Exhange to Germany in 09? (1 Viewer)

[Imverybored]

Hey guys. I'm not studying german at school but am looking into doing exchange in early 2009. One problem... i can't speak german (except maybe for hello and goodbye). How have you guys found learning it? Is it similar to English in some respects? I should probably start looking into learning it now hey. I mean if i am to go we would leave in January... that's not too far away really!

 

[alcalder]

Actually, you would be surprised that German is quite similar to English in many respects since English is essentially, at its very heart, a germanic language. Unfortunately it was "polluted" with words from other languages (French, Greek, Latin, Italian, Spanish, South America etc) and hence it is now quite different from German in many respects.

German has many rules which have very few exceptions, and in that way it can be easy to learn. The "genders" of words (feminine, masculine and neuter) is quite difficult and I still struggle after many many years of learning the language. You kind of get a feel for them as you learn them.

If you are forced to learn a language by living there, you will very quickly pick it up. If you are going for a year's exchange, you will find you are quite fluent probably after about 3 months.

Good luck! And I'm so very jealous. Enjoy.

 

[gouge.away]

Some exchange programs offer intensive language courses prior to departure and maybe if you've studied another European language it shouldn't be as difficult.

English is a Germanic language and the only major hurdles I can see are the syntax and the genders.

Have fun.