NationStates Jolt Archive

Ok, a few months ago I married a lovely woman who happens to come from Germany. She really wants to move back home in the near future, and I'm quite happy to go along with her. The one problem I have: the language. I took two years of German in college, but that was nearly 15 years ago and I don't remember much of it at all. I've checked around, and there aren't any college or continuing education classes available, so I'm stuck to self-taught courses and learning from the wife.

Has anyone had any luck with computer courses? I just bought the Rosetta Stone program, but haven't used it much. Any other recommendations on how to improve proficiency? Any advice will be greatly appreciated!

The best way to learn any language is to immerse yourself in it, with a fluent buddy to help (which you have).
I also took about two years of high school German, and haven't used it in over a decade, but I can still remember structure and tenses, I just have absolutely no vocab.
I'm sure it wouldn't take me long to pick it all up again if I lived there. Which I have thought about doing recently...

One of the biggest problems I'm going to have is not only do I have to learn German, but also Schwaebisch - the regional dialect all her family speaks. She's promised to teach me the dialect as I re-learn the German, but it's not going to be easy...

I'd follow a two-pronged attack:
1) To do the basic things in life - buy a bread, say hi, thank someone, etc - you need only very limited set of expressions. Learn those and practise them with your wife. Using those once you get to Germany, most people will appreciate your effort, you'll feel much more welcome where you come and this will give you confidence.
2) Once you get those down, there's no option but to learn a lot of words and get an idea of the grammatical system. You can do that from a book as well as from a computer. Note that many Germans are hardly aware of the complexity of their inflections, genders etc.; try to work out the system, but don't let it worry you too much.

The rest is immersion. Living in a new country people can learn any language within a year or two, just as long as they care and get around. I spend a lot of time learning German in school, but I only got the hang of it years afterwards, when actually getting German friends and travelling there.
Try if there's vocal German music you like, perhaps some of the words will stick in your mind.

Dialects. I forgot about that aspect.
All I remember is my German teacher (who was German) telling us that the 'double-s' is harder (schei'tse) in the north and softer (scheize) in the south - yes, she used profanity to help us yoofs remember stuff, as long as we promised not to use it in exams :p
Actually made the classes a lot more fun, having a grey-haired 60yo teacher engaging in large amounts of swearing, even if other teachers were in the class. The non-German speakers had no idea, and the German speakers (ie other German teachers) thought it was hilarious.

It's even more difficult for this dialect - not only are things pronounced differently, they have different words for things as well. I'll have to get my German -> Schwaebisch dictionary to give examples though.

I have no fear about learning the profanity. When the wife gets angry, she switches to German... :D

I can tell you from experience that the greatest advancements in me learning English happened when I was living abroad and simply "had" to speak the language one way or another.

Vocab-work is important, from what you tell, you already have some basics down - you'd be amazed how much is stuck in your brains and just needs to be reactivated.

As for the Schwäbisch... Sorry, pal - can't help ya there: I speak Hochdeutsch and Hochdeutsch only. :p

Anyway, my advice would be taking courses when you're here - the Volkshochschulen are bound to offer them.

Alles Gute weiterhin!

We won't be moving over for at least two years (trying to position myself in a job that will move me over and pay for housing costs), so I have some time to get proficient before we move. Also, I'll most likely be working for the US government for 3-5 years in Germany. After that (there is a 5 year max for federal employees) I'll apply for citizenship and start looking for a job on the local economy. So I have plenty of time to get my proficiency back.

What I am worried about is the fact that I promised my wife's oma that I'd speak better German by our next trip over, which will likely come around New Years. Gotta get to work :)

What I am worried about is the fact that I promised my wife's oma that I'd speak better German by our next trip over, which will likely come around New Years. Gotta get to work :)
Maybe you should have a German weeks at home?

And never get tired of asking how to put things in German - that's how I learned English "over there"...

study it, and use it every chance you get, even if it is muttering under your breath.

I majored in Japanese Studies, and since I have never used it outside of class, my ability is shit.


(Hence I am planning to try and sign up for Geos and teach english over in Japan. Not required to speak the language, and I will be forced to use it when not teaching english ^_^)

Maybe you should have a German weeks at home?

And never get tired of asking how to put things in German - that's how I learned English "over there"...

We tried that - she loses patience with me trying to figure out what she's saying and just says it in English. I still try to respond in German though...

I really do think that it is more down to remembering the vocabulary and ironing out a few issues with word order in sentences though. Most of the grammar is still there somewhere...

We won't be moving over for at least two years (trying to position myself in a job that will move me over and pay for housing costs), so I have some time to get proficient before we move. Also, I'll most likely be working for the US government for 3-5 years in Germany. After that (there is a 5 year max for federal employees) I'll apply for citizenship and start looking for a job on the local economy. So I have plenty of time to get my proficiency back.

What I am worried about is the fact that I promised my wife's oma that I'd speak better German by our next trip over, which will likely come around New Years. Gotta get to work :)

You don't need to speak better German to interact successfully with her family, just speak English, but talk louder and slower every time they fail to understand you. It works for the English :D

You'll be amazed at how much is dormant in your memory -- my folks were vacationing in a hill town in Tuscany where the hotel staff at night did NOT speak English -- and somehow my rusty high school Italian came bubbling back up and I was able to get hold of them.

Start speaking German in the house with your wife. And I mean, everything from pass the salt to I love you. You'll relearn it faster than you think.

You don't need to speak better German to interact successfully with her family, just speak English, but talk louder and slower every time they fail to understand you. It works for the English :D

Hmm. That's an idea. But I think it would only work if I were wearing a shirt fashioned after the American flag, a BIG belt buckle, and cowboy boots...

:p

Ok, a few months ago I married a lovely woman who happens to come from Germany. She really wants to move back home in the near future, and I'm quite happy to go along with her. The one problem I have: the language. I took two years of German in college, but that was nearly 15 years ago and I don't remember much of it at all. I've checked around, and there aren't any college or continuing education classes available, so I'm stuck to self-taught courses and learning from the wife.

Has anyone had any luck with computer courses? I just bought the Rosetta Stone program, but haven't used it much. Any other recommendations on how to improve proficiency? Any advice will be greatly appreciated!

Don't worry about it too much, basic German is pretty easy (English being a Germanic language), also, remember that they make their children learn English in elementary school, so you should be fine with English and basic German until you get more and more proficient in German....

Don't worry about it too much, basic German is pretty easy (English being a Germanic language), also, remember that they make their children learn English in elementary school, so you should be fine with English and basic German until you get more and more proficient in German....

Yeah, most Germans (and most Europeans) speak English better than most Americans. However, I feel that I'm being extremely rude when I go to a country for an extended period of time and can't speak their language. Even when I went to the Scandinavian countries for a day each, I learned how to say key things in their language and learned enough to decipher the responses. If I'm going to be living in a country, I'm going to be at least moderately fluent in the language before I get there.

German was easy for me to learn the first time around. I've been having difficulty in finding a way to re-learn it though. The tutorial books just didn't seem to cut it - I'm hoping the Rosetta Stone does better (and for $300, it bloody well better!)