How much work should I be putting in per day?

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TheSwissCross
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Languages: Native English speaker, learning German

How much work should I be putting in per day?

Postby TheSwissCross » Sun Dec 03, 2017 5:31 pm

So if you don't mind, I'm going to ask more than one question despite the title.

I am interested in learning German for the purpose of living and working in the Swiss German speaking parts of Switzerland - I plan to study in the Netherlands for 3 years at a university doing a PPL course and I am under the impression, although it may be wrong, that Dutch is quite similar to German. Regardless, at the earliest I could see myself in Switzerland in four to five years:

How long would I need to study per day to reach C1 proficiency?

At the moment I am under the impression that the best way to learn German would be to learn the phonetics, am I right?

Thanks in advance for any advice that can be given.
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tarvos
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Re: How much work should I be putting in per day?

Postby tarvos » Sun Dec 03, 2017 5:43 pm

Honestly, this goal is way too long-term to give you any good answer. If you're going to study in the Netherlands, I'd just focus on Dutch first, and once you get a grasp on Dutch, move on to German. Swiss German is a tricky question in that most people in Switzerland can speak High German but would rather prefer not to, meaning you'd have to get used to Swiss German in particular (which takes more than just learning German). Going from Dutch to German is easy but you will have to deal with grammatical case as that is present in German but not in Dutch.

The more hours you can put in, the better, is my honest answer.

You start with the phonetics, but that should take only a few days to learn the basics and a lot more time to refine (while studying vocab, grammar, and other things).

Honestly if you are living in the Netherlands for three years prior, I'd just make sure to know Dutch and focus on the goal at hand. You'll have more than enough on your plate with Dutch if it's your first attempt at a foreign language.
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