paseoDifficulty, honestly
Is German hard to learn?
For English speakers, German is familiar and still a step harder than Spanish or French. The cases and the long words are real. A greeting is not as far away as the grammar tables suggest.
Familiar, then suddenly not
English and German are relatives. Haus, Wasser, Freund, and a lot of basic vocabulary will look almost readable. That head start is real. It fades when the article, the case, and the word order all move at once.
Is German easy to learn? A memorized phrase often is. Building a new sentence while someone waits is the harder part. How hard is German to learn depends on which of those you practice.
How long it takes
The U.S. Foreign Service Institute groups German with the languages that take English speakers about 900 classroom hours to reach a professional working level, in a full-time course. That is more than Spanish or French, and far less than Arabic or Japanese. The figure is for a high professional standard. It is not a promise about fluency, and it is not how long a simple conversation takes.
A greeting can happen this week. Ordering coffee can happen this month. Comfort in a wandering chat takes longer, and it arrives sooner if you talk a little every day.
Hallo, wie geht’s?
Hi, how are you?
Ich hätte gern einen Kaffee, bitte.
I’d like a coffee, please.
What actually feels hard
Der, die, das, and the way they change. Verb position when a sentence gets a second clause. Compound words that look longer than the idea. Understanding someone who is not slowing down.
How hard is it to learn German is partly a choice of method. A case chart makes it feel academic. A daily conversation makes the cases show up inside a sentence you needed anyway. Repeat phrases you will say again, and ask for a slower turn when you need it.
Können Sie das wiederholen?
Can you repeat that?