One personal aspect of Kipfmüller's commitment to lifelong learning was her fascination with languages, of which by the time she died she had learned twelve. In 1938, aged 77, she spent several months living at the Harnack House in Berlin-Dahlem. Harnack House was home to the Kaiser Wilhelm [scientific] Society, but on this occasion its attraction to Kipfmüller was its proximity to Berlin University, where she was able to improve her Mandarin while studying Sinology more broadly. During 1939/40 she learned Polish. As the war drew to its close she became convinced that the whole of Germany was likely to be occupied for the foreseeable future by Soviet troops and started learning Russian. Soon she was also offering Russian language lessons to the townsfolk of Pappenheim.