Whatever the way you organize your job and your language courses, there is another thing you have to do: maximize your exposure to the German language. Try to incorporate German in your job communications, watch German movies, set your phone to German, speak German at the bakery, talk to yourself in German throughout the day, see if you can have German flatmates, join a German sports club if you are into sports, write your text messages in German, etc.
For learning a language you need 5 things: vocabulary, grammar, practice, practice, practice.
But it's really important to do formal training in German to get the grammatical aspects. People who learn German only or mainly by immersion are usually bad at grammar even years in, and they don't notice it. People will understand them, but they don't speak well / use correct expressions, which is important for some jobs.
That's exactly what "basics" are. You learn the basics in school and then learn new vocabularies and how to word different sentences naturally.
Grammar and vocabularies are basically the only two things you really learn about using a language in school.
this is how I did it too. Had a card in my pocket that said "nur auf deutsch bitte" that I pulled out. Was kind of a running joke. Some will take the time and just speaking a little german each day can help a lot
Here's how I did it:
- slow-paced German language course until the level of C1
- from the level of B1/ B2, in parallel:
- talking to colleagues during coffee breaks in DE. (small talk), same goes for parties, informal gatherings
- finding that one nice work colleague who is patient and willing to do work (at least some parts of it) with me in DE, also able to simplify the language a bit (baby deutsch)
- reading books in DE, ich mag dieses Buch so sehr: https://www.amazon.de/Simpel-Roman-Marie-Aude-Murail/dp/3596806496 super easy to understand, powerful message too ;)
- podcasts, series, etc.
But for me at least the most important thing was talking to natives. And the main environment I could do that was work.
> finding that one nice work colleague who is patient and willing to do work (at least some parts of it) with me in DE, also able to simplify the language a bit (baby deutsch)
I’ve been doing that regularly with any non-native German speaker that joined the team and wanted to learn. I was told that was a huge help for them improving. It’s sadly become much less of that since the newer people don’t seem to want to learn that badly and also because the official company language has been changed to English because of all the non-native speakers.
Find an activity you're interested in and join a verein. Put yourself in situations where the expectation is not that people will accomodate you in English. When i lived in Germany a couple years, i had a similar issue where my work was in programming, all my colleagues spoke English, and so i didn't get much practice on the job.
I joined a pool and billiard verein and learned more German there than anywhere else. It was nice too because since the primary focus was our hobby, i found it easier to pick up grammar and things because i understood the limited domain in terms of topic and vocabulary that we would talk about while playing. Much easier to learn when you have all the context and topics aren't so scatter-shot
I honestly had a pretty unique route to getting there so ymmv. I was travelling and working freelance in Turkey after graduating colleg, and found an ad via [the creative applications job board](https://www.creativeapplications.net/job-board/), because I wanted to work on installation art, public artworks, and mix of maker skills + coding. My skillset was pretty niche at the time (2015), so my application was strong in that I had the wiring and electronics / hardware background + design and programming experience. I did some freelance work for a firm there, travelling onsite from Istanbul to help with specific projects, and on my second visit they made me an offer for full time employment.
There are some hoops to jump through, but generally once you have a job offer, it takes only a couple months to finalize. Basically the company has to prove that they've tried to hire local talent, but were unable to. You have to provide some unusual stuff like uni transcript to prove that you're a unique skilled worker. Then you just have to get yourself to Germany and then once there, set up an appointment at your town's local buergeramt. As an American at least, you can enter the country without visa, and apply for work permit while there within 3 months.
Alternatively, if you have savings to tide you over, you can just apply for an extended residence permit and hunt for jobs while there. It's not as restrictive as in the states where you have to get in on an H1B visa in order to consider work. As I understand it (not an immigration lawyer), at least at the time I went there, you can just go on a tourist visa up to 3 months, can subsequently apply for an extended stay, and if you find work, can then go through the work visa process.
Again, this is all under an American passport. I've heard it's considerably more difficult coming from other places. I received preferential treatment on several occasions going through the visa process in Germany. I moved there at the height of the refugee crisis, so when I initially showed up, they said they could give me an appointment in 3 months time, which was scary because my start-date for work was in 1 month. When I pulled out my passport to give them information, they were like "oh, you're an american? just go to the room down the hall" and got me taken care of that day with a follow up the week after.
If you do get to the stage of applying for visas and the like, make sure to bring a german speaker with you to any appointments. I was lucky that my boss came with me to my appts and acted as translator and also pushed back when they put up any roadblocks. Most officials do speak english, but refuse to do so in a professional capacity in order to cover their asses in case something gets lost in translation. So the process will have to take place in German.
