Blog 2 von Oana

Speaking only in German: DeutschAkademie classes are German-only. The instructions and the explanations are all in German. Even during our breaks, we students speak in German. While this seems challenging at first, I found that after the initial difficulty, German got easier to understand. Our teacher encourages us to talk in whatever vocabulary we can at our level.

Studying languages requires a combination of both absorbing information through listening and reading, but also actively producing the language through writing and speaking. Speaking however, requires us students to overcome our embarrassment at making mistakes and to think on our feet as we solve language problems quickly to keep conversation going.

Helpful German speakers often switch to English immediately when we beginners try to speak. Sometimes this makes it hard to practice outside the class.

How to improve speaking in German? One thing I do in shops, for example, is that I might ask the shop clerk how I should properly pronounce the phrase in German next time. Or, if someone with a dog is waiting for the Ubahn, I might ask them if I can pet their dog. Then I ask them how I can ask that in German next time. Or I might ask what kind of dog they have and how to ask that in German.

Like anywhere in the world, dog lovers can always find things to talk about.

|f no one is behind you in line, practice your pastry pronunciation at the takeout counter.