How did you learn German?

[Fietsrad]

I got nearly 100% in the B1 language test, but how did I learn the language?

Many years ago, had a bit of German at school, from 1989 I took evening classes and read a lot so my vocab was good but not my pronunciation.

Moved to Germany, hit the ground running, spoke enough to do a job talking to people all day, no more classes, just work and life mostly in German, reading, radio + TV.

I wonder how it is to take classes or study at a university without living in a German-speaking country, perhaps one learns the rules better

How did you learn German?

[Franklan]

How did you learn German?

By growing up here.

[murphaph]

When I first moved here I did intensive German lessons 5 days a week for a few months to get a grounding in the grammar and all that. A while later I met my now wife and we instigated a rule that we rotate the language we speak together on a monthly basis. We've been rotating between English and German on the first of the month for over 15 years now.

[Slammer]

Slung into a German school, seventh class, in Donauwörth at 12 and coming fresh off the boat from Blackburn I hardly spoke English.
So it was sink or swim.
Left Germany in 1999 and came back in 2020.

[Fietsrad]

When I first moved here I did intensive German lessons 5 days a week for a few months to get a grounding in the grammar and all that. A while later I met my now wife and we instigated a rule that we rotate the language we speak together on a monthly basis. We've been rotating between English and German on the first of the month for over 15 years now.

I wonder if a conversation could be held with one person speaking only english and the other speaking only german. In practice there are many situations where "denglisch" is used in an undisciplined way

[murphaph]

Yeah you could certainly have one side speak one language and the other another but for the purposes of improving and maintaining the second language it's much more effective if both parties rotate their spoken language.

I actually hear a German-English couple in my town that do what you're describing here. In the supermarket she speaks German to him and he speaks English back.

[HEM]

I'll repeat my story as its lost with the old forum...

Several years German at grammar school (Stockport). We even spent a year in Munich/Ottobrunn 1966/67 when my father
& his research group spent a year working with E.O. Fischer https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Otto_Fischer at the TU Munich.
Didn't learn much of the language.

Then 1977 started visiting Hamburg as part of the JADE collaboration at DESY/Hamburg. By then I was at the first level
of language comprehension - that of avoiding starvation in a restaurant.

I had been an aero-modeller back in the UK & got introduced to the sport of gliding by a technician at DESY.
Noone spoke English at the airfield (or let on that they did) & I think they saw it as a challenge to teach their
Engländer how to fly. Thus I learnt flying & German at the same time - flying was easier. In the meantime
I am able to take part in meetings / give a talk...

A few years later I was asked to move out "for a year" - I was happy to do that as I was working towards my license.
With that in my pocket (1983) & the touring motorglider license (1984) I then met the future wife (also a computer scientist).
After some time I looked for a "real" job & things moved on from there.

Somehow I am one of the two delegates for the German Aero Club to the IGC (International Gliding Commission).

[GaryC]

My dad spent some time in Vienna at the end of WW2 and visited the Oetz Tal quite frequently from about 1952 onwards so picked up a bit of "German" over the years - a mix of "Wiener" and "Tiroler". He went to German classes in the UK every now and then and all that got me interested, so I opted to do German "O" level, instead of French - much to the disgust of my French teacher to said I was mad to do that, lol. Failed my "O" level dismally, so she may have been right!

Fast forward a few years and after graduating from uni, I moved to Germany in 1980 and just learned it as I went along, at work, at home, with friends and from 1 or other of the 3 TV channels (remember those days?). Took about 6 weeks to start to think in German, well, my shopping list anyway (I could still take you to the very spot where I realised I was thinking I German, lol) and about a year to get reasonably fluent. Lots of hurdles and frustrations along the way and a lot of teasing from friends and work colleagues too!

Left Germany in 1988 and try to scrub the rust off/get back on the bike of German-speaking, as it were, at least once a year with the spoken word and have been spending inordinate amounts of time reading German tax and social security law and various blogs to work out how the heck I have to deal with those things now I am once again taxable in Germany being in receipt of the pension...