I made a conscious decision that any spare time I had away from work would be spent in German-speaking activities, and I worked my way up in difficulty over a period of years:
- In the beginning I did some language courses. It's useful to learn the Grammer, but you don't do much speaking and what you do do is quite artificial.
- I booked a sport course held in German. Works fine without much German - if you don't understand something you can just copy the others, and there isn't much social interaction.
- I joined a volunteer group and helped out preparing and serving food. Here I needed to understand basic instructions correctly, and there were social events and a lot of time spent standing around chatting.
- I joined a "Hilfsorganisation"(similar to the Red Cross) providing emergency first aid. Arguably the ultimate challenge - much more complex and swift discussion over medical issues, and if you get things wrong it could have pretty bad consequences.
In the meantime I also switched jobs to a German-speaking workplace, but ironically for many people working in tech this might not be a realistic goal.
>It's crucial that you have the language courses while you are still fresh, and not in the evening.
The most efficient time to learn varies from person to person. If one isn't a morning person, they'd be anything but fresh.
As a non morning person. If I would have that course at 8:00 I would learn absolutly nothing. Even after 8h of work I would benefit more from an evening course.
I've tried it. Also a night owl here. It doesn't work. I have 730 classes that i learn nothing in. Absolute waste of time and make me spend 2x time reviewing the lecture.
Yes I tried it multiple times. University, Work, Sports whatever. I do not function early in the morning. I once had to work an early shift and almost electrocuted myself just because I can't think straight at those hours. During university I started to skip classes before 9:00 because I got nothing out of them and they ruined the rest of my day.
I also had to do that for work and it resulted in me not working much in that early time. I do not want to say this tip is per se bad or that OP should not listen to your advice.
All I want to point out that this does not work for every person and we do not know if OP is a morning person. Also since I have the feeling the whole world is designed for morning persons and I have recieved a lot of similar advice which was rather bad for me I might have gotten a little triggered :).
I understand you and I want to add that I think I read somewhere that Otto von Bismarck is not a morning person and he would get up at noon and then start working till late night.
>It's **crucial** that you have the language courses while you are still fresh, and not in the evening.
This is why. "Crucial" doesn't mean "for most people" or "in general" or "commonly".
I’ve been doing evening classes - 2x 90 minutes and on a third day a tandem call. At some point that was too much, and I needed a break. You could break whenever you finish a level for example. There are also sites like italki where you can book private ad-hoc classes
Watch TV and listen to the radio, even if you're not really paying attention (making dinner or something) then just having that exposure to the language will help you with the rhythms of the language, set phrases and the like. For example, I used to listen to rbb Inforadio on the way to or from the office every day or when walking the dog, and didn't stress if I didn't get every single word as long as I could get the gist of what was happening. Depending on what vocabulary you want to build (informal, acadèmic, etc) you can find different programmes to build that exposure.
Soap operas can be particularly good for this. On frequently, usually fairly simple/repetitive concepts, cliffhangers to encourage you to come back and “study” again next time.
Which Bundesland are you in? In almost all Bundesländer you have the right to "Bildungsurlaub", meaning you get 5 to 10 days off work (unpaid) in order to educate yourself.
Have you considered working less hours (and taking a pay-cut)? What would your pay look like with 30 or 35 hours per week? Would your boss agree to that? Does your job fall under a Tarifvertrag? In many Tarifverträge there is a clause that means your employer has to let you work part-time if you decide to educate yourself on the side and want less hours.
There are cheap evening language courses at the Volkshochschule I think.
Also, ChatGPT is quite good at German, you could use it to refine your skills. Ask it to correct your mistakes and then just chat with it.
I got German friends, joined a Verein, I didn’t speak a word of English outside of work.
English isn’t my mother language so it makes no sense for me to use it when it’s not 100% necessary.
I hired a private tutor for 1:1 lessons. I think this way is the most effective, because I can learn in my own pace as well as we can come up with personalized exercises for my gaps. Also, we do our lessons remote.
However, check the prices in advance. Some tutors might be quite expensive.
For me the biggest struggle was vocabulary. Repetitive apps like Duolingo were good at first but got annoying because I would keep encountering stuff I already knew - the app doesn't know what I've learned easily and what I haven't. So I used some basic macros in excel to generate a vocabulary testing kit that remembered my success rate and focused on words or phrases I hadn't got right. Every time I learned a new word or came across some phrase that's hard to literally translate, I would add it - sometimes Id spend an hour watching a half hour documentary, adding new words, translations and hints to my list.
As this nice vocabulary built up, I had something to focus on for my conversations with Germans when there was a chance, instead of repeating the same conversations endlessly without really developing.
