Learning German In Germany

Fleeing the "tyranny" of a heavily monolingual culture in pursuit of an additional language is not a new thing. It's bound up with the adage the best way to learn a language is in a country that speaks the language. In other words: learning German in Germany is the way to go.

There are arguments for and against this. Most language learners get curious anyway - sometimes curious enough to sell their house, dump the rest in a forty-foot storage container in Bendigo, do an English-teaching course to earn a living, and give it a try.

"Why?" - the question I get asked most

It might not seem that crazy. But to many people back home, it does. Australia is a multicultural country, but additional language acquisition is generally treated with polite concern, sometimes outright bafflement.

When you tell someone you're learning German - or French, or any language - the most common response, after a brief widening of eyes, is: "Why?"

If you respond with "I'm learning German in Germany to further my career opportunities", at least you'll be vaguely understood. If you say anything else - "because of my love of Goethe and Schiller and Hesse and Grass" - prepare for incomprehension.

An additional language is treated as a tool of commerce. If England is a nation of shopkeepers (as Napoleon may or may not have said), then English-speakers want additional languages as a window display, or maybe a new exotic shelf to stock Continental goods.

It's not real tyranny, of course. Nor is it being a real refugee. But each language is its own refuge. And as (maybe-German) Charlemagne (maybe) said: to have a second language is to have a second soul.

The intermediate plateau

I had been learning German for around a year and making progress. I felt good. I could follow along in Babylon Berlin with the German closed captions running as a crutch.

Then I turned the closed captions off. It was like I had learned not much at all. I was on what's called the Intermediate Plateau - that long flat where progress stalls and grammar that should be automatic still requires conscious effort.

So the adage above came back into play. The best way to learn a language...

The first three weeks

So how has my approach to learning German in Germany worked so far?

For the first three weeks or so, my system collapsed. Habit-based learning works when your environment is stable. Mine wasn't. Moving so far, landing somewhere both similar and different, being feted by new friends, new family - the joy and sense of wonder is overwhelming. Your learning habits get torn to pieces. The Intermediate Plateau becomes a ditch.

There are graphs available charting Culture Shock as a result of moving abroad. They're useful, but how much they apply depends on how much in-country support you receive. There's probably a sweet spot between not enough and too much. You're unlikely to get a clear glimpse of it.

Once you settle

You'll need to rebuild the habits and get them back into your routine, despite everything around you seeming anything but normal. The huge advantage: you have access to a whole country of native speakers, and they're happy to help.

Even the infamous DHL Express delivery driver might correct a poorly conjugated verb briefly before almost falling down the stairs trying to fulfil his horrific articles-per-kilometre quota.

Why immersion alone is overrated

The immersion effect is overrated, at least for the Intermediate Plateau sufferer. The "best way to learn a language" adage gets caught up in a Philosopher's Stone-style magical process. Whether you're learning German in Germany or not, the German language won't be absorbed through the pores of your skin.

You need a degree of comprehensible input. You learn to value old people speaking - they speak more slowly and clearly. Women tend to speak faster than men but more clearly; men more slowly but less clearly. And, strangely, it seems harder to access closed captions in Germany than in Australia.

Active listening is the actual lever

What you get out of immersion depends on developing on-the-spot active listening. It's through active listening that the adage starts to make sense. My curiosity remains. It has sharpened, if anything.

Wer nicht wagt, der nicht gewinnt. (Nothing ventured, nothing gained.)

If you want to prepare properly so you can actually benefit from learning German in Germany, have a look at Michael's online German courses.

- Written by Jeremy Davis