Before
I landed in Germany I was told that everybody in Germany can speak
English and you don't need to learn German. My parents were convinced
that the German language question was not so important for living in
Germany.
When I landed in Hamburg I was in for a big surprise. Everything was in
German. Hardly anybody could or wanted to speak English. The lady at
the store or the gentleman at the railway ticket counter didn't have a
clue about speaking English. Now I had no choice: I had to learn
German. But how to learn German quickly?
I enrolled myself in a German language school. The teachers were good
and the monthly fee was hefty. We used the book 'Deutsche Sprachlehre
für Ausländer' by 'Schulz' and 'Griesbach'. Till date it remains one of
the finest books for learning German. I also attended classes at the
Hamburg
University because one semester of attendance in German lectures was
mandatory and you had to take an exam as soon as possible before
starting your actual studies. Most of the
time it was like sitting in a cafe. Everybody was keen to make friends
than learn German including our German professor. There were people
from all over the world and one German teacher. To cut a long story
short: the situation was serious and I was learning German the whole
day! I was good in German in about six months although I must say the
best German I learnt was through interaction with people in Germany:
teachers, friends, neighbours, etc.
And today? Well many Germans speak English. Germany offers courses
through English. But without a good knowledge of the German language
you'll still feel like a fish out of water in Germany. So whether you are travelling in a German
speaking country, studying there or doing business, you still need to
learn German - both written and spoken.
What and how should you learn German. The most important learning
aspect of any language is vocabulary. You should learn at least 2-5
words every day. In case of nouns you need to learn the article with
the noun. For example, just don't learn 'Haus' for 'house' but 'das
Haus' for 'the house' or 'Frau' for 'woman' but 'die Frau' and 'der
Tisch' for 'table'. All nouns in German are masculine, feminine or
neuter. Also learn the
plural of nouns. Soon you'll know why this is important while learning German.
Now because German is spoken as it is written it's quite easy to
pronounce. But you still need to learn how to speak well. Therefore
listening to audio files or radio or TV programs or watching videos on
youtube can definitely help to speed up the process of learning spoken
German.
How fast can you learn German? Many people ask this question but there
can be no straight-forward answer. I can only say: If you are hungry to
learn German you'll learn it faster!
If you need online help you can send a message through the contact form
below.
Let's start learning German!
