A language learners’ forum

It's great there is a German group here!

By way of introductions: I am Australian, living Berlin, with a German wife and three year old daughter. Although I speak mostly German with my daughter, I only ever speak English with my wife (we've tried multiple times to switch, but it's just the language we use). As I work from home, most of my spoken experiences are in English although I only speak German outside the house (mostly with other parents at my daughter's Kita or when I go shopping and the like - which quite often means I am speaking German to a shop assistant who speaks worse German than me).

After a couple of false starts, where I tried to learn German via standard classes, I stumbled upon HTLAL about five years ago, and started the first Super Challenge when my German around A1. I got totally into using native materials to learn. I have done tests to see my ability but I guess I am somewhere in B2-C1 level. Over the last year I have been having a bit of a holiday reading English books and watching non-dubbed English TV/movies, but it's time for me to get back into German.

Sahmilat wrote:...German books with English notes

Would bilingual books fit your needs? You could just search Amazon.de for "zweisprachige Ausgabe Englisch Deutsch" or simply "zweisprachig Englisch Deutsch" and you'll get a good overview of what's available.

patrickwilken wrote:It's great there is a German group here!

By way of introductions: I am Australian, living Berlin, with a German wife and three year old daughter. Although I speak mostly German with my daughter, I only ever speak English with my wife (we've tried multiple times to switch, but it's just the language we use). As I work from home, most of my spoken experiences are in English although I only speak German outside the house (mostly with other parents at my daughter's Kita or when I go shopping and the like - which quite often means I am speaking German to a shop assistant who speaks worse German than me).

After a couple of false starts, where I tried to learn German via standard classes, I stumbled upon HTLAL about five years ago, and started the first Super Challenge when my German around A1. I got totally into using native materials to learn. I have done tests to see my ability but I guess I am somewhere in B2-C1 level. Over the last year I have been having a bit of a holiday reading English books and watching non-dubbed English TV/movies, but it's time for me to get back into German.

Hi Patrik! Willkommen!

I just read your post and I'm curious as to why you speak German to your daughter if English, as stated in your profile, is your mother tongue. I mean, don't get me wrong, I totally understand it must be a personal decision, but is there any specific reason to do so?

Navik wrote:I just read your post and I'm curious as to why you speak German to your daughter if English, as stated in your profile, is your mother tongue. I mean, don't get me wrong, I totally understand it must be a personal decision, but is there any specific reason to do so?

Actually I speak both, but mostly German when I am out-and-about with her. She's German and German is her first language so it's natural for me to speak that with her, especially as she mostly speaks only German at the moment. She is growing up in an English speaking house, and largely watches English TV so I suspect she'll start speaking more English over time. Her comprehension of English is very good.

My natural tendency now is to speak German with people other than my wife. It feels a bit odd when I am on the street and switch to English because the other person's German is not strong enough. I am much more fluent in English, but it somehow feels wrong to be speaking it.

Living in Germany.

The what's the Ideal Job when you live abroad to learn your Target language? thread has some good suggestions specific to Germany.

patrickwilken wrote:It's great there is a German group here!

By way of introductions: I am Australian, living Berlin, with a German wife and three year old daughter.

Welcome to the group. Berlin is one of my favorite cities. You are a lucky guy to have such a wonderful place to call "home."

M23 wrote:Welcome to the group. Berlin is one of my favorite cities. You are a lucky guy to have such a wonderful place to call "home."

Of course, like most true Berliners I probably don't appreciate it enough.

There's a UK shoe retail chain called 'Schuh'.

I had thought that was just an amusing phonetic spelling of 'shoe'; now I learn it's also the german word for shoe!

subtitled documentary

https://www.zdf.de/dokumentation/37-gra ... t-100.html

37 Grad - Lehrer am Limit

Sie wollen Wissen vermitteln, haben studiert, Erfahrungen und Ideale. Doch vieles ist anders geworden im Schulalltag: Lehrer sind im Dauerstress.

Kraut wrote:subtitled documentary

https://www.zdf.de/dokumentation/37-gra ... t-100.html

37 Grad - Lehrer am Limit

Sie wollen Wissen vermitteln, haben studiert, Erfahrungen und Ideale. Doch vieles ist anders geworden im Schulalltag: Lehrer sind im Dauerstress.

Das ist ja schrecklich. Die armen Lehrer. Kein Wunder, dass es in Deutschland an Lehrkräften mangelt. Wer würde sich einer solchen Belastung aussetzen wollen? Was ist Deiner Meinung nach die Lösung?

That's terrible.The poor teachers. It's no wonder there's a shortage of teachers in Germany. Who would want to subject themselves to such stress? What do you think the solution is?