Learn Hardcore German: Im Praktikum lerne ich, wie eine seriöse Firma mit Kunden spricht. - In the internship I learn how a professional company talks to customers.

Why does the sentence start with “Im Praktikum” instead of “Ich lerne im Praktikum …”? Isn’t German word order subject–verb–object like English?

German main clauses must have the finite verb in second position (the V2 rule), but the first position can be filled by many different elements, not only the subject.

So both are correct:

Im Praktikum lerne ich, wie …
Ich lerne im Praktikum, wie …

In the first version, “Im Praktikum” (During the internship) is put first for emphasis (focus on where/when this learning happens). Then “lerne” is still in the second position, and “ich” moves after it.

In the second version, the subject “ich” is in first position, which sounds more neutral.

German cares about the position of the verb (second), not so much about the subject being first.

What exactly is “Im” in “Im Praktikum”? Why not just “in dem Praktikum”?

“Im” is simply the contraction of “in dem”:

in + dem = im

So:

in dem Praktikum = in the internship
im Praktikum = in the internship / during the internship

Both are grammatically correct. In normal spoken and written German, the contracted form (im) is much more common and sounds more natural here.

Also, note that “im Praktikum” here is used in a temporal sense: it means “during the internship/practicum”, not literally “inside a physical internship”. Context decides that.

What is the difference between “Praktikum” and “Praktikant”?

das Praktikum = the internship / the work placement
- An activity or period of time: the experience itself
der Praktikant (fem.: die Praktikantin) = the intern / the trainee
- The person doing the internship

So in the sentence:

Im Praktikum lerne ich, …
→ During the internship I learn …

If you wanted to talk about the person, you might say:

Ich bin Praktikant in einer Firma.
→ I am an intern in a company.

Why is there a comma before “wie” in “lerne ich, wie eine seriöse Firma …”? Could you leave it out?

No, you must keep the comma.

In German, “wie” here introduces a subordinate clause (a “that/how”-clause):

… lerne ich, wie eine seriöse Firma mit Kunden spricht.
→ “… I am learning how a serious/respectable company talks to customers.”

Whenever a word like dass, weil, wenn, ob, wie introduces a subordinate clause, German requires a comma to separate the main clause from the subordinate clause.

So:

Correct: Im Praktikum lerne ich, wie …
Incorrect: Im Praktikum lerne ich wie …

Why does the verb “spricht” go at the end of “wie eine seriöse Firma mit Kunden spricht”?

Because “wie eine seriöse Firma mit Kunden spricht” is a subordinate clause.

In German:

Main clause → finite verb in second position
- Ich lerne Deutsch.
Subordinate clause → finite verb goes to the end
- …, weil ich Deutsch lerne.

So in your sentence:

Main clause: Im Praktikum lerne ich, … → lerne is in second position
Subordinate clause: wie eine seriöse Firma mit Kunden spricht → spricht moves to the end

This verb-final position is standard for most subordinate clauses introduced by words like dass, weil, wenn, obwohl, wie, ob, …

Why is it “eine seriöse Firma” and not “eine seriöser Firma” or “seriöse Firma”?

Three things are going on here:

Case and gender
- Firma is feminine: die Firma
- In the subordinate clause, “eine seriöse Firma” is the subject → nominative feminine singular.
Article
- We have an indefinite article: eine = a / an
- So: eine Firma = a company.
Adjective ending
After the indefinite article eine, the adjective takes the -e ending in nominative feminine:

eine seriöse Firma = a respectable / professional company

Forms for comparison (all nominative):

die seriöse Firma (definite article, feminine)
eine seriöse Firma (indefinite article, feminine)
seriöse Firma (no article, but still gets -e)

“eine seriöser Firma” would be wrong here; seriöser could appear in something like “mit einer seriösen Firma” (dative feminine: der/einer seriösen Firma), but not in nominative feminine with eine as the subject.

Why is it “mit Kunden” and not “mit Kunde”? And why no article like “the customers”?

