Register  Login  Active Topics  Maps  

Will I ever be fluent?

  Tags: Fluency | Links | Italian | German
 Language Learning Forum : Questions About Your Target Languages Post Reply
17 messages over 3 pages: 1 2 3  Next >>
Jordaan
Newbie
United States
Joined 5650 days ago
4 posts - 4 votes
Studies: English*

 
 Message 1 of 17
14 June 2009 at 10:19pm | IP Logged 
Ok, so i've been learning German for five years now, and since there is hardly anyone who speaks German where I
live and I can't go to Europe every few months to practice. I consider myself able to get around and have a short
conversation in German.

What bothers me is it's been five years! people are fluent by then and I still in a way consider myself hardly beyond beginner and I got a reality check yesterday as my friend and I were messing around with our iphones and he
knows Spanish fluently as he is from Puerto Rico and I put my phone in German and he put his in Spanish, and he
said "oh i'll put mine in a language I can actually understand fluently" and that kind of struck me as "wow". I feel
like I don't know if i'll ever be fluent, there is no way to practice here. I kind of don't know what to do :(

I actually recently have been wanting to study Arabic but feel as though I should "finish" German first. I don't know
what to do. siiiigh
1 person has voted this message useful



TheBiscuit
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Mexico
Joined 5931 days ago
532 posts - 619 votes 
Speaks: English*, French, Spanish, Italian
Studies: German, Croatian

 
 Message 2 of 17
14 June 2009 at 10:31pm | IP Logged 
Why did you learn German? I think there has to be some goal or point to it or necessity - self-created or otherwise - so that you can get some idea of where you are and what you want to achieve.
1 person has voted this message useful



Chrisd44
Newbie
United States
Joined 5650 days ago
1 posts - 1 votes
Speaks: English*

 
 Message 3 of 17
14 June 2009 at 10:50pm | IP Logged 
Google up fsi language and go to the German course. It will hurt your pride as youll have to repeat exercises 20 or
30 times, but youll learn to speak it at speed and with proper idiom. You only have to be willing to do the tapes a
huge number of times, and it will work, no question.
1 person has voted this message useful



Jordaan
Newbie
United States
Joined 5650 days ago
4 posts - 4 votes
Studies: English*

 
 Message 4 of 17
14 June 2009 at 10:50pm | IP Logged 
TheBiscuit wrote:
Why did you learn German? I think there has to be some goal or point to it or necessity - self-created or otherwise - so that you can get some idea of where you are and what you want to achieve.


I got very into it way back when and decided I wanted to learn it. Actually when I first started the reason was literally "it looks cool" that then morphed into "Well I want to study in Germany" and so on. That's not the case anymore really, and to be truthful it's now just "it'd be cool to be fluent in German" It's just disheartening knowing I'm not going anywhere with it.

Edited by Jordaan on 14 June 2009 at 10:55pm
1 person has voted this message useful



legasp
Newbie
Ireland
Joined 5681 days ago
23 posts - 21 votes
Speaks: English*
Studies: German, Greek, Ancient Greek

 
 Message 5 of 17
14 June 2009 at 10:52pm | IP Logged 
Jordaan wrote:

What bothers me is it's been five years! people are fluent by then and I still in a way consider myself hardly beyond beginner and I got a reality check yesterday as my friend and I were messing around with our iphones and he
knows Spanish fluently as he is from Puerto Rico and I put my phone in German and he put his in Spanish, and he
said "oh i'll put mine in a language I can actually understand fluently" and that kind of struck me as "wow". I feel
like I don't know if i'll ever be fluent, there is no way to practice here. I kind of don't know what to do :(


What methods do you use? How much daily time do you put into it?

If you need to talk in German get skype and exhange conversation with a German who wants to learn English. If you live in the US seek out Germans in colleges, Universities or immigrants.

5 years is quite long, but German is quite difficult. I started 2 years ago, and had a couple of false starts, but sustained effort has helped a lot.
1 person has voted this message useful



Jordaan
Newbie
United States
Joined 5650 days ago
4 posts - 4 votes
Studies: English*

 
 Message 6 of 17
14 June 2009 at 11:00pm | IP Logged 
legasp wrote:
Jordaan wrote:

What bothers me is it's been five years! people are fluent by then and I still in a way consider myself hardly beyond beginner and I got a reality check yesterday as my friend and I were messing around with our iphones and he
knows Spanish fluently as he is from Puerto Rico and I put my phone in German and he put his in Spanish, and he
said "oh i'll put mine in a language I can actually understand fluently" and that kind of struck me as "wow". I feel
like I don't know if i'll ever be fluent, there is no way to practice here. I kind of don't know what to do :(


What methods do you use? How much daily time do you put into it?

If you need to talk in German get skype and exhange conversation with a German who wants to learn English. If you live in the US seek out Germans in colleges, Universities or immigrants.

5 years is quite long, but German is quite difficult. I started 2 years ago, and had a couple of false starts, but sustained effort has helped a lot.



I have tried pretty much everything, Tapes, CD's, podcasts, books, a few fluent speakers but had very very short sessions. I feel as though the only way is being in Germany for months maybe even a couple of years. Where i'm just immersed in it. Not that much daily time is spent on it. Should I devote a couple of hours everyday?
1 person has voted this message useful



Jordaan
Newbie
United States
Joined 5650 days ago
4 posts - 4 votes
Studies: English*

 
 Message 7 of 17
14 June 2009 at 11:01pm | IP Logged 
Chrisd44 wrote:
Google up fsi language and go to the German course. It will hurt your pride as youll have to repeat exercises 20 or
30 times, but youll learn to speak it at speed and with proper idiom. You only have to be willing to do the tapes a
huge number of times, and it will work, no question.


Awesome, thanks!
1 person has voted this message useful



legasp
Newbie
Ireland
Joined 5681 days ago
23 posts - 21 votes
Speaks: English*
Studies: German, Greek, Ancient Greek

 
 Message 8 of 17
14 June 2009 at 11:04pm | IP Logged 
Jordaan wrote:

I have tried pretty much everything, Tapes, CD's, podcasts, books, a few fluent speakers but had very very short sessions. I feel as though the only way is being in Germany for months maybe even a couple of years. Where i'm just immersed in it. Not that much daily time is spent on it. Should I devote a couple of hours everyday?


If you are serious with German you'll need to do minimum 2 hours a day using 1-3 programs and supplement that with movies and cds for comprehension. German is a structured languages that needs constant, daily reinforcing. Its hard work, but worth it.

E.G. Michel Thomas Basic for an hour, Pimsleur a lesson a day, and Assimil one lesson a day. It'll take two hours, but even after a week of this you'll be able to hold a basic German conversation. This is my method and I now have a German girlfriend and can converse to a basic level, but a language always requires more work. You never truly master a language.


1 person has voted this message useful



This discussion contains 17 messages over 3 pages: 1 2 3  Next >>


Post ReplyPost New Topic Printable version Printable version

You cannot post new topics in this forum - You cannot reply to topics in this forum - You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum - You cannot create polls in this forum - You cannot vote in polls in this forum


This page was generated in 0.4531 seconds.


DHTML Menu By Milonic JavaScript
Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved
No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization.