General Discussion

How many fluent german speakers are there on FR?

I most certainly cannot and I'm beginning lessons soon. I love the way German sounds, and it's different enough from English that I don't get hopelessly mixed up. I understand that it'll be difficult but I think that's the case with any language. I was just curious and was wondering you had any advice for beginners. (It would be interesting to hear if your learned it or it's your native language, but I can understand if that makes you uncomfortable answering that.)

@BloodyAngel12

Native speaker here. So I can't really give tips beside the 'normal' ones for new languages: try to find some speakers in your region (or on skype/whatever) and speak it as often as you can.

I'd be hugely interested what your teacher will be like. XD If they are native too you might get to learn some dialekt too - germany has many of those and I find that they always come through when germans try to speak english (cause mixing up similar words happens and you'll speak them like you learned them).

Otherwise you might be surprised when speaking to a native speaker - depending on the region they come from and how easy they want to make it for you XD

Hey! German is my first language but sadly I've gotten really out of practice with it. My family moved to Canada when I was like 4 so I never got to learn how to write/spell/read in German, I had to teach myself by reading some childhood books my parents brought with us after I learned to read in English. I was fluent in speaking both German and English by the time I learned to read though so it wasn't too hard. I'm an adult now and even though we usually speak German at home I've really started to loose my hold on the language, only speaking with 3 other people and my relatives when we visit for a couple weeks once a year isn't really enough practice I guess.

I visited Germany alone a couple months back to take an intensive German language course and learn stuff like not mixing up 'e' or 'i' in words (which i used to struggle with a lot when writing) and noun capitalization which i wasn't used to using haha. It really helped and I ended up doing my C1 certification just to prove I could do it.

I wish I could give you guys some tips but since I learned it as my first language I'm not quite sure how to help.

@Ismaiel

Might I ask what dialekt is?

Thank you for the advice! As scary as struggling with how to speak with people in german, once I learn more and get a hold on it, i will definitely try.

@Dani94

I've been doing some of Duolingo as well, and classes will be expensive but once I get most of my finals done and figure out my schedule, i hope to find something good. May I ask what drove you to learn this language versus some of the "more spoken" languages such as French, Spanish, or italian? (That's stuff people are constantly asking me. Why learn German, why not etc etc etc? I'm curious to see what draws people to learn this, as it could be different to what drew me. ^_^ )

@bucketsAhoy

Anything really helps! I'm just testing the waters to see how many people I can find who does speak it, how it goes for them, etc. It seems like (from the few I've seen/read) is that it's a small struggle to find people who speak it so it becomes a little out of practice but I guess it's a good thing we live in 2016 where skype works, no? :P

I don't really know much about Germany (though I do know it has a major economic playing field) but from pictures I've seen, it seems very beautiful. The thought of going to visit Germany strikes me with excitement and some fear (since my goal would be to be able to do at least basic conversation at the most) and it's been a while since I've felt that way (so motivation) but could you tell me a little what it's like? Were you in a big city or countryside (i imagine a city)? Do you mind telling me?

@Dani94

That's super cool

@BloodyAngel12

Googled it its dialect in english. It means that while all germans have one language (Hochdeutsch) there are several 'side languages' you could call it. Every region has their own way to pronounce certain words or even uses different words for the same thing. Its a historical thing comming from the fact that there never was 'one germany' in many centuries - but many many (at times incredible small) kingdoms and other stateforms which all held different ethinc groups with own (but usually closely related) languages. So when/if you travel germany one day you might still find relicts of these languages in the forms of regional dialect.

Sächsisch for example has A LOT of its own words. They will understand Hochdeutsch (the german you'll learn) perfectly fine and may even make an efford to talk only this with you - but chance can be high that someone might slip into sächsisch again depending on how much they speak it normally (not every one living in the region where it is spoken actually speaks it - or speaks it much.).

So example there is the Lady Bug - which is Marienkäfer in german and Mutschekiepchen in sächsisch.

@Ismaiel

Oh wow, ok then. That makes a ton of sense actually. I suppose I'll figure it out as I go. ;)

Regardless, on a different note, how do you feel with beginners learning from Duolingo? (That's what I'm using right now)