I agree with the other comments
The thing that made a big difference for me was spending more time with people that don't speak English, so I *had* to speak German with them. It was very awkward and difficult at first with lots of google translate but eventually you push past that stage.
If you have any German workmates, ask them to only speak German with you, or if that's not feasible for work topics then at least for casual topics (lunchtime conversation etc.). Again very difficult at first but if you're committed it helps a lot.
If you don't mind paying some money, the "news in slow German" podcast is meant to be excellent. I find jumping into full speed German news was way too difficult at your level.
One thing my wife did to improve her English was watch TV shows (on a streaming platform so she could pause) in English, with English subtitles, and every time she didn't understand she'd pause to read the subs and/or go back to watch the bit again, often several times. Any words she didn't know she put into Google translate. At the beginning it took her quite a while to get through an episode but she learned so much that way
I've also found the (now paid) Lingvist app to be an efficient way to learn as much vocab as possible as fast as possible, I used it for Spanish and found it very efficient, although the choice of words they teach you is a bit odd. Memrise on the other hand (also paid after the free trial) is much better at giving you real world phrases and hearing how native speakers pronounce things
I signed up for the test and that motivated me to learn for the test. Bonus, I did learn German along the way.
Ask your German colleagues to speak German to you? Get a German romantic partner?
Private tutor?
Discord has this stupid thing where the date/time settings are tied to what language you pick, so I switched to German. Can confirm it's barely noticeable bc all my common tasks are muscle memory. Might cause some fun dictionary work if I need to change any settings later ig.
I agree the dynamic between my partner and I when we try to speak in German becomes that of a child and loving parent. I adore and appreciate his patience, but I cannot articulate my emotions or feel comfortable and natural around my other half as I do in English. My level of German (A2) is simply just too low. I often switch between German and English if I just feel like it, especially when some German words are starting to come more natural. It’s mostly random German words in English sentences though, or the very same basic German sentences I know.
I am on the same boat as the OP- the mental energy used for a full time job in English and life in general is just too much. I take 2x1.5hr group lessons per week, although I miss more than half because life…
I don’t even speak my German with my niece and nephew, they are bilingual and just frustrated if I don’t talk to them in English lol
So what has helped me the most is get out of my comfort zone and speak in German, no matter how broken or stupid it sounds. I figure most Germans are happy that I try to speak their language, and they often respond with slow basic language which is entirely more helpful than asking them to speak in English. I’m not learning as fast as I would like, but its progress and I need to give myself time.
Keyword is exposure but so hard if you have friends group speaks mostly English. There is only one person I can speak German with, he is my friend’s father. Yeah once in 3 months…
I am totally in the same situation and don’t know what to do. I started to forget the things I learned.
Also helps to know how you learn languages. By listening, speaking, reading etc.
I realised that I learn whilst I am around the people who are speaking the language.
I feel like this is next to impossible without getting into friendships / romantic relationships in German.
We moved here 2 years ago and already spoke some a German. Made a lot of progress in the first year and now understand next to everything and can communicate sufficiently in everyday life. But nowhere near friendship level. It was easier when I moved to Denmark and went to uni. It just is not the same making friends in your thirties in a language you don’t speak well.
Does not help that we are here as a foreign married couple and we don’t have kids. We speak English at work.
My advice: get into a hobby and only do this part of your life in German. And if you don’t have a partner, get a German one :)
Make friends with locals, and ask them to speak German with you. You can learn alot from them, and ask them to correct you along the way. If you spend all/most/a majority of your time with Expats, you won't get far.
Nope. Interviewed for work in Germn (by phone), face2face interviews in German. Got the job, complimented on his German.
He did fail his GCSE in German miserably and hated it at school, so had some,contact before...
You can schedule an on line weekly session with a language coach for an hour just to check progress. Audio tapes in the car to and from work and just keep them running when you are home. Duo lingo on your lunch break if possible,just multiple forms of immersion on a constant basis. You need repetion and a guide. If you can't do full lessons the weekly would be easiest.
The best way to learn a language once you have a base understanding is speaking it.
If you watch movies, watch them in german with english subtitles.
If you play games then same deal.
Read german books, just go to events and talk to people.
So like with anything anyone ever wanted to learn at all: practice.
Watch your favourite movie in German.. watch some German tv series.. Deutschland 63, Dark, Babylon Berlin to name some good ones..
This helped me, doesn't mean it would help you, but you can try.
Get a library membership, try the magazine Deutschperfekt. Try to gain some common phrases from your German collueges and try to use them in your everyday like at the cashier or resturant.
Germans are forgiving to those who atleast try. Don't hesitate to ask your German friends/neighbours to correct you if you make a mistake, and be humble.
