Where to learn German ??

Legacy_user

I fancy learning German as I only did French at school but have no idea where to start regarding finding courses. Ultimately I would like to get an "O" level (sorry GCSE) but I think I'm too late for any classes starting in Lisburn Tech or whatever it's called now so has anyone any idea about other ways to access this type of learning.

heavenknowsi'm

I don't know if German courses in Belfast would be of interest but a work colleague holds a class in the City Centre. He is from the North of Germany and previously taught English there, before he married and came to Northern Ireland. He is fairly laid back and patient as well as speaking excellent English. If it would be of interest I can get further details.Attached is a link to the BBC German Language site.http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/german/index.shtml

System

Can you PM me with the details of your friends classes? Thanks.

fedupconsumer

I would steer clear of using sites like BBC and the linguaphone style learning techniques. They are good as as a supplement but not the core of learning there is nothing better than getting together with fellow learners. Pam what level are you at ? If you want to get a GCSE in German try and go to a taster course somewhere to make sure its right for you. It can be a 2 year commitment and learning languages at a Higher level can be very rewarding but frustrating. I'm not diswaying you from learning German at all but you have to make sure its the right thing for you ; taster sessions can give you insight into things are there any around you? A lot of places in Austria , Switzerland and Germany do short 1-2 week courses which you study intensively those are also worth consideration if you have time and money to spare.

To Assess what level you are at go here:

German Test

I'm based in Wales but have studied German In University so if you need any advice on which books to get or advice let me know.

besten Wünsche und Glück

System

I have never ever studied German before so I'm a complete novice.

I want to learn because my daughter is living/working in Germany whilst on a gap year from studying German and Mandarin at university. Each time we visit I'm embarrassed that she has to translate for us and many of the germans are so proud to speak to us in excellent English. I would really like to be able to make more of an effort rather than have it appear that we expect them all to communicate in our language.

fedupconsumer

Pam17 wrote: »

I have never ever studied German before so I'm a complete novice.

I want to learn because my daughter is living/working in Germany whilst on a gap year from studying German and Mandarin at university. Each time we visit I'm embarrassed that she has to translate for us and many of the germans are so proud to speak to us in excellent English. I would really like to be able to make more of an effort rather than have it appear that we expect them all to communicate in our language.

If you are a complete novice I would not do a GSCE, you need to have a grasp of the basics first. Look out for taster or beginners lessons first . I looked on the Lisburn College website and I certainly would go for this one?

Holiday German

The course starts in the new year too so you have ample time to be able to start independently learning via the bbc website or others. Try and learn the key phrases and something that may help key phrases on flash cards on the fridge and bathroom mirror. Those can really help a lot.

Horace

I know that here in Birmingham we are lucky as we have a specialist language school (for night classes): The Brasshouse Centre - here you can learn anything from German, Dutch, Welsh, Mandarin, Spanish, Russian and a host of other languages - from GCSE (it used to be O Level) to A level and beyond.

beingjdc

If his German is as good as his Italian (and it should be, since he was German), I'd definitely suggests trying to buy the Introductory course by Michel Thomas - probably available for a reasonable price from Ebay or Froogle. Unless you really want to do it in a social setting - but in most learning for least cash terms. You'll need something else to learn spelling and so on though, his is a spoken language course.

System

fedupconsumer wrote: »

If you are a complete novice I would not do a GSCE, you need to have a grasp of the basics first. Look out for taster or beginners lessons first . I looked on the Lisburn College website and I certainly would go for this one?

Holiday German

The course starts in the new year too so you have ample time to be able to start independently learning via the bbc website or others. Try and learn the key phrases and something that may help key phrases on flash cards on the fridge and bathroom mirror. Those can really help a lot.

Thanks for that, it looks a good course and an ideal start but it's in Bangor. Lisburn College and Bangor are part of the South Eastern Regional College apparently.

belfastgirl23

TBH if you want to do gcse you might be as well finding a class that starts from scratch and going to it. Having done GCSE and A'level languages and recently taken up a new language from scratch, the GCSE approach is much more thorough. It gives you root and branch of how the language works whereas the conversational classes, much as I am loving them, don't give you nearly as good a grounding in the grammar. But it does depend what you're looking for. The other thing that makes a difference is whether you have any previous language experience at all - it is easier to start a new language if you have the basics of how language works in your mind. We didn't really study english language as such (tenses, verbs etc) so I have to fall back on my French when this stuff is being discussed.

The other thing would be to ask at the college who is teaching the course and even maybe if you could sit in on a lesson this year just to get some idea of what it's like. Native language teachers are probably best because they can give you a really good insight into the culture of the country and this is nearly as useful again as learning the language. But what you really need to know is how long they've been teaching there and how many students progress through the levels. I know the teacher I have currently teaches at 4 different levels and there is a really strong element of progression so by the time you get to level 3 almost everyone has been taught by her before. If people keep coming back the you know you've got a good teacher.

Good luck with it, it's a really great thing to do and I admire you for wanting to give it a go!

delpino

Also check out this site: German-Flashcards dot com

Mostly free to use!