maybe the “Ah-ha!” moments were so intense they restructured my metabolism? I don’t ask. I just buy smaller pants. …And follow my weight optimization system.
- I feel… joy. Satisfaction. It’s something to be proud of. It’s not just a certificate; it’s proof that I am not, in fact, going insane.
How did you prepare for your B1 exam?
With focused panic. I call it “3-D Preparation.”
- Dimension 1 (Speaking): Used every human. Speaking buddy, tutor, teacher, professor. I talked about the sample tasks until people started avoiding me.
- Dimension 2 (Listening): YouTube. Podcasts. TV. I just marinated my brain in German sounds.
- Dimension 3 (Writing): Sample tests. Feedback. Apply feedback. Repeat. Like a robot. A sad, writing robot. Also, the VHS course tests. More tests. So many tests.
How long did it take you to prepare for your B1 exam?
My entire life. Plus… well, I tried Swiss-German for 7 lessons, realized it was a beautiful trap, and ran back to Hochdeutsch.
But the real difference?
The last 2-3 months with this “25 min a day” system.
After a month, I booked the exam.
Nothing motivates you like the non-refundable sound of a deadline.
My inner greed kicked in.
“I’ve paid for this. I cannot waste time and money.”
It’s the most powerful motivation. Maybe.
What was the most difficult part of the exam?
Oh, the list.
- Writing. At home and at work, I have my beautiful AI. My co-pilot. In the exam? It’s just you. Your brain. A pen. And the clock. Ticking. It’s primitive. It’s terrifying. You have to remember things.
- Listening. Some questions are traps. They want you to fail. The audio will mention “Tuesday,” “Wednesday,” and “Friday.” The question will be “When did he buy the cheese?” And you know you heard all three days. It’s psychological warfare.
- Switching off my personality. You have to be formal. I like jokes. But the exam is not the time to joke around. You can’t take the “red pill.” Not even the “blue pill.” You must write the correct, boring, formal answer to get the points. It’s a game. You are not a person; you are a point-collector.
Which specific resources were the most helpful to you along the way?
- The Zoom calls with the Professor.
- The VHS Tests — which, by the way, are not on video cassettes. I was disappointed.
- And the Scriptorium technique. Reading a book for 30 days… which took me longer than a month.
How did you stay focused and motivated throughout the program?
I tricked myself. I made it fun. A ‘creative time’, not a ‘pain time’.
But mostly?
The deadline. The greed.
And I made a hand-made calendar. A physical chart.
Every day, I wrote the number of hours I studied.
It created a “chain of success.”
You don’t want to break the chain.
It’s a beautiful, self-created prison of accountability.
How did you fit German learning into your daily life or work schedule?
I’ve reviewed my calendar for the time and energy, for a good learning sprint, on a different levels.
Like offline mornings and evenings.
Like listening to the audio in a background during the day.
Then, I made a “Not To Do List.”
This was the key. It was essentially a list of… joy.
No new chapters or episodes of what I loved.
Limiting exposure to other languages that I know.
But my main strategy?
Just constant, low-level audio-brainwashing.
I had German audio playing in the background.
All. Day. Long.
While I worked. While I walked. While I blinked.
I’m not convinced I was “listening.”
I’m pretty sure I was attempting a high-risk experiment in linguistic osmosis — just trying to absorb the language directly through my skin.
It’s a genuine miracle I didn’t just start dreaming exclusively in the Dative case and wake up with an urgent, inexplicable desire to sort my recycling.
What did a typical daily learning routine look like for you?
For the last two months, it was a boot camp.
- Morning: Wake up, drink coffee, do sample exam tasks.
- Commute/Walk: Listen to podcasts.
- After Work: Course steps. More VHS tests.
- Evening: Review tests. Or, as a “treat,” a call with the professor / teacher.
Now? It’s less. But still daily. A 2-minute task. Just to keep the “Ah-ha” moments coming.
How much time did you spend on average per day learning?
It’s a very unstable average. It averaged 1-3 hours.
Some days were just the bare minimum — a 2-minute task, just so I could check the box on my prison-calendar.
And some weekends… some weekends I did 11-hour sprints daily.
I’m not proud of it. But I’m not not proud of it.
What aspects of learning did you emphasize the most?
Exposure. Just… total immersion.
Increase the time I was looking at good study materials.
Materials on my level.
This is what creates the “Ah-ha”, “Ha”, and “Ha-ha” moments. I was hunting for insights.
What was your biggest obstacle, and how did you overcome it?
Writing letters. Without my AI.
How did I overcome it?
Brute force. Learning by doing.
Write. Get feedback. Apply feedback. Write again. Repeat. Again and again.
Spice it up with humor. Or sarcasm. Until it was less painful.
For the writing test, I was just hoping to scrape by with an A1.
I set the bar at “Please, just let me pass.”
A2 at best. So, when the results came back B1, my first reaction was… pure satisfaction.
What was the most important thing that helped you become more fluent in speaking?
The online calls.
They were like… controlled exposure therapy.
You get the templates, the “how to sound human” tricks, the live experience.
