Leipzig language school recommendations

At first I thought this was a Dresden forum, but in any case, I hope I can still get some feedback..

I am thinking of attending a language school in Leipzig for about a year, with the intention of going from A1 (know-nothing) to C1/C2. At first I was thinking about relocating to either Bonn or Mannheim because I thought I might attend the universities there (program taught in English), but I think I will devote my time in Germany solely to learning the language instead. Since I have more determination than $$$, I am considering moving to Leipzig as opposed to places like Munich. Someone told me the cost of living in Leipzig is quite low because of the high unemlpoyment rate or whatever (which does not affect me as I won't be looking for work - at least not until I reach C1/C2 level).

I was informed about this program "interDaF at Herder Institut" which goes for 4 month, allowing beginners to start at A1 and finish with ZD upon having passed the exam at the end. I think they have more advanced courses too. Does anyone know anything about this program? I am trying to plan this out strategically - either going to a relatively more expensive language school at the beginner stage and moving to VHS or something more cost efficient once having reached a certain level, or vice versa. Any thoughts? Thanks.

Hi Eironeuomenos,


Looking at their web-site...

They're offering 15 weeks @ 30 x 45 minute lessons per week. 16 students in a class. (which is quite high). Cost is 2220 € includes book and exam fees . After the course you'll do a test for B1 level. To reach C1 level you'll have to do the course another 15 weeks. Whether you can go from beginner to advanced in 30 weeks is questionable, in my opinion. They're making approx. 5€ per lesson per student. 16 students x 5 € = 80€ per 45 minute lesson which is a nice little earner. Hopefully that means you'll get a well paid professional teacher. I presume that as it's linked to the Uni, the courses will be of a fairly good standard. I personally don't know these courses. Make sure you do a trial lesson, speak to other students and get a feel for the course and maybe even ask for names and tel number of any ex-students before you sign any contract.

Good luck,

Vic

Thanks for your reply. I was thinking about Goethe Institute in Dresden, but it was even more expensive.. plus I would prefer Leipzig over Dresden.

I am hoping that 1 year of language school will get me to at least intermediate level (C1?). \
I emailed Goethe Institut and they told me from A1 to C2 after taking 5 ~ 6 of their 8 week courses, which basically is about a year. I just estimated based on that quote, perhaps I was being too optimstic, regardless of how motivated I am..?

Hi

What you have to consider is first do you have the time, it is obvious you have the inclination. But to reach C1 level is hard in such a short time. You would have to live and breathe the language.

Do not be fooled by the schools claims. They will say a lot to get students, business is business.

Really think about using all resources possible and having a rounded strategy; Plan B.

What will you do outside the lessons to hone this skill?

Too many students ignore the immersion and lifestyle changes you need to make to learn a language.

Good point. So aim to get yourself a German partner and a seat at the "Stammtisch" at the local bar within the first 2 weeks.


Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEF)

B2 = Intermediate/Upper Intermediate?
C1 = Advanced?

Ah thanks for that advice. I don't mean I want to just learn the language ASAP in the shortest time period available and get the hell out.. if I could really get to the advanced level (thanks Vicar for clearing up the framework/levels) in a reasonable time (i.e. before I use up all my $), and if I could find work over there relevant to my undergrad/grad studies, I would probably end up staying there for many years.

I guess my primary concern is also what you mentioned - I am a bit shy so I don't know how long it will take for me to totally immerse myself into the German culture/lifestye, find a German partner for example. But anyway.. outside the lessons I was going to try and watch all of my fav. German movies without having to resort to the subtitles.. lol. And find more neat movies/music in German. And try to find random cool restaurants that I could start going to every now and then.. where I could sort of hear a lot of German being spoken (outside of classroom). I dunno, haha I guess I will have to think more about plan B and the things I would do outside of my intensive language classes!

p.s. I have been googling a lot lately, and I read someone saying the German spoken in say, Leipzig is less pleasing to the ear (?) than the German spoken in Hannover or something.. is this true? Is it because of the difference in accents in different regions?

Hi

This criticism of the lingo here is heard so often, even by people who do not come here. The majority of "institutionally educated" bods speak without the typical Saxon accent. I have only ever had problem with construction workers and guys form the villages or Chemnitz (a city nearby).

The accent is like any other Yorkshire, Texan, Geordie, Bronx, it is all a question of training the ear.

Obviously you have thought things through a bit. Maybe you would benefit from joining these groups;

http://www.deutsch-als-fremdsprache.de/

https://www.xing.com/net/leipzig/

Do not be put off by Wessie condemnation of Leipsch, a lot have not even been to the city of Bach, Schiller, Thomas Choir, Goethe, BMW, Porsche, DHL and great lakes.