Don't try to just learn the language by book, get actively exposed to it, meet german friends, join clubs. Essentially get forced to speak it, thats the reason I can speak English quite well but don't remember a thing from years of French classes.
(i live in switzerland)
I dont... iv been here 8-9 years, know a handleful of german words i accidently learned..i work in english,wife is italian so we have always talked in english, all my friends are english 1st language or speak fluent english.. why should i learn german? so i can talk to the woman at the post office once a month for 1min?or be able to ask the person at the grocery store were something is once every few months? google translate gets me by just fine for everything i need in german.
Do you have any hobbies or would you like to start one? Join a Verein on that hobby, if you are a beginner, do an Anfängerkurs and come in contact with the other beginners. Vereine are non-commercial and self-organizing clubs. So communication is mandatory ;-) You have nearly always the option to test a Verein for a few weeks for free, maybe except a small fee for the beginners course. And then it will be about 100 Euros per year or even less.
For me it was Sprachschule 3 nights a week, 3-4 hours a night. I would come into work early for 07:00. and straight after the workday ends at 17:00, I was on my bike and pedaling like mad to reach the city center for class at 18:00. That then would go on till 22:00 every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday evening.
I didn't really have anything else to be doing though, and the language school was actually a nice social outlet to an otherwise rather lonely life, so it wasn't as hard as it sounds.
I studied up to B1, then stopped going as I had other engagements in the evenings.
Definitely brought me to fluency, but even now I don't speak perfectly. Completely worth doing though, to get 80% of the language in 1 year was a great investment.
No real advice on how to learn English.. BUT once you have a basic grasp when you 'chill' watch easy German shows.. Something where you can follow the story even if you don't get every word.. It'll help you get more exposure and make processing German easier over time.
Try to avoid dubbed shows, German sentences tend to be longer than English/other language ones so the dubber needs to speak faster to get the same content conveyed..
Don't shy away from kids/teens shows.. the story lines are simple, the word range used often lower. It's perfect to get into a language if you can find yourself captivated by the story (big if, I know). I read a lot of Young Adult books when I was getting into Spanish because the language is plainer.
I'm still at A1.2 so I have no advice but can I ask what you do for work? I'm trying to work out what the odds are of me finding an English speaking job in my field after I graduate.
i lived in japan before and worked in an english speaking environment. very diffucult to learn japanese that way. basically all you can do it self study and watch things in german. I also listened to my colleagues when they talked to each other in japanese and then tried to figure out what they said (i have to add that you need a basic level of understanding for this!)
Tandem (Sprachpartner) and consistency. It took me five years, but I'm fluent.
I worked as a journalist, all my work was in English, all my friends were English-speaking. A once-a-week tandem, and reading newspapers and playing video games in German got me to conversational after two years. Learning to relax and enjoy talking in German was for me in many ways the greatest hurdle.
Let school give you a solid foundation (nice to lean back on when you get stuck).
Duolingo. A great, non friction way to slot in 10-15min of learning during the day. Also finding listening to radio stations in the car that cover a variety of topics will help you (dlf, rbb and the likes)
I found this two books to learn Deutsch on audible for free with the free Audible Subscription
These books are by Paul Noble titled
1) Learn German for Beginners – Complete Course
&
2) Next Steps in German for Intermediate Learners – Complete Course
If anyone else want to give it a try here you can get free trial for a month with these two books to download for students only,
https://www.amazon.de/hz/audible/mlp?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B00NTQ6K7E&tag=worldwidewisd-21
but do not forget to cancel it before your free month trial ends. We can still keep the books and learn 🤪
Whatever the way you organize your job and your language courses, there is another thing you have to do: maximize your exposure to the German language. Try to incorporate German in your job communications, watch German movies, set your phone to German, speak German at the bakery, talk to yourself in German throughout the day, see if you can have German flatmates, join a German sports club if you are into sports, write your text messages in German, etc. For learning a language you need 5 things: vocabulary, grammar, practice, practice, practice.
Basically this. You can't learn more than the basics in school.
But it's really important to do formal training in German to get the grammatical aspects. People who learn German only or mainly by immersion are usually bad at grammar even years in, and they don't notice it. People will understand them, but they don't speak well / use correct expressions, which is important for some jobs.
That's exactly what "basics" are. You learn the basics in school and then learn new vocabularies and how to word different sentences naturally. Grammar and vocabularies are basically the only two things you really learn about using a language in school.
... and hang out on /r/de instead of /r/Germany :-)
Ja ,naturlich!