Preposition “mit”
- mit always takes the dative case.
Plural of “Kunde”
- Singular: der Kunde (nominative), dem Kunden (dative)
- Plural: die Kunden (nominative), den Kunden (dative)
So “mit Kunden” is dative plural → with customers.
No article
German often drops the article when talking about people in a general or unspecified way:
- mit Kunden sprechen = to talk with customers (in general)
- mit den Kunden sprechen = to talk with the customers (specific group you both know)

In your sentence, the idea is general: how a respectable company in general interacts with customers, so no article is natural.

Why is it “spricht” and not “sprechen” or “redet”?

Conjugation:

The subject of the subordinate clause is “eine seriöse Firma” = 3rd person singular.

The verb sprechen (to speak) in present tense:

ich spreche
du sprichst
er/sie/es spricht
wir sprechen
ihr sprecht
sie sprechen

So we need “spricht” for sie (die Firma) → she/it speaks.

Why not “redet”?

sprechen = to speak, talk (slightly more neutral/formal)
reden = to talk, chat (often a bit more informal or about the act of talking itself)

Both could be used grammatically, but with “eine seriöse Firma”, “spricht” sounds stylistically better and slightly more formal.

Could I also say “Ich lerne im Praktikum, wie …”? Does that change the meaning?

Yes, you can say:

Ich lerne im Praktikum, wie eine seriöse Firma mit Kunden spricht.

The basic meaning is the same. The difference is in emphasis / focus:

Im Praktikum lerne ich, wie …
→ Emphasises during the internship; sets the scene with time/context.
Ich lerne im Praktikum, wie …
→ More neutral, typical “subject–verb–rest” order; emphasis slightly more on I learn.

Both are perfectly natural German.

What exactly does “seriös” mean here? Is it just “serious”?

seriös is a “false friend”. It does not usually mean “serious” in the sense of not joking. Instead, in business contexts it mainly means:

reputable
respectable
professional
trustworthy

So:

eine seriöse Firma = a reputable / respectable / professional company

For “serious” in the sense of not joking, German more often uses ernst:

Er ist heute sehr ernst. = He is very serious today.

What is the difference between “Firma” and other words like “Unternehmen” or “Betrieb”?

All can translate to “company” or “business”, but with slightly different nuances:

die Firma
- Common everyday word for a business / company / firm.
- Often feels a bit more concrete, like a named company or workplace.
das Unternehmen
- More formal / business-like; can also mean enterprise / corporation.
- Used more in economic or legal contexts.
der Betrieb
- Often means workplace / plant / operation.
- Can refer more to the actual operation or production site.

In your sentence, “Firma” works well because it’s about how a company as such deals with customers. You could also say:

wie ein seriöses Unternehmen mit Kunden spricht
→ also correct, just a bit more formal.

Why is “wie” used here, and not “dass” or “was”? How is “wie” functioning?

In this sentence, “wie” introduces a clause that explains how something is done:

lerne ich, wie eine seriöse Firma mit Kunden spricht.
→ I am learning how a reputable company speaks to customers.

Rough contrasts:

wie = how
- Ich lerne, wie man das macht. = I’m learning how one does that.
dass = that (content clause, not about manner)
- Ich lerne, dass eine Firma freundlich sein muss.
  = I’m learning that a company has to be friendly.
was is generally what, not used here:
- Ich lerne, was eine Firma macht. = I’m learning what a company does.

So “wie” here specifically focuses on the manner / way in which the company communicates.

Is the pronunciation of “seriöse” just like English “serious”? How do you say it?

It’s similar but not identical. Breakdown:

se- → like “zeh” [ze]
ri- → like “ree” [ʁi] (with a German uvular r)
ö → front rounded vowel, like French “peu” or German “schön” [ø]
-se (the final -e) → a schwa [ə], a very short, unstressed “uh”

Rough IPA: [zeˈʁiːøzə]

So you get something like: ze-REE-ö-ze (with the last “e” very short). It’s not exactly “serious”, and the ö sound is quite different from English vowels.