It may be good for you to mix with the ex-pat crowd, BUT it could hinder you lingo learning, did mine until I made more an effort to mix with the locals.

If attend you a language course you'll naturally meet other people through the course. Hopefully the course you choose will be with mixed nationalities so that you'll have to speak German with the other students. The danger being you'll hang around other English speaking people on the course after the lessons.


You beat me to it.

Thanks for the replies.

I've heard a lot of internationals enroll in the program I mentioned, especially a lot of Chinese students. I can't speak Chinese so..
And I guess during the first four months I am there when I am taking beginner courses in an effort to get ZD, I will try to get by without always hanging around North American students and/or the ex-pats. Are there a lot of ex-pats in Leipzig? Cities like Munich have TT meetups right, do such things exist in Leipzig too? What do <i>you</i> guys do in your spare time? I guess all of you are fluent in German and possibly have (German) partners already.

There are nowhere as many ex-pats in Leipzig as there are in Munich which can be seen as positive or negative. But there things like Irish Pubs, English tables etc.


Use them to learn the language and then dump them.

hey rafs!

good advice. is that what you did?

Hey Eironeuomenos,
I'm in the VHS here in Leipzig and, while I haven't been to any of the private German language schools, I can't imagine they could offer too much more for the money . The classes are pretty small (about 14 people) and the themes studied are very practical. The text book we're using is called Berliner Platz (Langenscheidt publish it) if that helps. The range of nationalities is very broad but I've found that nearly everyone speaks some English. It's nice at the start but, as a shy person, I'm finding it hard now to make the jump to speaking German.

Anyway, it's not that I have anything against the private schools, but VHS is cheap and I think it would fulfill most people's purposes. (€323 per 10 week term, 3 terms to get the basic diploma. Starts at 8.30am till 12.30pm with 30 min break. I think there are night courses too.) I really wouldn't worry too much about picking up a bad accent, especially at the start. Just being able to communicate is a good start.

Best of luck,
John

Hi just a word about getting to know people -- that shouldn't be too difficult even if you're shy. People in Leipzig are very open and friendly indeed. If you prefer a smaller city to a big one Leipzig is the place to go, and there are not too many English speakers around to distract you from learning German. A single ad in the local mag Kreuzer will result in a long queue of girls who'll be more than happy to be your tandem partner and exchange their German for your English.

506,000 people live in Leipzig (slighty more than Dresden) making it the biggest city in Saxony.


I wish it were always that easy to get a female queue outside your door.

What of a long queue of men? Seeing as how I am a girl..
But I guess girls are ok too (for a tandem partner).

I think it is a good idea, once you get enough basic knowledge to hold simple conversations, to spent some time with people who speak absolutely no English at all- older people or children are good sources since they usually want to talk a lot. People in their 20s will probably tend to speak English with you since they have all had it for at least several years in school and will speak it better than you do German. It's a zero-sum game- the more time spent speaking English, the less time spent on speaking German.

VHS!!!
the deutsch als fremdsprache program in leipzig is AWESOME.
not to mention fr. friedemann (the advisor) kicks some major ass.

the basic intensiv program is cheap, effective, the teachers are lovely and you will meet a lot of other foriegners
at the same learning level as you.
keep in mind, its the "nofrills" that keep it cheap (vhs is half funded by the state and half funded by your tuition)-
but if you put in the time, you will learn.

the mittelstuffe and oberstuffe through the VHS are more intensive... (6hours a day!)
and you can keep going until SprachDiplom.

also, VHS offers all deutsch prüfung exams
(zertifikat deutsch, mittelstuffe and oberstuffe prufungs, zertifikate deutsch plus, testDaF and that other test
to be able to study here)

of course, after intenisv 1-3
you can opt to go to herder insitut, smaller classes
the perks of uni facilities
for a lot more money.

but like anything, its what you make of it
not where you go to school.

are you in leipzig yet?

Metabloom:

no i am not in leipzig yet. one question: how is DaF different from the herder institute (inter-DaF?) is DaF an actually degree or something.. a little confused. since i am absolute beginner i will have to start at interDaF right? when you say DaF is awesome, does that also hold for interDaF?

another thing.. some people in other threads have suggested it might be hard to pick up what the locals are saying in leipzig due to their accent, thus making the city not a good choice to start off as a beginner...is this true?

thanks in advance.

I'd go along with that.

I live in a village. One of my neighbours is an old guy and I can only understand about 15% of what he says. He keeps giving me stuff. For example, he gave me a big bag of stuffed toys for the kids. He gave long explaination why he wanted to give the toys to our kids. We chatted for about 10 minutes about where he'd got the toys from. Later the housekeeper asked me why he had given the kids the toys and where he'd got the toys from and I didn't have a clue.

