How long to get really good at a language?

[XmisterIS]

I have been learning German on and off for a while now.

The trouble is that (a) I have too many other things to do (like posting on CC!) to be able to fully commit to it regularly and ( I don't live in a German-speaking country - so I hear and read English all the time - which doesn't lend itself well to learning German!

This summer, during the Uni holidays, I am thinking of going to Germany to stay there for a while to earn some pennies and also learn the language. I could go to the Sprachschule, but that will cost serious quantities of pennies, which I don't have.

So ... if I immerse myself in the culture and language and make the effort every day to learn by myself and from those around me - how quickly do you suppose I will be able to speak it competently?

Generally, I'm a "quick learner" when it comes to academic stuff.

 

[ColinJ]

Here's a suggestion - get yourself an old analogue satellite system, the sort that people used for SKY before it went digital. You can pick them up for virtually nothing now if you ask around. They receive all the main German TV channels so you can spend hours listening to German.

As a bonus - you can watch International Eurosport free in German or English and also watch cycle races that Eurosport doesn't cover on the German stations.

 

[Haitch]

Or listen to Geman radio. Try this link:

http://www.listenlive.eu/germany.html

 

[XmisterIS]

Thanks A and C, I do use listenlive, it is a great service. didn't know about the analogue receiver though!

 

[Hilldodger]

I watch loads of French films with subtitles and it's amazing how you slowly begin to pick up the language without realising it and rely on the subtitles less.

 

[Auntie Helen]

I did a month at a language school in 2007 (the Goethe Institut in Berlin) and it advanced me about the same as a year's study in this country, i.e. each year of my German at Uni has been about the same level of advance as that month in Berlin. I'm doing a month in Düsseldorf this summer to give me more of a boost as well. So intensive language courses are good, although they can be pricey as you mentioned.

The way that I've made real advances in the language, apart from official study at Uni, has been through visiting it on my own and making myself only speak German. I had a week in Munich a couple of weeks ago and the first four days spoke only German with various acquaintances I had there. It certainly helped, if being quite hard work. You also find you're speaking different stuff than you learn at school (i.e. I was having to describe how the music made me feel in various concerts I had attended - which is somewhat different to learning the vocabulary for hiring a car).

 

[Andy in Sig]

I have been learning German on and off for a while now.

The trouble is that (a) I have too many other things to do (like posting on CC!) to be able to fully commit to it regularly and ( I don't live in a German-speaking country - so I hear and read English all the time - which doesn't lend itself well to learning German!

This summer, during the Uni holidays, I am thinking of going to Germany to stay there for a while to earn some pennies and also learn the language. I could go to the Sprachschule, but that will cost serious quantities of pennies, which I don't have.

So ... if I immerse myself in the culture and language and make the effort every day to learn by myself and from those around me - how quickly do you suppose I will be able to speak it competently?

Generally, I'm a "quick learner" when it comes to academic stuff.

While stuck in the UK get yourself something like Der Spiegel or Stern, which you should have no trouble getting from a WH Smiths in one of the bigger towns and force yourself to translate some of the smaller articles and then with time, work your way up to the longer ones. It is also an idea to find stories which look like they will run for a few weeks as you can then pick up the vocabulary specific to a certain topic.

The other thing you can do is milk every contact you have got to get a job in the hols working on a farm or behind the bar in a pub etc. You'll pick up loads then. You could combine that with doing a bit of German for Foreigners at the local Volkshochschule (night school) as they are quite cheap.

 

[Yellow Fang]

I spent several years trying to learn French and German at night school in my 20s. I really worked quite hard at it. I used to get those Authentik papers and tapes (and the French equivalent) and work through the exercises. I eventually got A grades in some A/S levels, but I still never felt as though I was fluent. I came to the conclusion the only way to get better was either to live there or put in even more time studying it. I was interested in working abroad at the time, and I came to the conclusion that France and Germany already have plenty of people who can speak French and German, so if I wanted to work there, I should concentrate on my work skills, so I started studying electronics instead.

 

[Dayvo]

Total immersion is the 'fast-track' way of learning, preferably living with a family and avoid ALL means of anything non-German: TV, radio, newspapers, books, conversation etc.

I did the total immersion (although I went for the experience, not initially to learn the language) thing in Norway 25 years ago and only had things Norwegian around me. I developed a good vocabulary and accent, but my grammar was awful, but that comes with a more dedicated learning, which I got at uni 8 years later.

Good luck and have fun.

 

[Fnaar]

Some might make a distinction between acquisition and learning... you acquire what's around you if immersed in the culture, and learn what you study. A combination of both would no doubt be effective (depending on your aptitude for languages). Learn as many words and especially stock phrases as you can (e.g. in English: do you mind if.... is it OK if I.... how are you.... what's your name.... etc etc)

 

[Twenty Inch]

If your grammar is good and you know the difference between dative and genitive, and when to use them, then a few months in Germany without speaking any English will do you a lot of good. If your grammar isn't good you will come back speaking Spardeutsch, and it will be a waste of time.

 

[Fnaar]

you will come back speaking Spardeutsch, and it will be a waste of time.

Is that German as used in small supermarkets?

 

[Auntie Helen]

Or is it a German for those who like a bargain?

 

[WJHall]

On a practical point most newsagents are plugged into the same distributors, and can order almost anything you want on any reasonable schedule. I have Le Monde delivered weekly on Saturday only, which keeps me somewhat in touch with France, and continues to expand my vocabulary. This arrangement started 20 years ago with an independent suburban newsagent and has continued through the transfer of that business to a series of small supermarkets, and the transfer of the wholesaler business from Smiths to someone else.

Of course most newspapers have online editions, but perhaps having paid for it to come through the door creates an incentive to read it.

You need to choose an appropriate paper, I would not recommend Le Monde for a beginner. Which reminds me, being fairly fluent in French I had meant to start polishing my German by ordering a German paper on the same basis... any recommendations? Not too difficult but not a tabloid please.

While stuck in the UK get yourself something like Der Spiegel or Stern, which you should have no trouble getting from a WH Smiths in one of the bigger towns and force yourself to translate some of the smaller articles and then with time, work your way up to the longer ones. It is also an idea to find stories which look like they will run for a few weeks as you can then pick up the vocabulary specific to a certain topic.
......

 

[normgow]

Which reminds me, being fairly fluent in French I had meant to start polishing my German by ordering a German paper on the same basis... any recommendations? Not too difficult but not a tabloid please.

I would recommend "Suddeutsche Zeitung or Frankfurter Allgemeine"

both excellent papers for news , politics, culture and sport.