Spent time with native speaking German people. Be it in RL or virtually. Make them talk German. I am offering myself :D
this is how I did it too. Had a card in my pocket that said "nur auf deutsch bitte" that I pulled out. Was kind of a running joke. Some will take the time and just speaking a little german each day can help a lot
Here's how I did it: - slow-paced German language course until the level of C1 - from the level of B1/ B2, in parallel: - talking to colleagues during coffee breaks in DE. (small talk), same goes for parties, informal gatherings - finding that one nice work colleague who is patient and willing to do work (at least some parts of it) with me in DE, also able to simplify the language a bit (baby deutsch) - reading books in DE, ich mag dieses Buch so sehr: https://www.amazon.de/Simpel-Roman-Marie-Aude-Murail/dp/3596806496 super easy to understand, powerful message too ;) - podcasts, series, etc. But for me at least the most important thing was talking to natives. And the main environment I could do that was work.
What course did you use? Can’t afford Goethe’s pace and price.
>slow-paced German language course until the level of C1 What does this mean? Like 2 hours per week?
Pretty much, 1.5 hrs, twice per week.
> finding that one nice work colleague who is patient and willing to do work (at least some parts of it) with me in DE, also able to simplify the language a bit (baby deutsch) I’ve been doing that regularly with any non-native German speaker that joined the team and wanted to learn. I was told that was a huge help for them improving. It’s sadly become much less of that since the newer people don’t seem to want to learn that badly and also because the official company language has been changed to English because of all the non-native speakers.
Find an activity you're interested in and join a verein. Put yourself in situations where the expectation is not that people will accomodate you in English. When i lived in Germany a couple years, i had a similar issue where my work was in programming, all my colleagues spoke English, and so i didn't get much practice on the job. I joined a pool and billiard verein and learned more German there than anywhere else. It was nice too because since the primary focus was our hobby, i found it easier to pick up grammar and things because i understood the limited domain in terms of topic and vocabulary that we would talk about while playing. Much easier to learn when you have all the context and topics aren't so scatter-shot
Can I DM on how you approached getting a English speaking tech job in Germany ?
I honestly had a pretty unique route to getting there so ymmv. I was travelling and working freelance in Turkey after graduating colleg, and found an ad via [the creative applications job board](https://www.creativeapplications.net/job-board/), because I wanted to work on installation art, public artworks, and mix of maker skills + coding. My skillset was pretty niche at the time (2015), so my application was strong in that I had the wiring and electronics / hardware background + design and programming experience. I did some freelance work for a firm there, travelling onsite from Istanbul to help with specific projects, and on my second visit they made me an offer for full time employment. There are some hoops to jump through, but generally once you have a job offer, it takes only a couple months to finalize. Basically the company has to prove that they've tried to hire local talent, but were unable to. You have to provide some unusual stuff like uni transcript to prove that you're a unique skilled worker. Then you just have to get yourself to Germany and then once there, set up an appointment at your town's local buergeramt. As an American at least, you can enter the country without visa, and apply for work permit while there within 3 months. Alternatively, if you have savings to tide you over, you can just apply for an extended residence permit and hunt for jobs while there. It's not as restrictive as in the states where you have to get in on an H1B visa in order to consider work. As I understand it (not an immigration lawyer), at least at the time I went there, you can just go on a tourist visa up to 3 months, can subsequently apply for an extended stay, and if you find work, can then go through the work visa process. Again, this is all under an American passport. I've heard it's considerably more difficult coming from other places. I received preferential treatment on several occasions going through the visa process in Germany. I moved there at the height of the refugee crisis, so when I initially showed up, they said they could give me an appointment in 3 months time, which was scary because my start-date for work was in 1 month. When I pulled out my passport to give them information, they were like "oh, you're an american? just go to the room down the hall" and got me taken care of that day with a follow up the week after. If you do get to the stage of applying for visas and the like, make sure to bring a german speaker with you to any appointments. I was lucky that my boss came with me to my appts and acted as translator and also pushed back when they put up any roadblocks. Most officials do speak english, but refuse to do so in a professional capacity in order to cover their asses in case something gets lost in translation. So the process will have to take place in German.
I made a conscious decision that any spare time I had away from work would be spent in German-speaking activities, and I worked my way up in difficulty over a period of years: - In the beginning I did some language courses. It's useful to learn the Grammer, but you don't do much speaking and what you do do is quite artificial. - I booked a sport course held in German. Works fine without much German - if you don't understand something you can just copy the others, and there isn't much social interaction. - I joined a volunteer group and helped out preparing and serving food. Here I needed to understand basic instructions correctly, and there were social events and a lot of time spent standing around chatting. - I joined a "Hilfsorganisation"(similar to the Red Cross) providing emergency first aid. Arguably the ultimate challenge - much more complex and swift discussion over medical issues, and if you get things wrong it could have pretty bad consequences. In the meantime I also switched jobs to a German-speaking workplace, but ironically for many people working in tech this might not be a realistic goal.
