3 months to master a language

[TayOr]

Hi everyone! I’d like some tips as I haven’t learnt a language since GCSEs which were a long time ago.

We are moving abroad in the future and I happen to have a 3 month break before I go to work. This gives me plenty of time to try and learn German as that’s the language spoken where we are moving.

Does anyone have any tips on how to intensively learn a language as a beginner? I have plenty of time and I’ve enrolled into a language course but it’s only 2h a week….!

any tips welcome :)

Grammar is really important, and fairly logical, in German so I would work through a good grammar book on your own in addition to the lessons. Duolingo is good for building up vocab if you do a bit each day and skip ahead once you know a topic (it can get a bit repetitive). Duolingo is hopeless for grammar as it doesn't explain it. Also, check the version of German where you are going. For example, in Switzerland they speak Swiss German which is not the same as the German spoken in German. I think that the written language is the same but not the spoken. Not sure about Austria or Liechtenstein. The best way to learn a language is immersion (spending time there) but if you build up vocab and have a good basis of the grammar before you arrive, it will be a lot easier. Give yourself time when you arrive - I did a year abroad for uni and everyone on my course found the first month exhausting because we were surrounded by the language. After a while, it becomes a lot easier. Enjoy your adventure abroad, that sounds hugely exciting!

So you’re not in Germany/Austria/wherever yet? You’re in the UK?

Oh, and once you have the basics, start watching TV or reading about your interests/hobbies in German to practise. Netflix has content in German, such as the Empress (period drama).

Ah yes sorry I wasn’t clear. I am currently still in the UK.

That’s a fab idea! I love historical dramas too.

Which country are you moving to OP?

Switzerland (but thinking to learn high German as more clssses available in it?)

I am so jealous! How did you get round the visa rules? I would love to move to the French-speaking part but the visa situation looks hopeless! I read the Swiss news in French which is teaching me a lot about Swiss culture and local issues (the cost of healthcare insurance, disputes between farmers and environmentalists about culling wolves, etc). German version is SRF dot Ch. Learning high German will give you enough to communicate, but maybe when you are more confident try to practise listening to Swiss German. With languages, you need to practise reading, writing, listening and speaking so having a strong base in high German before you get there will help on arrival. 3 months is definitely enough to build a solid base in the language

I’ve got a degree in Law and German and I lived in the German-speaking bit of Switzerland for 3 months. Don’t start off with Swiss-German. It’s really hard. Everyone speaks high German, often people speak excellent English too. Be prepared for the locals correcting your German.

It sounds like an amazing move OP.

Do you speak any other languages or are you coming in cold? Duolingo every day for vocabulary. The classes will give you grammar. Once you can string a sentence together, look up language exchanges - you can find someone of the same level to email in each others’ language.
And be realistic; it’s not easy to learn a language overnight, and it will get easier once you’re immersed in it - but you really do need to put the work in.

Well, several years in and I've stil not mastered it and doubt I ever will.....but I understand a lot of written and spoken German and would imagine the speaking would rapidly improve if I had more regular practice and actually lived in a German speaking location.
The following helps - Netflix/Walter Presents German series, Deutsche Welle (DW) Youtube and learning Website, Easy German Youtube and learning, Seedlang, BBC Bitesize, Duolingo, develop an infatuation with a few German bands.....good luck!

Can you find a different language course? If you are putting in extra time, you will move faster than everyone else on the course and after a week or two you won’t be getting as much out of it. If you are able to travel e.g. into a bigger city you might find a more intensive course. Otherwise individual lessons or a language exchange might be more helpful than a course.

German is an easy language for a native English speaker (I speak it myself, so I don’t mean this theoretically) and three months is a good chunk of time. I learned Italian to fluency in an hour a day for a year, and you have more time available. I would suggest listening to German constantly around the house, find a radio station, music or audio books you like. Watch TV. Trust your brain to learn the language if you give it the input. Also, take afternoon naps if you don’t have a rigid plan for the day, sleep is important for learning.

TV-wise, crappy shows are really really useful. Germany’s Next Top Model, if you can still find it, is an absolute gift as they say what is going to happen, then it happens, then everyone reacts to it happening, then it’s recapped seven or eight times. Other reality shows do the same thing. There’s a German Love is Blind on Netflix, for example, and I was surprised how straightforward the accents were.

German graduate here! Although many years ago. German has a reputation for being hard but remember English is a Germanic language so it is very doable. There is one thing that is hard - 16 different ways to say 'the' or 'a' and obviously you need to learn that fairly early on but the rest is plain sailing.

Could you afford one to one tuition? If so, you could make huge strides forward. I learnt Spanish many years ago in Guatemala that way. It was very cheap though.i was fluent after about 3 months, although I had had a few classes before I left so i didn't start from zero.

The Goethe Institute in London offers courses and I'm sure will be an absolute mine of information.

https://www.goethe.de/ins/gb/en/sta/lon.html

The foreign languages bookshop, Grant and Cutler might be a good place to look:

www.grantandcutler.com/

I've heard good things about Rosetta Stone but never tried it:

https://uk.rosettastone.com/buy/?gadsource=1&gaddcampaignid=20853853812&gbraid=0AAAAAD4THUKTaaUQqfBn3CUdsSGEiPseQ&gclid=Cj0KCQjw9JLHBhC-ARIsAK4Phcpt4zjdTT5ul4RTQkAqWXoH6q4oY3UCOd8FDaCDVpSbCt9f2Qru78aAkTQEALwwwcB

Coffee Break languages https://coffeebreaklanguages.com/coffeebreakgerman/
might be very helpful... (wayyy better than Duolingo)
I listen when driving and you learn to put the language together properly and get the grammar right.
I'm learning Italian as my brother has married an italian and they are bringing their toddler up bilingual and Coffee Break has been very useful.. I paid for the full course not just the free podcasts and I've been surprised how quickly I've picked it up!

Get more lessons. 2h per week is nearly useless even if you're living in the country, because you forget everything between classes and there's not time to focus on individuals. Ideally you need at least 2h 4x per week to start making a dent. You won't really learn German from Duolingo either, beyond reading airport signs. It's possible with easier languages like French, but German needs really solid grammar lessons. Hoch Deutsch is a good idea for the bureaucracy when you get to Switzerland, but won't help you integrate much. Most Swiss German courses don't accept learners under B2 German level anyway, so you need that as a basis. In 3 months of intense courses, you should be able to get to B1 with no problem, and might be pushing B2 if you find it easy. I learnt spoken German well enough in the pub within a year, but I'd done GCSE and was already fluent in a Germanic language. I never learnt to write German.