| I've lived in Germany before, and my advice is to try to speak and listen to the language as much as you possibly can. Don't know the word for something in German? Just throw in the English word and say the rest in German. Will the person you are talking to understand what you are saying? Sometimes they will and sometimes they won't. The point is to try to speak as much German as you possibly can. I found it helpful to make a list of words I needed to say, but couldn't. Then I'd look them up and put them on flash cards until I learned them. Pay attention to the words other people are using when they speak to you. Sometimes you'll catch on to what the word mean without having to look them up and other time you'll need to look them up. I learned so much just from listening to other people. When you're speaking German (or any other language you're learning), you will make mistakes and you will feel like a fool. The most important part is to not let that stop you. Keep making mistakes and keep making stupid blunders, and learn from those mistakes. Anyone who isn't afraid to make mistakes and look stupid will learn a lot faster than someone who is. I was talking to some German students who were recounting some particularly embarrassing language mistakes an American exchange student had made. They did think it was pretty funny, but they also really liked and respected him for trying really hard to speak German, even if he did make mistakes. This same student eventually ended up speaking very good German, and I'm pretty sure it was because he was willing to continue trying despite making lots of mistakes. |