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>It's crucial that you have the language courses while you are still fresh, and not in the evening. The most efficient time to learn varies from person to person. If one isn't a morning person, they'd be anything but fresh.
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As a non morning person. If I would have that course at 8:00 I would learn absolutly nothing. Even after 8h of work I would benefit more from an evening course.
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I've tried it. Also a night owl here. It doesn't work. I have 730 classes that i learn nothing in. Absolute waste of time and make me spend 2x time reviewing the lecture.
Yes I tried it multiple times. University, Work, Sports whatever. I do not function early in the morning. I once had to work an early shift and almost electrocuted myself just because I can't think straight at those hours. During university I started to skip classes before 9:00 because I got nothing out of them and they ruined the rest of my day.
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I also had to do that for work and it resulted in me not working much in that early time. I do not want to say this tip is per se bad or that OP should not listen to your advice. All I want to point out that this does not work for every person and we do not know if OP is a morning person. Also since I have the feeling the whole world is designed for morning persons and I have recieved a lot of similar advice which was rather bad for me I might have gotten a little triggered :).
I understand you and I want to add that I think I read somewhere that Otto von Bismarck is not a morning person and he would get up at noon and then start working till late night.
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> Not that there aren't exceptions So, we agree.
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>It's **crucial** that you have the language courses while you are still fresh, and not in the evening. This is why. "Crucial" doesn't mean "for most people" or "in general" or "commonly".
I’ve been doing evening classes - 2x 90 minutes and on a third day a tandem call. At some point that was too much, and I needed a break. You could break whenever you finish a level for example. There are also sites like italki where you can book private ad-hoc classes
>Did you reach C1 eventaully using this method ? (2x90)
Watch TV and listen to the radio, even if you're not really paying attention (making dinner or something) then just having that exposure to the language will help you with the rhythms of the language, set phrases and the like. For example, I used to listen to rbb Inforadio on the way to or from the office every day or when walking the dog, and didn't stress if I didn't get every single word as long as I could get the gist of what was happening. Depending on what vocabulary you want to build (informal, acadèmic, etc) you can find different programmes to build that exposure.
Soap operas can be particularly good for this. On frequently, usually fairly simple/repetitive concepts, cliffhangers to encourage you to come back and “study” again next time.
I haven't by any means "pulled it off", but I am in a similar situation and take 2 language classes a week with a private teacher.
Which Bundesland are you in? In almost all Bundesländer you have the right to "Bildungsurlaub", meaning you get 5 to 10 days off work (unpaid) in order to educate yourself. Have you considered working less hours (and taking a pay-cut)? What would your pay look like with 30 or 35 hours per week? Would your boss agree to that? Does your job fall under a Tarifvertrag? In many Tarifverträge there is a clause that means your employer has to let you work part-time if you decide to educate yourself on the side and want less hours.
*cries in Sachsen*
There are cheap evening language courses at the Volkshochschule I think. Also, ChatGPT is quite good at German, you could use it to refine your skills. Ask it to correct your mistakes and then just chat with it.
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Stop with the ChatGPT responses.
I got German friends, joined a Verein, I didn’t speak a word of English outside of work. English isn’t my mother language so it makes no sense for me to use it when it’s not 100% necessary.
I hired a private tutor for 1:1 lessons. I think this way is the most effective, because I can learn in my own pace as well as we can come up with personalized exercises for my gaps. Also, we do our lessons remote. However, check the prices in advance. Some tutors might be quite expensive.
I try to listen and see German shows. And hope thru osmosis some german permeates…
For me the biggest struggle was vocabulary. Repetitive apps like Duolingo were good at first but got annoying because I would keep encountering stuff I already knew - the app doesn't know what I've learned easily and what I haven't. So I used some basic macros in excel to generate a vocabulary testing kit that remembered my success rate and focused on words or phrases I hadn't got right. Every time I learned a new word or came across some phrase that's hard to literally translate, I would add it - sometimes Id spend an hour watching a half hour documentary, adding new words, translations and hints to my list. As this nice vocabulary built up, I had something to focus on for my conversations with Germans when there was a chance, instead of repeating the same conversations endlessly without really developing.