But Leipzig won't be a problem as far as the lingo is concerned unless you have a thing for dustmen.

Hello Eironeuomenos,

I have said this in another thread already: I can really recommend computer-based language courses. I have reanimated my school-English at university in this way and have bought a French-course on the weekend to reanimate my French. Give it a try, maybe you can even borrow one from your local library.

This might not be the appropriate method for everyone and maybe my English is still crap - but the French course I bought has cost 50 Euros and I have got the impression that it "contains" as much as two or three years at school. I would say that it is definately worth the money. Particularly considering how much a course at a language school costs.

Greet my cousins when you are in Orr Lake, Ont.

Cheers

i'm not familiar with "computer based" programs but i did buy a few Langenscheidt workbooks and CD, haven't made much progress though because it seems way too advanced for me (i bought them on ebay).

anyway, the more i think about this the more i am leaning towards Leipzig.. i really want to be there by May and start the 4 month beginner course at herder institut/interDaF. i searched interDaF website and for accommodation they seem to recommend dorm rooms that cost like 200 euros per month that you share with somebody. i know this is off-topic to my thread title but do you think it'd be better for me to go live in a dorm with people or find my own flat ( i am willing to pay <400 euros per month - ideally 300 euros).

p.s. poster above me: i have no idea where orr lake is, sorry! i thought i was ok with canadian geography by now but apparently not :\

Please don't get me wrong. I didn't want to prevent you from coming to Germany. I just thought it was a good and cheap idea in case you want to learn some German before you come here.

Orr Lake is a tiny town near Elmvale which is almost as tiny as Orr Lake and they're both about 40 km from Barrie.

So, how are you getting a visa to stay that long? PM me if you need advice on that part... lots of experience... ;-)

I got my ZD from the VHS where I live, and my German is awesome according to my German friends. There were all different levels in the class - I had zero knowledge when the course started. Our teacher was awesome, and the course only costed about 100 Euros per month. We used Berliner Platz from Langenscheid too, and it was a really good text book.

I also live in former East Germany, in a village where a very unusual thick dialekt is spoken - I think it's an advantage - I speak high German, but I understand the local dialekt, something that almost no "wessies" can do. :-) Pretty much no other Germans for that matter...

When I was in Leipzig for 3 days in September 2007, I found the people totally easy to understand, and very nice and friendly. That is the difference between a larger center in the former East, and the former West in my opinion. I find that the people in the former East are perhaps a little more down to earth, a little friendlier, and a little kinder. I might be biased, because I just like it here.

If you are thinking about staying longer, you might want to look around for a club - a Verein... If you get invited to join, it can be a great way to meet people... I was in one already, and this past week, I have branched out and joined 2 more. :-) Your level of integration you acheive depends on how much you want to plunge into German life and how lucky you are when it comes to meeting people. Maybe you used to sing in a choir back home? Maybe you belonged to your local church? Perhaps bowling?

Try wearing artsy or interesting jewelry to meet other girls in your age group. And when nice elderly people want to talk to you, don't brush them off - like someone else said, they often have time and like to teach people German on the fly. :-) I never turn anyone down in the street where I live when they want to chat. It was a hard adjustment after coming from a busy metropolis, where you try to avoid making eye contact at all costs and NEVER talk to a god-forsaken stranger if you can help it... After a life time of avoiding human contact out of self-preservation, this is a different experience.

I know a couple of really nice people who live in Leipzig if you want to know there is a relatively safe place for you to go out in the evenings - they have a little place in the old downtown... you can pm me if you like about this too.

Went to an awesome cabaret in Leipzig - there was a comedy troupe there - and even though my German at the time was only B1 level, I understood it, and laughed loads. I was so surprised by the universality of the humour...

There is noone where I live with whom I can speak English at a normal pace using my normal vocabulary - and this is ideal for learning German and plunging into German culture. Limit your time with English speakers if at all possible. But don't count on other foreigners to help you learn German. You need to hear it from German mouths...

You can check out the internet for German online learning - Deutsch Welle has an awesome little free course, and you might enjoy checking out this link for German pronunciation either at the beginning or later when you have a knowledge base. http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/#

Good luck in whatever you decide. For me, it was simple math - one year at private language school = 12,000 Euros for fewer hours of instruction versus one year at the Volkshochschule for 1200 Euros. Plus I got work teaching at the VHS as soon as my course was over...

I feel like I got the most awesome bargain in the world! :-)

And if you're a male try putting a sock down your trousers.

hundreds of rock stars can't be wrong... ;-)