[Fietsrad]

I speak fluent German with a particular sort-of english accent

The unusual accent is nearly always an advantage

[alma.freya]

I'm currently studying for the Goethe B1 Speaking module, which I will take in April. I passed the Reading, Listening and Writing modules at the end of February with scores between 80-100% after a month of exam specific training.

I'm quite worried about the Speaking module, however because we know the structure of the exam, it is very hackable and easy to prepare for.

I've been terribly lazy about learning the German and have managed to just about get by in this country thanks to most people knowing English, and my wife helping me when required. My current motivation is obtaining German citizenship, which is now possible without giving up my British citizenship thanks to new legislation. The window is short however, as the next CDU led coalition could attempt to repeal the law.

[Sam-I-Am]

I seem to be the odd one out here

Apps:
On Duolingo I'm up to a 1812 day streak ... that's over 4 years! It's great to dip in to but it does have some strange sentences and for some reason horses and cucumbers come up in sentences a lot [not together]
I recently bought Babbel as a 6 month subscription as it is a bit more structured and the lessons have tips and so far I'd definitely recommend it if you can 'self motivate' to use it regularly.

1:1 Tuition
I did a 1:1 tuition for 2 hours once per week for 3 months in Switzerland and it was a complete waste of money as the tutor mostly complained about his relationship... in English It got me to A1 but I could have learnt that from a book. Even where we did talk German he often switched to English... he was a nice guy but he was a lazy teacher and I was a lazy student and could get away without doing much work. I regret it now ...

Evening Classes
For the last year here in Cologne I've been doing evening classes 2 nights/week with Tandem and although I don't rate the teacher methods/book or the 'immersive' approach the value is having to talk to the other students in German. For example I'm now doing homework for 'passive sentences with werden' and I have no idea why.... no explanations in English so it's hard.
But each session we have to talk to other students in German and it forces me to prepare... I hate looking stupid but I seem to manage looking dumb quite often anyway.
Out of a class of 12 I am the only English native speaker!

Life
Anyway... living here in Germany helps but for me work is 100% English, and after a long day watching TV in German or listening to German radio loses out to 'The Guardian' news; BBC 6 Music or Radio 4 or some trash UK/US TV to switch off too

I have 'Deutschland 83/86/89' and 'Babylon Berlin' downloaded but not started them yet

So if anyone has any tips or magic potions to get me to B1 needed for permanent residency please let me know!

Links:
Duolingo: https://www.duolingo.com/ (free)
Babbel: https://my.babbel.com/ (€60/6 months but there are often deals)
Tandem: https://www.tandem-koeln.de/en/ (€470 per module for 2 nights/week)
Deutschland 83/86/89: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4445154/
Babylon Berlin: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4378376/

[GaryC]

I speak fluent German with a particular sort-of english accent

The unusual accent is nearly always an advantage

Me too - in the north they think I anything other than British - Dutch, Danish, Norwegian etc, etc. In the south they think I'm from the north. The latter may, or may not, be an advantage, lol.

[LeonG]

I took a year of German for my abitur and promptly forgot all of it. Started learning again in 2008 when I decided to move here. Did an MP3 course I downloaded from DW. When I arrived here, I took the tail end of an integrationskurs, watched soap operas on TV and talked to old people. Did not bother take the B1 test but started a B2 course that I dropped due to lack of time when I started working. I ended up doing a B2 online on the VHS website a couple of years ago.

https://learngerman.dw.com/de/deutsch-lernen/s-9095
https://www.vhs-lernportal.de/wws/home.php

[alma.freya]

I seem to be the odd one out here

Apps:
On Duolingo I'm up to a 1812 day streak ... that's over 4 years! It's great to dip in to but it does have some strange sentences and for some reason horses and cucumbers come up in sentences a lot [not together]
I recently bought Babbel as a 6 month subscription as it is a bit more structured and the lessons have tips and so far I'd definitely recommend it if you can 'self motivate' to use it regularly.

1:1 Tuition
I did a 1:1 tuition for 2 hours once per week for 3 months in Switzerland and it was a complete waste of money as the tutor mostly complained about his relationship... in English It got me to A1 but I could have learnt that from a book. Even where we did talk German he often switched to English... he was a nice guy but he was a lazy teacher and I was a lazy student and could get away without doing much work. I regret it now ...