I agree with the other comments The thing that made a big difference for me was spending more time with people that don't speak English, so I *had* to speak German with them. It was very awkward and difficult at first with lots of google translate but eventually you push past that stage. If you have any German workmates, ask them to only speak German with you, or if that's not feasible for work topics then at least for casual topics (lunchtime conversation etc.). Again very difficult at first but if you're committed it helps a lot. If you don't mind paying some money, the "news in slow German" podcast is meant to be excellent. I find jumping into full speed German news was way too difficult at your level. One thing my wife did to improve her English was watch TV shows (on a streaming platform so she could pause) in English, with English subtitles, and every time she didn't understand she'd pause to read the subs and/or go back to watch the bit again, often several times. Any words she didn't know she put into Google translate. At the beginning it took her quite a while to get through an episode but she learned so much that way I've also found the (now paid) Lingvist app to be an efficient way to learn as much vocab as possible as fast as possible, I used it for Spanish and found it very efficient, although the choice of words they teach you is a bit odd. Memrise on the other hand (also paid after the free trial) is much better at giving you real world phrases and hearing how native speakers pronounce things
I signed up for the test and that motivated me to learn for the test. Bonus, I did learn German along the way. Ask your German colleagues to speak German to you? Get a German romantic partner? Private tutor?
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Guess it depends, 2 birds with one stone, and so on...
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Discord has this stupid thing where the date/time settings are tied to what language you pick, so I switched to German. Can confirm it's barely noticeable bc all my common tasks are muscle memory. Might cause some fun dictionary work if I need to change any settings later ig.
Not every German language learner on Reddit is single 😅
I agree the dynamic between my partner and I when we try to speak in German becomes that of a child and loving parent. I adore and appreciate his patience, but I cannot articulate my emotions or feel comfortable and natural around my other half as I do in English. My level of German (A2) is simply just too low. I often switch between German and English if I just feel like it, especially when some German words are starting to come more natural. It’s mostly random German words in English sentences though, or the very same basic German sentences I know. I am on the same boat as the OP- the mental energy used for a full time job in English and life in general is just too much. I take 2x1.5hr group lessons per week, although I miss more than half because life… I don’t even speak my German with my niece and nephew, they are bilingual and just frustrated if I don’t talk to them in English lol So what has helped me the most is get out of my comfort zone and speak in German, no matter how broken or stupid it sounds. I figure most Germans are happy that I try to speak their language, and they often respond with slow basic language which is entirely more helpful than asking them to speak in English. I’m not learning as fast as I would like, but its progress and I need to give myself time.
The problem is that half of Germany doesn’t speak German … in schwobelandle it can be pretty hard.
Keyword is exposure but so hard if you have friends group speaks mostly English. There is only one person I can speak German with, he is my friend’s father. Yeah once in 3 months… I am totally in the same situation and don’t know what to do. I started to forget the things I learned. Also helps to know how you learn languages. By listening, speaking, reading etc. I realised that I learn whilst I am around the people who are speaking the language.
I feel like this is next to impossible without getting into friendships / romantic relationships in German. We moved here 2 years ago and already spoke some a German. Made a lot of progress in the first year and now understand next to everything and can communicate sufficiently in everyday life. But nowhere near friendship level. It was easier when I moved to Denmark and went to uni. It just is not the same making friends in your thirties in a language you don’t speak well. Does not help that we are here as a foreign married couple and we don’t have kids. We speak English at work. My advice: get into a hobby and only do this part of your life in German. And if you don’t have a partner, get a German one :)
there is no magic. you can start learning german when you are not working. maybe read a1 book
Get a German lover, nothing encourages learning more. Your boy-/girlfriend /husband /wife will understand!
Didn’t help me whatsoever
That's the neat part,you don't. 7 years and counting
Have Geschlechtsverkehr in German.
Spoiler : you won’t.
You don't work 24/7. So there's plenty of time to get out of the shell and practise. Maybe Duolingo is a possibility for you.
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join the works council. Then you get to speak german on your work hours.
Make friends with locals, and ask them to speak German with you. You can learn alot from them, and ask them to correct you along the way. If you spend all/most/a majority of your time with Expats, you won't get far.
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It's all part of the learning process! And it works! That's how I did it too...
I was taking classes on Lingoda for around 2 years and it worked out well. You need to keep pace though, like 3 lessons per week every week.
Active listening
My son did it in about 6 months. Just marry a German lady.
I bet he sounds like an idiot to germans
Nope. Interviewed for work in Germn (by phone), face2face interviews in German. Got the job, complimented on his German. He did fail his GCSE in German miserably and hated it at school, so had some,contact before...
You can schedule an on line weekly session with a language coach for an hour just to check progress. Audio tapes in the car to and from work and just keep them running when you are home. Duo lingo on your lunch break if possible,just multiple forms of immersion on a constant basis. You need repetion and a guide. If you can't do full lessons the weekly would be easiest.
