Deutsch lernen

There have been several interesting threads on the topic of learning to speak German but, in desperation, I need further help and/or advice. I work for an international company whose 'official' language is English but in practice, as I'm the only non-German in my team, most communication/meetings are conducted in German - a situation I find understandable but difficult to cope with; I really feel like an outsider in spite of the friendliness of my colleauges. For this reason and because I intend to live here indefinitely, I need to master this language!

I have lived in Hamburg with my German fiancee since February this year but, before this, I had been coming to Germany more or less monthly since January 2004. I started to learn German on a self-teaching basis followed by 3 weeks in the Hamburg Goethe institute. I now receive one-to-one tuition in work, paid for by my employer; in spite of this I'm struggling to make real progress... fed up of saying 'ich spreche nur ein bisschen deutsch!'

One of the main problems is trying to find the best language books for my situation; I've tried several of the standard course books... Tangram etc. but I find these very laborious to work through. I realise I need to apply myself but can anyone please suggest learning material which they've found to be especially good? Any other help and/or advice gratefully received... Danke!

It's 50% you, 49% the teacher and 1% the material. This means you have to find a good teacher. Which school has the best teachers? Impossible to say, since in many cases all the schools actually have the same teachers.

Also understand that it will take time. A lot of time. Self teaching only works for a very lucky, very small minority, and a three week course is literally nothing.

Stick with the employer provided lessons and be patient.

I'll give you what worked for me, it took me a year to get so I was OK in 90% of the situations :-

Force yourself to work in German, even if you have to insist they speak German and you answer in English, then it will be a mix of English and then eventually German. Do the same at home...remember people will see you as an opportunity to brush up on their English... :$

It takes a long time to feel confident, my German is good but if its a new situation with potential for new words or phrases then I'm ready to ask for a help or an explanation. Do not fear embarrasment of getting it wrong, that is one of the main reasons kids pick it up quicker, they do not care if its wrong. Thats another reason your German is likely better after 1 or 2 beers(only 1 or 2). You are more relaxed and less inhibited. The other thing is that you never really realise that you are getting better as its gradual.

My teacher told me the thing to remember is that you are also not translating all the words when you hear English so you don't need to do it in German, just get the gist of the main words and you'll have the meaning of the sentence, its just that you have a much better tuned ear and know more phrases in English. When you think about it, you don't really listen to English, you hear it and tune in when you are interested. You need to learn with German initially to tune in all the time

listen to German TV and Radio as often as possible...English TV should only be a treat.

Bring issues and examples to your 1:1 sessions, if you have a new situation coming up. Get your teacher to prepare you.

I've just moved to Belgium and am having to start from scratch in French, I did no languages at school. If I can do it anyone can...wish I was back in DE though , less language difficulties...

hi cruiser,

i studied applied linguistics at uni (language learning- i'm an english teacher), and i was also progressing slowly in my german until i started to practice what i preach to my students. it's very difficult to self-study at home with a textbook - language is a communicative activity so the rewards (successful communication/wow! i can do it!) which will KEEP you motivated won't ever be found there, however good the book. it didn't work for me, even with a good textbook, motivation, a degree in language learning, and 4 years of school german. basically, you can learn grammar from a book but that's it.

here's a few tips which did work for me:

most of the research i read on vocab acquisition concluded that you need to encounter a word minimum 10 times to learn it. so when you want to learn new words and understand them quickly when someone throws them at you, try to write or say 10 sentences using that word. there are a few memory techniques like association which can help you with what basically has to be a rote-learning activity.

all of the language learning gurus say that you need MASSIVE input to learn well (think of how long kids listen before they learn to speak!). so give yourself german t.v. and radio and listen in on conversations as much as you can - you'll start to notice words which pop up, or groups of words often used together. next step is finding out what those words mean, and after hearing them a lot, you shouldn't struggle to find them, they should be out of your mouth before you know it.

find some reading material AT YOUR LEVEL (ask your teacher about graded readers, magazines for learners etc - even short articles in the newspaper) which you can read. the theory goes that if you need a dictionary, it's too hard, but in my experience, if you like reading in general then reading in german, even with a dictionary, will be the quickest and most satisfying thing - but i don't have a german fiancee at home!

finally, you must force yourself to communicate as much as you can in german with your fiancee. she (and her patience) will be the key to getting there quickly. don't let her do ANYTHING for you that you even have a chance of doing/saying successfully yourself. try to speak to her only in german, and if you don't know the one word in the sentence which you need, do the rest of the sentence in german and say that one in english. she's the best language learning resource you could ever hope to have, use her!

good luck,

monkel xxx

All tha advice given so far is excellent. In addition, you might want to try this Forum:

http://forums.about.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?s...ebtag=ab-german

Just post a message in the introduction section and ask for a tutor to be assigned or/and practice the Exercises that are posted regularly. However, I agree with all the previous posts, listen to the language as much as you can and watch German television. Practice speaking it with your colleagues. They may raise the odd smile at something you said but in general they will appreciate your efforts and help you.

Cruiser, you are getting the replies, but it IS bloody difficult I know. I have tried 3 Volkshochschules, and I'm still " in the dark " most of the time. Presently at the ESSEN Inlingua school and seem to be doing OK.
Envy you your one-on-one status though, as my class comprises 25 people, with 16 Nationalities, and a teacher who only speaks German. Would be a terrific help to have a teacher who could explain the "cases" and other problems in your own language. Never mind ... stick in there and just keep plugging away.
Best of Luck Mate.

Rafles.

that's why VHS is cheap at least. My bf went to a course when he came here for beginners and this really is crap.
He mostly learned to speak by talking to me and his work mates. Every day a little bit more. Then he attended a course for "Fortgeschrittene", where all of them talk german already, as far as they need to understand each other. And this one really helps him now to improve writing and grammar aswell.

Thank you all for the invaluable advice... much appreciated!

Michael (cruiser)