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| - | German (''Deustch'', pronounced doitch) is the second largest of the Germanic languages, after English, and belongs to the three most learned languages in the world. It is spoken by more than 130 million people in 38 countries—mainly Germany, Austria and Switzerland—and thus belongs to the top ten most spoken languages in the world.
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| | + | This wiki has moved to <font style="font-size:150%">'''http://www.foreignliving.info'''</font>. Please update your bookmarks. |
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| - | ==Is there a need to learn German?==
| + | You can locate the current page under the same categories on the new site. In case of problems, email help[[image:at_black.png]]foreignliving.info. |
| - | When planning to move to a German-speaking country, the need to have a basic understanding of the language differs from city to city and the purpose of your stay. In large international cities, such as [[Berlin]] or [[Frankfurt]], most people speak or at least understand English. This can be sharply contrasted to smaller cities such as [[Saarbruecken]] where English is rarely spoken and seldom understood outside of academic circles, not even in the visa office (Auslaenderbehoerde). In such circumstances it is indispensable to have a working knowledge of the German language, at least to the extend of making yourself understood and making sense of what the other person wants from you.
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| - | While most routine tasks, such as shopping or travelling by bus, can be managed without any exchange of words, a simple question from the cashier or bus driver can leave you completely stumped and unable to communicate or even understand what's going on (he/she may only have said "have a nice weekend").
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| - | Even in [[German Universities|German Universities with English Programmes]], it is not uncommon for all administrative tasks to be carried out in German only, since English programmes are a rarity in German universities, and students enrolled in them make up only a tiny fraction of the student population. This makes non-German-speaking students dependent on official help to register for the semester, getting membership for the cafeteria and for other administrative processes. Non-university documents such as the contract for your apartment, bank account, telephone line etc. are of course in German only.
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| - | In view of this it is highly recommended to have a working knowledge of the language before arriving in the country. Working knowledge goes further than memorising typical questions. Although a good idea in principle, the utility of such a technique is severly limited, since the person responding generally does not restrict himself to the handful of vocabulary you are familiar with. According to the experience of one student, his flawlessly constructed question asking for directions to the loo was met by a barrage of alien words fired out at full speed.
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| - | ==Learning German==
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| - | The German language has a complicated grammar and is not an easy language to learn. However, don't let that deter you, since there are a lot of excellent resources that can take you step by step through the process, often free of cost.
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| - | ===Free Resources on the Web===
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| - | [http://www.dw-world.de/dw/0,2142,2547,00.html| German courses at Deustche Welle] An excellent and highly recommended resource for beginners. Contains various language courses, from [http://www.dw-world.de/dw/0,2142,2548,00.html beginners' courses] to [http://www.dw-world.de/dw/0,2142,2555,00.html workplace usage]. The courses are free, presented as 15-minute radio-programmes following the adventures of a set of characters. Complexity is introduced very gradually, with emphasis on listening and absorbing the new language rather than jumping into the grammatical nitty-gritties.
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| - | [http://german.about.com German Language at About.com]
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| - | This free website contains a vast archive, and you can sign up for a free weekly newsletter (in English), which often discusses current events. Also contains audio samples. Very useful for looking up individual articles, but for an extended course, other sites such as Deustche-welle are better.
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| - | [http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/German Wikibooks] The online book available at Wikibooks. Someone who has used this resource should post a review here.
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| - | ===Books===
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| - | [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/270051050X/sr=1-1/qid=1138912615/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-8427019-4163354?%5Fencoding=UTF8 Assimil German with Ease] Unlike standard books that begin with grammatical rules, German with Ease follows the ''Assimil'' way of letting the user assimilate the language, first by understanding small dialogues and unconsciously assimilating the rules, and later by being able to translate from German back into English. The book is based on around 100 small conversation-based lessons (one per day), each requiring 20-30 minutes. The book is very readable, the lessons are interesting, the methodology is very effective (especially when accompanied with the audio CDs) but is also very expensive.
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| - | ===German courses in your home country===
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| - | Be wary of enrolling in any beginner's course that aims to use German itself as the medium of instruction, or uses a book that is written completely in German. Such methodologies can be very problematic for the beginner, since the language is what he does ''not'' know in the first place. Experience shows that many students feel hesitant to repeatedly ask or raise questions when they do not understand nearly anything, and as a result drift into a passive mode, simply ignoring what they don't understand.
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| - | It is much better to find a course that attempts you to explain things in your native language, or in a language that you know. If you don't even understand the textbook's instructions written in German, your pace of learning will be seriously affected.
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| - | Additionally many courses offered in Pakistan do not expose the student to spoken German (as spoken by the natives) till the very end of the approximately 6-week course. It is at that time that the student realises he doesn't understand a word of spoken German. If, after having taken such a course, you cannot tell if a train announcement just announced your stop or not (which the author of this paragraph could not), consider your time and money poorly spent. Therefore, it is highly recommended to use one of the audio courses freely available on the internet, if only as support material.
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| - | You can enroll for a language course in the following places:
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| - | * Defence Library/Goethe Zentrum, Lahore ('''not''' Goethe Institute)
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| - | : duration: roughly 6 weeks
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| - | : provides certificate: yes
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| - | : participants' rating: mediocre (1 vote)
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| - | : instructor: Amir Rafique
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| - | * Goethe Institute
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| - | : duration:
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| - | : participants' feedback:
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| - | ==If you don't speak any German==
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| - | If you find yourself in a German-speaking locality with little or no knowledge of the language, the following recommendations, which are based on people's experiences, may be helpful to you:
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| - | *Many times it's best not to beat around the bush and ask out flatly if the other person can speak English. Many people who know just enough to make themselves understood hesitate to switch to English to avoid making a fool of themselves (the very reason you might want to avoid switching to German).
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| - | *An even better idea may be to simply start off in English pretending you fully expect the other person to understand. This works well to jumpstart many who otherwise would have declined to speak in English when asked. Shop attendants in particular are known to stumble on even in broken English when caught off-guard like this.
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| - | *If you do ask the other person, asking "Do you speak English?" is known to be more successful than asking the same thing as "Sprechen Sie Englisch?". After all, how would you respond to a person who asks you in Urdu "Kya aap farsi boltay hain? Mujhe urdu nahi ati." If you know enough to ask that, you might be expected to know enough to stumble on a bit further, especially since it's mostly going to be you who needs something from the other person.
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You can locate the current page under the same categories on the new site. In case of problems, email help
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