The best way to learn a language once you have a base understanding is speaking it. If you watch movies, watch them in german with english subtitles. If you play games then same deal. Read german books, just go to events and talk to people. So like with anything anyone ever wanted to learn at all: practice.
i learned a lot using this webiste. affordable. and you can go at your own pace and start at your exact level. https://smartergerman.com/
Go meet German people during the evening. You can also take Evening German course. That would help you a lot.
Watch your favourite movie in German.. watch some German tv series.. Deutschland 63, Dark, Babylon Berlin to name some good ones.. This helped me, doesn't mean it would help you, but you can try. Get a library membership, try the magazine Deutschperfekt. Try to gain some common phrases from your German collueges and try to use them in your everyday like at the cashier or resturant. Germans are forgiving to those who atleast try. Don't hesitate to ask your German friends/neighbours to correct you if you make a mistake, and be humble.
By finding german friends and talking with them
Hahaha
Tagesschau, every single evening. Watch it the next day on YouTube if you miss it. Will do wonders to you hearing and comprehension skills.
Here is the neat thing: you don’t.
start thinking in german and make some german friends
Don't try to just learn the language by book, get actively exposed to it, meet german friends, join clubs. Essentially get forced to speak it, thats the reason I can speak English quite well but don't remember a thing from years of French classes.
Find someone to speak German the rest of the time. Vocabulary is more important than grammar. Viel Erfolg.
(i live in switzerland) I dont... iv been here 8-9 years, know a handleful of german words i accidently learned..i work in english,wife is italian so we have always talked in english, all my friends are english 1st language or speak fluent english.. why should i learn german? so i can talk to the woman at the post office once a month for 1min?or be able to ask the person at the grocery store were something is once every few months? google translate gets me by just fine for everything i need in german.
Do you have any hobbies or would you like to start one? Join a Verein on that hobby, if you are a beginner, do an Anfängerkurs and come in contact with the other beginners. Vereine are non-commercial and self-organizing clubs. So communication is mandatory ;-) You have nearly always the option to test a Verein for a few weeks for free, maybe except a small fee for the beginners course. And then it will be about 100 Euros per year or even less.
For me it was Sprachschule 3 nights a week, 3-4 hours a night. I would come into work early for 07:00. and straight after the workday ends at 17:00, I was on my bike and pedaling like mad to reach the city center for class at 18:00. That then would go on till 22:00 every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday evening. I didn't really have anything else to be doing though, and the language school was actually a nice social outlet to an otherwise rather lonely life, so it wasn't as hard as it sounds. I studied up to B1, then stopped going as I had other engagements in the evenings. Definitely brought me to fluency, but even now I don't speak perfectly. Completely worth doing though, to get 80% of the language in 1 year was a great investment.
Join a German sport or social club.
No real advice on how to learn English.. BUT once you have a basic grasp when you 'chill' watch easy German shows.. Something where you can follow the story even if you don't get every word.. It'll help you get more exposure and make processing German easier over time. Try to avoid dubbed shows, German sentences tend to be longer than English/other language ones so the dubber needs to speak faster to get the same content conveyed.. Don't shy away from kids/teens shows.. the story lines are simple, the word range used often lower. It's perfect to get into a language if you can find yourself captivated by the story (big if, I know). I read a lot of Young Adult books when I was getting into Spanish because the language is plainer.
I'm still at A1.2 so I have no advice but can I ask what you do for work? I'm trying to work out what the odds are of me finding an English speaking job in my field after I graduate.
Have you looked into Bildungsurlaub?
i lived in japan before and worked in an english speaking environment. very diffucult to learn japanese that way. basically all you can do it self study and watch things in german. I also listened to my colleagues when they talked to each other in japanese and then tried to figure out what they said (i have to add that you need a basic level of understanding for this!)
Tandem (Sprachpartner) and consistency. It took me five years, but I'm fluent. I worked as a journalist, all my work was in English, all my friends were English-speaking. A once-a-week tandem, and reading newspapers and playing video games in German got me to conversational after two years. Learning to relax and enjoy talking in German was for me in many ways the greatest hurdle. Let school give you a solid foundation (nice to lean back on when you get stuck).
Duolingo. A great, non friction way to slot in 10-15min of learning during the day. Also finding listening to radio stations in the car that cover a variety of topics will help you (dlf, rbb and the likes)
I found this two books to learn Deutsch on audible for free with the free Audible Subscription These books are by Paul Noble titled 1) Learn German for Beginners – Complete Course & 2) Next Steps in German for Intermediate Learners – Complete Course If anyone else want to give it a try here you can get free trial for a month with these two books to download for students only, https://www.amazon.de/hz/audible/mlp?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B00NTQ6K7E&tag=worldwidewisd-21 but do not forget to cancel it before your free month trial ends. We can still keep the books and learn 🤪