AlOlaf Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5149 days ago 491 posts - 617 votes Speaks: English*, GermanC2 Studies: Danish
| Message 9 of 14 28 December 2013 at 9:57pm | IP Logged |
jeff_lindqvist wrote:
Wow, that's a great video! Thanks! |
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Glad you like it. I know it’s pretty boring to watch if you’re not planning on ever taking the exam, but it certainly interested me when I was preparing for it. While I felt I could gauge my performance pretty well in the other three modules, I became desperate to know what they were looking for in the speaking module, what they considered good. The instructors did their best to simulate the exam conditions beforehand and gave us feedback during our mock presentations, but I had nothing and nobody to compare myself with until they told me about this video. It gave me something more or less tangible to shoot for and reduced my stress level considerably.
Someone pointed out in the comments that stage fright can cause you to make mistakes you normally wouldn’t make. I remember walking in for my speaking exam and seeing that it was the director of the institute and the head of the teaching program I’d be talking to. Up until that point, I didn’t think I was capable of being any more nervous. Now I felt like what I imagined Kennedy’s interpreter must have felt like during his “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech. What saved me was a few phrases I’d apparently repeated enough to go automatic, because they came out of my mouth on the several occasions my brain locked up due to performance anxiety.
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jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6910 days ago 4250 posts - 5711 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map
| Message 10 of 14 28 December 2013 at 11:51pm | IP Logged |
I've only watched a couple of minutes, but I was so impressed by his level of German. There are some similar videos for Irish - well, mock tests, really, but they're still quite useful when you want to get an idea about the level expected from you.
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Sunja Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6086 days ago 2020 posts - 2295 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Mandarin
| Message 11 of 14 18 January 2014 at 7:10pm | IP Logged |
If you (or anyone) consider the C1, try looking into the TestDaf. It's accepted as proof of German proficiency at the universities so I assume it's the most widely accepted certification. There's tons of study material. I remember the spoken portion of the TestDaf very well -- it deals themes like finding an apartment, discussing a lecture, applying for membership somewhere and other practical usage. With C1 you can do quite well most anywhere German proficiency is required. C2 is a must for those in academic circles. The C1 is about 175 euros and not as expensive as the C2. In Frankfurt the C2 is 295 euros (ouch). In Frankfurt the written/spoken portions of the C2 test are administered two days apart! That's not cool for commuters like me :( I don't know how the test is set up in Chicago.
My experience with Goethe's C2 doesn't really qualify for much since I took a C2 Online-Test-Prep back when The Großes Deutsches Sprachdiplom was offered along with the Kleines Deutsches Sprachdiplom, both co-adminstered by the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich. I was required to read 4 books from a list offering specialization in either science or economics. For the test, I was allowed to answer questions on two of my books. I remember one of the books was "Zukunft mit Maß" from W.Schäuble. Another was "Die rote Herzogin Das ungewöhnliche Leben der Tochter des Kronprinzen Rudolf". All very academic titles. I had to write complicated essays that were graded by one of the German professors at the university. I was graded not only on how well I could use the German language, but also how well I could write. I never made it to the test but taking the prep-course was enough to make me reconsider whether I really REALLY need the C2! C1 suits me just fine^^
PS: the C2 test has changed since I took my class.
For those interested in the TestDaF, here's listening exercises
Edited by Sunja on 19 January 2014 at 2:37pm
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QiuJP Triglot Senior Member Singapore Joined 5856 days ago 428 posts - 597 votes Speaks: Mandarin*, EnglishC2, French Studies: Czech, GermanB1, Russian, Japanese
| Message 12 of 14 20 January 2014 at 5:02pm | IP Logged |
Wow, the German C2 test is certainly very difficult and requires high level of command of academic German, based on the replies posted here.
I wonder if the tests of other languages (I am interested in Russian, French and Croatian)are similar, in terms of format, the academic knowledge and the level of culture understanding.
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patrickwilken Senior Member Germany radiant-flux.net Joined 4534 days ago 1546 posts - 3200 votes Studies: German
| Message 13 of 14 20 January 2014 at 7:31pm | IP Logged |
Wow. This C2 discussion has made me completely give up on the idea of going for any sort of test in the next 5-10 years. :)
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Sunja Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6086 days ago 2020 posts - 2295 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Mandarin
| Message 14 of 14 20 January 2014 at 8:41pm | IP Logged |
Here's a current C2 Modellsatz/mock exam.
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