Chase Leachman is a language educator and applied linguist with over a decade of experience helping adult learners achieve conversational fluency in German. He holds a master's degree in Applied Linguistics from the University of Texas at Austin, where his research focused on second language acquisition, specifically the role of communicative competence in adult learners.
Chase began studying German at age sixteen during a summer exchange program in Bavaria, where he experienced firsthand the gap between classroom language and real-world conversation. That experience shaped his teaching philosophy: language must be practiced in context, not memorized in isolation. After completing his undergraduate degree in German Studies, he moved to Berlin and spent five years teaching English while continuing his own German studies, eventually reaching near-native proficiency.
He has designed and led language programs at Goethe-Institut locations in Berlin and Munich, created curriculum for corporate German training at multinational firms, and developed online courses that have been used by more than fifty thousand learners worldwide. His approach emphasizes pattern-based learning, early speaking practice, and cultural competence as core components of language acquisition.
Chase currently lives in Berlin, where he works as a freelance language consultant and writes about language learning strategies. In his free time, he enjoys hiking in the Bavarian Alps, reading German crime novels, and attempting to perfect his Swabian dialect. *Conversational German* is his first book.