Believe it or not, a month has already passed by. This month has passed by very fast, probably because we all have been overwhelmed about the number of things to be done.

This was my second month in a row doing the course at the DeutschAkademie. I am pleased to see how much my brain has adapted to the language. Now I have started talking on my own with very simple phrases and words in German.

Today’s last topic was “should”, “would”, “could” and “might”. We went through some grammar rules and did some exercises such as translating, examples and speaking. Afterward, we talked about what we were able to do as kids or what we used to like.

Few little things that I have learned during these past months is that in order to improve you should really practice every day, learning new vocabulary every week and get familiar with the most common verbs and with a little bit of luck and effort you will be able to see results.

Hope you guys enjoyed my blog and hope that your learning process will be smooth!

Liebe grüße.

About what, on what, at what. A rough translation for an apparently easy topic but then we realized that is way trickier than it looks like. The differences are quite subtle and in English especially there is no specific translation for all of them.

After the first hour of going through grammar we started doing some exercises and did some translations as well. After that, we broke out into small rooms and asked each other some phrases using these 3 words.

Around half an hour before ending our class we also studied how to say “I am looking forward to see you”, “I am looking forward to go there”, “I have joy doing something” etc.

The lesson was quite intense, especially because we all had lots of questions about this new topic but finally, we managed to get the best out of it.

This afternoon I am going to go to the canal to have a walk with a friend of mine. Today it is such a spectacular day, yet glacial, but I want to catch some sun lights.

Have a nice evening and see you tomorrow for our last class!

Today it is the coldest day so far, but a bright sun is shining, so everybody is in a good mood. We started out our class with some adjective and words games. Then we broke out into small groups and pretended to call someone and wanting to book an appointment.

After that we started going through a new grammar topic which is reflexive verbs. That are pretty much verbs with additional pronouns that refer back to the subject. These pronouns are called reflexive pronouns.Then we did some exercise about that on the book. Afterwards all of us had to think about a reflexive verb, it was a useful and engaging activity.

Now the class is over, and I am about to go to have a walk along the Donau, hoping not to freeze.

Have a nice evening and see you tomorrow!

As a new lockdown started on Monday, unfortunately we were forced to suspend our in presence classes. The silver lining is that the DeutschAkademie is offering online classes, instead of going to the school, we just connect with our laptop and have our class via Zoom.

I have to admit that at the very beginning it was a little bit strage, we have been seeing each other for almost 2 months and now all of a sudden we have to see ourselves through a monitor, but there are no other options.

Our teacher was able to engage us by playing some games, using an interactive board and talking a lot.

We had to talk to each other in smaller rooms, that was very helpful to warm up a little bit. After this first hour and a half we went though the “Wenn..Dann..” again.

In the afternoon I stayed home because it was quite gloomy and cold so I took the advantage to study a bit, I found a very interesting word list and I am thinking about learning some every day!

Bis morgen!

Today was a beautiful day, a bright blue sky and a warm sun where dominating Vienna’s buildings. Going to school this morning was a pleasure.

At the same time, unfortunately, just as we got to school, we started talking about the lockdown that has started, and we were all giving our points of view on this situation (in Deutsch, obviously). I have to admit that all of us are reaching a good level of understanding and now we are all able to speak about simple topics and, most important, even if with multiple mistakes, we are able to express a thought and be understood. Thanks to all of the practice that we have been making.

After this first hour we did some telephone-type conversation, pretending that we had to order some food to go, or a cake or reserve a table and things like this.

Today’s class was both laid back and useful, now we will have to wait to some indications about the future.

Have a lovely weekend!

“Wenn ich Morgen Nachmittag Zeit habe, helfe ich dir.”

If I have time, if I want to go, if you don’t mind.

Conditional clauses – that was today’s topic. Our teacher explained us the grammar rule of the if clauses and how to use them, how to best understand them and find associations with English in order to better understand the logic.

It is quite easy, so after about 20 min explanation we immediately started to do some phrases, exercises and then spent around an hour speaking and conversating and imagining hypothetical scenarios, where we would use some if clauses. It was a very intense yet funny lesson.

After class I went to Turkenschanzpark, which I believe to be one of the most beautiful parks in Vienna. Lucky enough, while walking through some Christmas markets I was able to see a spectacular sunset while listening to a German podcast on Spotify about tips, grammar rules and how to improve your German, it is called “Coffee Break German”. I totally recommend it to boost your skills.