Evening Classes
For the last year here in Cologne I've been doing evening classes 2 nights/week with Tandem and although I don't rate the teacher methods/book or the 'immersive' approach the value is having to talk to the other students in German. For example I'm now doing homework for 'passive sentences with werden' and I have no idea why.... no explanations in English so it's hard.
But each session we have to talk to other students in German and it forces me to prepare... I hate looking stupid but I seem to manage looking dumb quite often anyway.
Out of a class of 12 I am the only English native speaker!

Life
Anyway... living here in Germany helps but for me work is 100% English, and after a long day watching TV in German or listening to German radio loses out to 'The Guardian' news; BBC 6 Music or Radio 4 or some trash UK/US TV to switch off too

I have 'Deutschland 83/86/89' and 'Babylon Berlin' downloaded but not started them yet

So if anyone has any tips or magic potions to get me to B1 needed for permanent residency please let me know!

Links:
Duolingo: https://www.duolingo.com/ (free)
Babbel: https://my.babbel.com/ (€60/6 months but there are often deals)
Tandem: https://www.tandem-koeln.de/en/ (€470 per module for 2 nights/week)
Deutschland 83/86/89: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4445154/
Babylon Berlin: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4378376/

Try the mock B1 Lesen & Hören exam from the Goethe website. If you get over 60%, that's a passing mark. I surprised myself when I tried the mock exam and got over 90% in each. I decided to book the exam the same day.

https://www.goethe.de/ins/mm/en/m/spr/prf/gzb1/ueb.html

Then watch some examples of the B1 Sprechen exam on YouTube. If you think you are capable of producing the same as the students in the video, you'll have a good chance at passing.

https://youtu.be/FxVb-UMSPj8?feature=shared

I can also share some books which have many sample exams and exam guides.

[HEM]

The unusual accent is nearly always an advantage

I have generally found that to be true.
Some ask if I come from the Netherlands - I was once asked if I came from Emden.

[Auntie Helen]

I live 20km from the Netherlands and am regularly asked if I am Dutch or Norwegian (I am tall and blonde).

I did German O-level at school in four years, but after that nothing for ages until I visited Germany at 25 years old and realised I’d forgotten pretty much everything. I did a few evening classes which ended up in doing the AS level and then when I moved to Colchester some years ago, I was near enough to Essex uni to do a couple of German courses there too.

Next month is my 10 year anniversary in Germany and my understanding of spoken German is extremely good, my spoken German is fluent but littered with gender and ending mistakes because I just can’t be bothered with them. My German husband and I tend to mostly speak English together, but sometimes he speaks German and I reply in English. That works really well for us, we can carry on a conversation for a long time like that, although my father who was bilingual was completely unable to switch languages like that.

[Lorelei]

Here's the BBC reporter in Germany Damien McGuinness speaking fluent German: podium discussion. According to this he "studied Modern Languages and European Studies at the universities of Bath, England and Konstanz, Germany ... and has spent most of his adult life living in Germany".

[Fietsrad]

Learning German is one thing, but how does your English suffer or rust if not used?

I do read a lot of English but rarely have a chance to speak it, I find things in German in my head and have to translate to English, only takes a moment but people do notice.

Quite good actually, they do not know whether I am english or german. Actually I am both

[john_b]

Did German at school up to A/S Level, then spent half a year in Hamburg at the beginning of the 80's to improve my spoken language. Living in Berlin 1992-2006, again from 2015 onwards so pretty close to fluency apart from the usual mistakes

[Bayrisch_Dude]

1988 or 89, my then German and Frankish girlfriend suggested the VHS. I did one course, but over the years I'd repeat it.

My German would slowly improve due to social and work settings. I'd hear things needing correction, memorise and use it. I think the last actual course I ever took was B2 around 2009, same time I become an early pensioner.

I then had odd jobs which forced my German to improve. In 2015, when I became self employed, I noticed my German skill took off! Mates here have commented on it and they too agree that having no one to lean on in the day-to-day, I've forced myself to really improve.

See, at 59 and 3/4, an old dog can learn a new trick. Sad though that it took me over 30 years to be semi-fluent.