We have a few suggestions to help you speak German.
Your aptitude, surroundings and attitude to learning will have a major influence on your progress.
We encourage you to have a positive attitude towards the challenges of learning the German language.
The emotional aspect of learning a language is fundamental. For that reason, we think you should answer a question before reading on:
How will YOU take on the challenge of learning German?
Our 7 suggestions are:
Imagine that you already speak German.
Imagine all of the new possibilities you’d have: A better job, more culture, more satisfaction…
What’s the challenge worth to you?
What is the struggle worth to you?
It depends only on you, your effort, your consistency.
If you want to, you can speak German.
Don’t doubt yourself! You’ve been very successful before.
Languages are for people to communicate. There’s no point in learning them alone.
Make German friends! Interact with them!
Try the best you can to practice the language with Germans.
Whenever you do something, think:
What could I do to improve my German while I’m doing this?
How could I do things I like while learning German at the same time?
Here’s an example:
If you like football, why not watch football games in German?
Other examples:
If you like music, why not listen to German music (It’s good as well as something new)?
If you like to read the newspaper, why not read a German one?
Or if you like to watch a TV series, why not watch it in German?
Fear is the worst enemy of learning. You will make mistakes when you speak, no doubt about that!, That's ok! but there’s no problem with that. Just take it as one more phase of the learning process.
Mistakes are useful for learning,
You don’t have to be embarrassed about speaking badly, about not understanding…
It is amazing how quickly a child will learn a new language but it is most definitely their attitude which favors the learning process:
Subconsciously, a child thinks: "I have to learn to survive." On the contrary, an adult thinks: "I know everything I need and I can’t learn anything else because I don’t have time."
Given that the mind is very powerful, our advice is to tell your mind that:
"I’ll become a child again and I need German to survive."
And learn German like you learned English when you were a kid:
We’ve saved the most important piece of advice for last:
"Consistency is the key to success"
For those who are thinking about going abroad with basic German, it is especially hard to be outside of your country and not understand anything. The first months are difficult and you take a serious blow to your self-esteem.
But keep your spirits up; after a few months everything will get better.
You will be surprised about how happy Germans will be about you taking the effort to learn their language!
FINAL NOTE: Having received comments asking for our advice about how to learn German, we wrote this article with a personal undertone.