See you tomorrow!

Ruben

“Ich hätte gerne einen Kaffee und ein Croissant, und ich hätte gerne ein Schinkensandwich!”

Ordering food, one of the most important parts when it comes to learn a language. Indeed, it is said that if you can order food and can ask for directions, you will survive in every city that you will be living in, and that is so true!

Ordering food it is not particularly difficult but what one has to bear in mind is the genre of the food that you are ordering. Indeed it can either be eine, einen or ein, so one has to pay attention to that.

During today’s class we also pretended to be at the restaurant and ordering food, we played in couples where one was the customer and the other one was, obviously, the waiter. The funniest is that the customer always had to ask something a bit specific, maybe without spices, or with soy milch, or if there are any allergens, so that the conversation was a little bit more dynamic. I honestly found it very useful and practical.

After class I went home to have lunch then around the afternoon, I went to the Rathaus Christmas markets, it was so lavish! I loved it.

See you tomorrow!

Ruben

Today’s class was based on vocabulary, new words that we have learned and prepositions.

Even after few weeks of learning prepositions it’s still quite easy to get it wrong so that is the reason why we are still training on that and doing some exercises about how to best use prepositions. Indeed, one of the main games that we played was to locate objects into the rooms using all the prepositions that we have been learning so far, and also another game that was really funny was “Ich kann etwas sehen, was du nicht sehen kannst” that means “I can see something that you can’t see”, so everybody had to guess what was the object that the person was letting us trying to guess – the time really flew by!

About 10 minutes before the class ended, we decided to go for a little walk all together to see the Christmas markets, which here in Vienna are just spectacular! I am so excited about this season!

See you tomorrow!
Ruben

As you have probably guessed, that was today’s topic: Jobs, job postings, looking for a job, how to present yourself, which websites to use to find the perfect position and much more.

Austria is a very wealthy country that offers thousands of positions every day but it is not always easy to get in – mainly for the language. Indeed, one must have at least a B1 level to be considered a good candidate. That is what we are working for – to be competitive, acknowledged and be able to speak and understand enough to be independent.

Today we did plenty of exercises, translations and vocabulary. It was a very tough class, but we enjoyed having so much to do.

I had a lovely coffee pause. Outside it was quite gloomy and windy and during those few minutes I just relaxed, sipped my cappuccino, and looked outside at the beautiful buildings surrounding us.

Just as I got home, I had lunch, watched a series, and then reorganized all of my notes. I am realizing how important is to take good notes!

I wish you all a great start in the week!

Ruben

Don’t forget to set your alarm! Otherwise, you might get late… very late…! And that unfortunately happened to me today! Thank gosh our teacher M. is always so nice and welcoming that did not complain about my delay…

In any case, when I arrived today, we decided to change a little bit the situation. Since everybody was kinda sleepy, we started doing some conversation, talking about our past few days, what did we do, if we have already been to some Christmas markets and how is study going. A good hour went by conversating and at the end everybody was very happy.

After our little pause we then made some few more exercises about prepositions, allowances and some kind of riddle. I have to say that it was a very engaging nurturing yet easy going class today.

Now I just got home, about to go out for lunch to Plachutta, that if you guys don’t know it you have to go!! It’s a place to die for, it’s actually one of the most famous Viennese restaurant, very classic, chic and delicious. There are some but I would recommend the one next to StaddPark and do not forget to “einen Tisch reservieren”!

Have a nice day!

Ruben

And then hang, leave, put, lay, place and so on.

Very practical ways of indicating and telling someone where to put objects. That was today’s focus, using yesterday’s topic of the use of past verbs, we started doing exercises and talking to our classmates asking one to the other can you please put that pen over there, or can you place the book next to the bottle and so on. It was a very funny and dynamic activity, especially because we had to be very fast in remembering the names of the objects, their genre and the preposition, after 30 min we were all burnt, lol!.

After that we kept studying some irregular verbs and then almost 3 full pages of exercise! Today it really flew by! Now I am back home, today I am not doing anything specific because tomorrow I have a job interview, in English, not yet in German. I have to prepare for it, wish me luck and see you tomorrow!

Liebe Grüße,

Ruben