Like an autopilot correction suggestions.
And — this is the big one — accepting that it is OK to not understand 100%.
Just aiming to understand 1% more than yesterday. 1+. Just 1%.
That’s it. If I understand one extra word, that’s a victory.
There’s the compound effect in learning. …yes, it’s like how the anxiety of learning 10 new words compounds with the anxiety of forgetting 20 old ones, creating a perfect, sustainable pyramid scheme of intellectual panic.
Only positive. Well… You decide if it’s positive. +1%.
What helped you the most to overcome your fear of speaking to others?
The Bern Toastmasters Club.
It’s a rhetoric club where you go voluntarily to practice public speaking.
On purpose.
It’s exactly like some kind of voluntary psychological experiment, one where you are both the scientist and the terrified little mouse.
You learn by doing.
Which is a nice way of saying you learn by standing up and making just… horrible, embarrassing, word-salad mistakes in front of strangers.
And then… you wait.
And you realize… nobody dies.
You don’t spontaneously combust.
The world doesn’t end.
It’s just a “mistake” and “part of the process.”
A deeply unsettling, but very effective, process.
What’s one misconception about learning German that your experience proved wrong?
That “You must learn all the Grammar.”
I hate this.
I still hate grammar.
When someone says “Dative case,” my brain just fills with white noise.
There was a month when every night I dreamed of being chased by dative, genitive and accusative monsters.
Even if I know the rules, I can’t apply them.
It’s like learning to drive only from a book.
You may know the theory of how to drive a car.
But the first time you try, you will probably make the engine stop by accident.
This program proved you can do it differently.
With enough exposure, you build an “inner guide.” A feeling.
Your ear tells you, “That sounds wrong.” “This is good.”
You follow the patterns naturally, without thinking about the 14 rules behind that one sentence.
It’s magic. Or just… how humans actually learn.
Looking back, what would you do differently if you had to start over?
I would have been ruthless. Just surgically, emotionally ruthless.
My main problem is I was too polite to bad courses.
I’d sit there, knowing it was useless, but I’d think, “Maybe I’m the problem?
Maybe I’m just not getting it?”
No. It was the course.
I’d start my 100-hour focused obsession-sprints much earlier.
I’d use mnemotechnics — the weird brain hacks — sooner and for everything.
Instead of trying to learn “normally,” I’d be building elaborate, bizarre ‘memory palaces’ in my head just to store irregular verbs.
Who cares if it’s strange? It works.
And all those other courses?
The ones that just felt wrong?
I would have quit. Immediately.
Not after “one more week.” Not after “one more module.”
I would have just… dropped them. Resigned. Run away.
Maybe in the middle of a lesson.
Just stand up, say “This Akkusativ is not for me,” and leave.
What’s next for you in German or beyond?
The C Permit has arrived, which means the Swiss government has legally agreed to tolerate this presence indefinitely.
That is just polite administrative slang for “you are now on a five-year probation period without the ankle monitor.”
It’s a beautiful moment, mostly for the tax office, which is popping the real champagne right now.
The soul has been successfully laminated and filed under “acceptable assets.”
The plastic card actually tastes like neutrality.
System Update Complete: The Matrix now recognizes this unit as a permanent glitch.
New Perk: “Infinite Fondue Tolerance.”
Physics Patch 2.0 applied: Staring at a fondue pot for three hours is now legally classified as “cultural enrichment” rather than “clinical dissociation.”
Celebration is mandatory.
Now I need to decide: How does one celebrate the right to remain silent in German forever?
- By staring at the Alps and realizing that the mountains do not care about your residency status.
- Perhaps just standing in front of the mirror shouting ‘Grüezi’ with unearned confidence, until the reflection files a noise complaint.
- Or, find a cow in the Emmental, look it deep in the eyes, and nod respectfully. It knows. It has always known that this day would come.
I’ll need to decide.
In German: Keep going. Follow the materials.
Build the flexibility to get to C1. Slowly. Please slowly. No more 11-hour weekend panic-sprints. …Maybe.
What’s one piece of advice you would give to someone who wants to learn German but struggles to find the time due to a busy life?
Stop thinking about “goals.” Think about “systems.”
A goal is “I want to be C1.”
A system is “When I make my first coffee, I will do one 2-minute task.”
Put it in your calendar.
Do whatever you can that day.
Consider different goals levels.
Plan for default, optimistic, optimal and minimalistic goals. Minimum, maximum, you name it.
Some days the goal is 1 hour. Some days the goal is 25 minutes.
And some days, the goal is 2 minutes.
If it’s truly important, you have 2 minutes. You can find 2 minutes. You just did, reading this.
“From Zero To C1 in 25 Minutes a Day” is my All-Inclusive, complete, step-by-step, no fuss, hassle free 75 Lessons online program (yes, only 15 lessons for each Module A1/A2/B1/B2/C1) for Busy Professionals like you, so you can go from scratch to become fluent and confident to join meetings with your colleagues, negotiate with your clients and give presentations in front of your bosses IN GERMAN. Even if you have a busy working schedule.
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