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Where in Germany to learn German? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Julie Heptaglot Senior Member PolandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6909 days ago 1251 posts - 1733 votes  5 sounds Speaks: Polish*, EnglishB2, GermanC2, SpanishB2, Dutch, Swedish, French | Message 9 of 35 29 April 2009 at 2:49am | IP Logged | ||
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First of all, I'm sure there was a thread about the very same topic one or two weeks ago.
What I think of the problem of German dialects is that it's easy to exaggerate here. It's really not that easy to have Germans speaking any dialect to you! Unless you're living in a small village or speak to older people only... I spent one month in Baden-Württemberg, including going to small towns too (although I admit, they were rather touristy) and I don't really remember anybody trying to talk dialect to me. Dialects are spoken at home mostly. Bavaria is probably the only place I wouldn't recommand. (And Switzerland but it's obvious.) (Austria is not a good choice either if someone wants to speak with German accent.) Now I speak Standard German with the South German accent - and I would never think it's better / worse than any other accent. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| ilcommunication Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6698 days ago 115 posts - 162 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Russian, Portuguese, Mandarin | Message 10 of 35 29 April 2009 at 7:23am | IP Logged | ||
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If you ask me, every German region dislikes at least a few other accents, so you're never going to please everyone. As far as learning in a school, it hardly matters because they're likely going to teach you standard Hochdeutsch anyway (and plus it's usually easier to "choose" an accent after you learn the standardized basics). If you can, though, find a region and accent you especially like and just imitate it (I happen to like the Bavarian accent because of the S's and R's, call me crazy).
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| portunhol Triglot Senior Member United States thelinguistblogger.w Joined 6258 days ago 198 posts - 299 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: German, Arabic (classical) | Message 11 of 35 29 April 2009 at 9:24am | IP Logged | ||
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This is something that I'm struggling just a little bit with at the moment since my German is approaching the intermediate stage where I really need to talk to people a lot to progress much. I think that it's important to pick a variety of a language to learn and then stick with it unless you have a very compelling reason not to. Later on, at an advanced level, the regional variations will matter less because you've got a feel for the language.
At a beginner's level, it's important to be as consistent as possible and mixing accents or dialects often ends up being confusing both to the learner and the listener. Personally, I am much more interested in interacting with those who speak very clear Hochdeustch because that is what I've been studying. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Sprachgenie Decaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5715 days ago 128 posts - 165 votes Speaks: German*, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Faroese, Icelandic, Flemish, Persian, Swiss-German Studies: English, Belarusian | Message 12 of 35 29 April 2009 at 3:29pm | IP Logged | ||
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Portunhol, your concerns are not at all unwarranted. If you plan to stay with a family you should talk to them on the phone first before deciding to stay there. You're completely right about how a dialect or accent can really confuse someone learning German. And you're going to want to be able to talk everyone where you live, including people at the supermarket, older people, and people your age who have differing educational backgrounds. Just restricting yourself to speaking with university students will impede your ability to integrate into German culture.
Another thing you should be wary of is that many Germans, especially in academic or professional settings speak good English (although not quite as well as Scandinavians) and will automatically switch to speaking English with you once they hear that you're an English speaker. The only way to prevent this is to speak better German than your conversation partner does English (which for most English speakers is not the case). I met an American guy here in Berlin who had studied German for 6 years in school and for 5 further years at the university (including 1 year study abroad in Köln) and he claimed he spoke fluent German. Although he could express himself to some extent, his German was significantly worse than the average (educated) German's English, so we kept reverting back to English with him because it was much easier to converse that way. Only after he told us did I realize how frustrated he was that people kept switching to English with him all the time. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| portunhol Triglot Senior Member United States thelinguistblogger.w Joined 6258 days ago 198 posts - 299 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: German, Arabic (classical) | Message 13 of 35 29 April 2009 at 5:19pm | IP Logged | ||
I've heard that about Germans. I usually do the same thing. If someone tries to speak to me in English and I can speak their language better I usually just speak to them in that language. It's mainly to facilitate communication. If I'm in a classroom setting or a language exchange I'll be more patient because the only way to get better is to push yourself. If the person's English is good and that's the language everyone in the group knows then I'll happily speak English with them. Maybe the American you mention never learned German properly because nobody would speak to him in the language enough for him to get good. It's tough because, on the one hand, he needed to practice in real-life settings enough to get better. On the other hand, it isn't the German people's responsibility to patiently sit and listen while someone butchers their language, especially if both parties speak English. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| crackpot Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 6307 days ago 144 posts - 178 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: Italian | Message 14 of 35 03 May 2009 at 4:14am | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks for your comments everyone. So are we in agreement? ;^) Somewhere in the band North Rhine-Westphalia/northern Hesse/southern Lower Saxony/Saxony-Anhalt?
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| Paramecium Tetraglot Groupie Germany Joined 5718 days ago 46 posts - 59 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Russian Studies: Japanese | Message 15 of 35 03 May 2009 at 11:07am | IP Logged | ||
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Yes, think this would be best.
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