You get more credibility and acceptance if you speak less often, but with a fantastic accent, than if you speak a lot with a terrible one. I call this trap the Bookworm’s Ruin, because after they learn a terrible accent, there is no amount of book-learning that can reverse the level of alienation you feel from confused native German speakers when they can’t understand you. I know people who start book-learning German too early or simply do not pay careful attention to how sounds are pronounced. That appreciation of your effort is something that keeps you motivated to keep studying. Will also increase your confidence because people will appreciate your accent. Being able to understand and reproduce sounds atĪ near-native level will save you a lot of heartache and misunderstanding, and But please start by learning how German sounds like fromĪ native speaker. A1 is the level where doing almost anything is going to improve your I read those books for you and left them out of these recommendations. It’s not worth struggling through dumb stories just to pick up some basic words. Although the language in kid’s material is simple and can be useful, as an adult you’ll likely find the material too childish to hold your motivation. For most people, passing a German C1 exam is a good enough vote of confidence for yourself and your employer.įinal note: This article is meant for adults, not children. You need a C2 certification to teach at a school in Germany, in German. Has German courses (in tech there are often English-only programs in which case You need a C1 to study at a German university if the program If you immigrate to Germany as the spouse of a German, you need proof ofĪn A1-level ability in German – but if you have a university degree, you areĮxempted. Language proficiency levels, and ranges from A1 at the beginner level, to C2 at I’ve attempted to review every kind of material that I have usedĪlong the way, organized by CEFR level. Update: I received my Großes Deutsches Sprachdiplom (GDS), the highest-level (C2) German-language exam offered to foreigners, in April 2018 in Berlin. There are tons of learning methods and materials out there, so I hope this article helps you spend your time wisely. This post is for you German learners out there who have asked me for help getting started or becoming more advanced. German was neverĪ particular goal of mine to learn, and I hardly have any career pressure to learn German, since I’m in tech, where the lingua franca is English (ha!).īut for my own sense of accomplishment and to be able to integrate better – hey, I live here now! – I have spent a lot of time learning the language.
Live in Germany, married to a native German speaker. I’ve been learning German for a few years as a foreigner, and now
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