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How to get Germans to speak German to you | ||
Tags: Convincing native speakers | German | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Astrophel Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 5677 days ago 157 posts - 345 votes  Speaks: English*, Latin, German, Spanish Studies: Russian, Cantonese, Polish, Sanskrit, Cherokee | Message 1 of 51 16 February 2014 at 4:58am | IP Logged | ||
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Hi, I've seen a lot of posts complaining about how difficult it is to practice German when you're at an intermediate level, and that Germans will often switch to English on you and never let you practice. While I've certainly observed this with others, I've not had too much difficulty with it myself, and I thought I'd share what works for me.
First, many Germans will switch at the first sign that you're having trouble understanding or if you make even small mistakes, so this means that your priorities as an intermediate learner should emphasize listening comprehension above all else. When speaking, use only those structures you have thoroughly mastered. Don't misunderstand me and become overly self-conscious and afraid of making mistakes - use only simple language at first so you can speak with confidence. There are some languages where natives (in general) will encourage you to speak and compliment your abilities no matter how many mistakes you make, but German is not one of these. the most important thing is speaking confidently and well, even if simply, or they will switch. A good way to build up your ability to do this is by copying down sentences and structures from your listening comprehension exercises and then using them to construct sentences of your own. Then read them out loud to yourself, and you will be better able to use them when speaking in the future. Once you're B2-C1, where your German is almost as good as their English but still not quite, I've found this line works like a charm: German: [switches to English] You: Oh, your English is so good! Much better than my German. I still need to practice more - we don't get so many opportunities in my country. This is simple and direct, and you're complimenting them. Obviously, only say this if their English is ACTUALLY very good already and they really don't need practice. Be a friend, not a manipulative jerk. But oftentimes you can say this with 100% sincerity and Germans tend to respect both the politeness and honesty of that statement and will stick to German with you - provided you don't make a ton of mistakes and frustrate attempts at conversation. I've seriously only had one German friend *ever* who adamantly insists on English with me after I've said this. 12 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Falkenstein Triglot Newbie Germany Joined 3868 days ago 20 posts - 38 votes Speaks: German*, EnglishC2, Modern Hebrew Studies: French, Mandarin | Message 2 of 51 14 March 2014 at 10:45pm | IP Logged | ||
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Even if you're not C1 you can still tell everyone to speak German instead of English. I don't think anyone
will complain or think it's rude. Not at all. Just say you're learning German and that's it. You will only have this issue with above-average educated individuals anyway. I feel like people overestimate the average English proficiency in Germany. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Bao Diglot Senior Member Germany tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5 Joined 5711 days ago 2256 posts - 4046 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin | Message 3 of 51 15 March 2014 at 12:01am | IP Logged | ||
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Much easier, say some variant of: I am glad that you want to help me out, but I really like learning your language and even though I sometimes struggle with it, I hope you'll be willing to talk to me in German.
Most Germans I know value straightforward honesty over flattery. (And I would perceive your charm as flattery rather than as a sincere statement. Even if it is true you obviously use the compliment to make the other person do something for you.) And, if you play the humble but eager learner you don't need to be at such a high level for it to work, nor does your partner need to have very good English for you to come across as sincere. I also think it doesn't matter if the other person sometimes switches to English when their English is better than your German, when they believe it's easier to talk about a certain topic in English, or when they also want to get a bit of language practice out of your conversation. Just talk about the topic in English, and when the conversation shifts to the next topic switch back to German. Or if it's an explanation, ask 'and how would you say that in German' when they finish. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7150 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 4 of 51 15 March 2014 at 12:31am | IP Logged | ||
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Sprechen Sie Deutsch? Edited by luke on 15 March 2014 at 12:40am 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4652 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 5 of 51 15 March 2014 at 10:06am | IP Logged | ||
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WORK ON YOUR R SOUND
6 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| beano Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4567 days ago 1049 posts - 2152 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian | Message 6 of 51 15 March 2014 at 10:08am | IP Logged | ||
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Go to Germany and speak German. That's what I did.
Most Germans are nowhere near C1 in English. I don't mean this disrespectfully, it's just the way it is among the general population of a huge country. Edited by beano on 15 March 2014 at 10:12am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5279 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 7 of 51 15 March 2014 at 3:26pm | IP Logged | ||
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My trick- which probably doesn't work anymore - was to go to the "Neue Bundesländer" where people had
had less practise speaking English, and were more likely to be happy that you spoke enough German to communicate. Otherwise, I find that there is a big difference as to where you meet people. Someone working at a reception at a big international hotel in Berlin will immediately speak English at the mere hint of foreignness. Someone out walking their dog in a little village would be in a more German frame of mind, and would tolerate a lot of mistakes before he would switch to English. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| beano Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4567 days ago 1049 posts - 2152 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian | Message 8 of 51 15 March 2014 at 3:38pm | IP Logged | ||
I don't think it's quite as cut and dried as that. I spoke a lot of German in large hotels and at airports - places where the staff need good English to get the job in the first pace - when I was still at lower-intermediate level. On nearly every occasion, the people were perfectly happy to engage. I think it's a lot to do with how you project yourself. If you sound confident, are friendly and respectful, have reasonable pronunciation, speak without stuttering and have a bank of useful filler phrases on hand, people will speak with you. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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