GermanMadeEasy.net

With my website, I have helped thousands of people learn German, who normally might not be able to get access to learning materials. As a result, I tend to get a lot of questions from these avid learners. And one of the more common ones is about travel.

They ask me “Will learning German really help me when travelling around Germany? After all, don’t most Germans speak English?”. MY answer to them is always the same. Natuerlich! (German for of course!)

You see, while it is true that most Germans speak a decent level of English (So good in fact that you could survive quite easily with English), being able to speak some German will help take your German holiday to the next level, it really will.

This is because most people who visit Germany just don’t get around to learning any German. So when Germans finally come across someone who speaks their language, you will automatically be endeared to them. This is a great way of making friends and friends that will last a lifetime.

I still speak to many of the friends I made when I was in Germany. I remember the shock on their faces when they realised that I could understand what they were saying the whole time. To see a westerner who could speak their language was just something they hadn’t come across very often.

And so a new friendship was born. It is especially helpful if you ever visit the regional regions of Germany or Austria, where English isn’t so common. I still look back and smile at the night I had with a bunch of drunk Austrians who didn’t speak much English. It was a great night and one that I couldn’t have had without my knowledge of the German language.

One of the things I like to recommend to people is the use of Rosetta Stone German review in helping people learn German, you can read about it more by following the link.

Ok, so the title of this article is a little harsh. And it could’ve been rephrased lots of ways. In fact, people from Australia, Britain and New Zealand are just as guilty as Americans when it comes to only speaking their native language, yet expecting foreigners to learn English. rocket german reviewed can really help you with this problem.

When I was in Europe earlier this year, I was amazed at the number of people who spoke “a little English”. I say this because that’s what they considered their English to be like, even though we could converse all night without any major troubles. And it wasn’t just English a lot of these people learnt. I remember having a conversation with a man from Belgium in German and English. He was able to speak another two languages on top of this. There was another guy from Finland who spoke Finnish, English, Swedish, German and Japanese!

I’ve never met an Australian who spoke this many languages. Actually, apart from people whose parents come from overseas, I’ve never met an Australian who spoke two languages fluently. Let alone four or five languages! Why is this? Do these dastardly Europeans have some special genetic advantage over the rest of us? Of course not. I think it is partly due to culture and partly due to teaching. Something that rocket spanish reviews is really keen to fix.

In the United States, it’s just not a normal thing to want to learn a language fluently. People are focused on other things. So, culture does play a large role in wanting to learn a language. Another factor is the teaching. I myself spent 5 years in high school learning Japanese, however, I was able to speak much better German after just spending maybe 20 hours listening to audio cds. Learning a language at school is often thought of as a painful experience and something that students no longer want to consider after they are no longer forced into doing it.

Something else I’d like to see changed is the general attitude of some non-European Westerners. If I had a dollar for every time I heard “Well, they speak English, so why should we bother to learn XXXX” I wouldn’t be here writing now! I think it’s a shocking attitude and one that won’t get you anywhere. If anything, just because a certain people have learnt English, you should want to learn their language more.

I really hope that has changed the way some of you think about learning a language. It doesn’t have to be torture anymore, with all the great resources available these days. Visit my site to find reviews of the best ones out there.

Words that we use to describe people, or ourselves, are called pronouns. In English, the use of pronouns is simpler than in German. It is still rather straight foward in German, so don’t get too worried! That’s where rosetta german helped me.

You may be a bit surprised by what you see in the table above. You might be thinking, “Why are there two words for ‘you’?”. The reason for this is that sie is used in more formal situations and du is used when you are talking to a friend or someone you know. It used to be the same in English, however the use of words such as “thee” and “thou” ceased some time ago.

It’s strange to think about the old English, but it’s actually a bit more like German than the current English. Ever wondered why ye olde english doesn’t really make much sense? That’s why.

So when do you know when to use “sie” and “du”? If you are meeting someone for the first time, it is usual to use “sie” until they tell you otherwise. It is also recommended to use with people such as doctors, teachers, police etc etc. Once you get to know someone, feel free to use “du”.

The Germans tend to be more formal than most of the English speaking world, so don’t take this stuff too lightly. I was on a train when a young guy came up and said “entschuldigen sie bitte” which is a really polite way of saying excuse me.

So just because you’re not in a formal situation doesn’t mean you can’t speak formally.