To learn German from scratch?

[TayOr]

Is it going to be really hard…? 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 :)

You’re not being unreasonable to have a go - though there is only so much you can learn in 3 months. However you can get a good grounding that will help you pick up more when you get there.

It helps to immerse yourself in language as much as you can - read children’s books in German (the language will be simple), watch a film you know well but with German language dubbing and subtitles turned on, and just as you go through your day think to yourself how would you say what you’re doing now in German (so you say to yourself “I am filling a kettle with water. Now I am washing up a cup.” Etc)

Viel Glueck und viel Spass 🙂

The Goethe Institute does online and hybrid courses, where you can access the materials at your own pace. That might suit you.

Go for it girl

City Lit have language courses and i'd make a start on duolingo to learn the basics such as sentence structure and greetings

Best of luck x

Don't fall into the trap of learning to speak a new language by reading it!

Of course, reading ability is important, but it is a different skillset to speaking and listening. So that is where you need most concentrated practice.

There are specific courses where you can get speaking practice with either a tutor or in a group with other learners. I think one is iTalki, but I've not used it myself.

Then yes to everything previous poster said about living in the language, even in the UK.

Another good one is social media - being able to watch a German video, think and write a comment etc in German is all useful.

Apps like duolingo can be useful, but it shouldn't make up much of your actual learning time as memorisation of words or phrases isn't actually that conducive to speaking naturally.

It is perfectly doable. I used to teach languages, including German to adults yonks ago. However, two hours per week will not really give you much of a progress. I would recommend frequent shorter ‘bites’ too. Duolingo seem to do quite good short elements that help you get immersed more. I think you can even use it for free. I would also recommend watching children’s TV, like the German version of Sesame Street etc. It is easier for a beginner to get the gist. The expensive language courses help you with the pronunciation. One way to do it for free on your own is to record yourself talking/reading German phrases, it really helps to hear yourself to improve how you pronounce stuff, especially if you can compare it to a German speaker.

When you learn new nouns, right from the start make a point to also memorise the correct article. In English you don’t distinguish if the article refers to a male, female or neuter noun. However, in German that is important going forward. There are the obvious; der Mann (male), die Frau (female), das Kind (neuter.) But it gets quickly less obvious and in parts in the opposite from other languages, like French, where the sun is female in German and the moon male. Some is linked to old Teutonic gods etc, others seem random. Anyway, by memorising the correct article it will help with sentence structures.

Oak National Academy have free video lessons in German aimed at secondary school pupils. You could do them in between your course and that would help a lot. Changing the language to German on Netflix is a really good way of getting used to the sound of the language. You can get series like the Gilmore Girls in German on it.

There are free online courses funded by the German government at the DW learn German website and www.vhs-lernportal.de

The former is a public service broadcaster. The flagship course for beginners is "Nicos Weg".

The latter is the adult education organisation. You can do their courses on the website or download very good apps for each level (A1, A2, B1, B2) from your app store.

When you are at the stage of being able to read/listen, the online Goethe Institute Library is free if you live outside Germany.

The above are all such good quality (as are German publishers' coursebooks) that you don't need to pay expensive subscriptions or use dubious apps like Duolingo.

YOUTUBE is your friend!

I love these guys......

https://www.youtube.com/@EasyGerman

And Feli..... The episode where she wore her dirndl is a particular favourite!!!

https://www.youtube.com/@FelifromGermany

Have fun.