I' would like to receive a piece of advice

[rafaellytz]

hello everyone.

it's my first post here.

first of all I'd like to apologize of my mistakes. I've been learning english for about seven months and focusing more in listening/reading skills then this post probabily gonna have a lot of mistakes.

I'm brazillian that never had a glimpse of language learning untill last year. With this new discover I also have begun to read more about germany. results: I fell in love with the country, the culture and the job's oportunitties that fluency offer in my profession.

but I am in a language learning dillema.
I am too far of fluency in english, but I dearly want to learn german and put the english aside(without too much focus or active learning)

I'll graduate in nursing degree at a middle of 2026 and Germany offers a lot of oportunitties for brazilians at this niche. if I begins to learn german now, I have a pretty hunch that I'll reach a pretty high level till' my graduation( I will study every single day as I have been studying english) but If I keep going with english for more ≈1 year I will be at a good decent level in the "most important" language of the world. I don't know what I gonna do and don't have any friend for talking about it.

In your opinion or If you were me, should I put the english aside and start to learn german as fast as possible or wait about a year for acquire a good level of english? I don't like of the idea of two languagues at the same time because I'm only a rookie in this world.

obs: I'm put a lot of effort in reading/listening in the last months then I have a decent level of compreension and could use this for learn german, but without improving vocabulary, grammar or pronunciation in english, only passive learning.

I didn't look for any word for this text(I guess this is my first text in english lol) nor corrected anything in google translate or Grammarly, hence one more time: sorry for my mistakes.

thank you in advance.

[rdearman]

You've got a decent level in English if you wrote all that without lookups, dictionaries, etc. So I don't see any reason you couldn't begin to learn German at the same time. However, you'll still need to continue to work on English daily because otherwise you'll begin to lose what you already gained. But if you have the time and motivation, you could start learning both in parallel.

[Xenops]

Wow, congratulations on your text! After only 7 months of learning, that is impressive.

If you love Germany, and it sounds like they have opportunities, go ahead and drop English for now--if you want to return to it, you can later. Honestly, I sometimes wonder if I should change directions and study German too, since the country is one of the more open European countries to non-EUs.

[luke]

It sounds exciting!

If you have any TV/Tube time that's basically for fun, watch shows about hospitals, etc in English.

There are plenty of good series:
Grey's Anatomy (if you like drama)
Scrubs (if you prefer comedy).

You could also occasionally use some alone time to surf YouTube on topics related to your training.

Having said that, dive into German.

Just keep open to English, because it may come in handy, even in Germany.

Best of luck!

[jimmy]

hello everyone.


In your opinion or If you were me, should I put the english aside and start to learn german as fast as possible or wait about a year for acquire a good level of english? I don't like of the idea of two languagues at the same time because I'm only a rookie in this world.


thank you in advance.

none of these languages.
in fact, yes every language has its specific merit and good knowledge of just one language can even be highly effective.
nevertheless, eveything goes to be smarter and selections will be more important.

in order to give a better idea: I think in next ten years some big changes may happen.

[einzelne]

I cannot answer you question because I don't know your situation and ultimately it 's up to you to decide. I simply would like to point out several hidden reefs you might not be aware of and which I think you should at least consider:


- What are the opportunities for Brazilians there? Learning a language is a huge time investment. Realistically, how easy it would be to move to Germany after graduation? Talk to people who tried to do it and don’t forget about survivorship bias. The internet is full of success stories but, generally, for each success story there’s a thousand failure ones.

- What would happen if for some reason you would not be able to move there? Will you continue to read/listen/watch in German?

- 7 months: it looks like your English is at the intermediate stage which has its own hidden reefs. You have a firm grasp of grammar, now you work with unadapted materials and can feel that your understanding of English is improving each day. A couple of months and you’ll be fluent. Don’t trust this feeling because in order to really get to a comfortable level, you need to know thousands and thousands words and expressions (even if its’ for receptive knowledge). You can’t learn them overnight. It takes months if not years of exposure before a language starts to feel natural for you.

- You’re young, your brain is fresh, and don’t have any family/work obligations. In principle, you can learn two languages at the same time but, personally, wouldn’t recommend it. First, you have your studies. Second, your time is limited: the higher the level you want to achieve the more time investment it requires. Juggling two languages seems like no big deal, but few people actually manage to come up with an effective routine. And if you want to progress quickly and get to a high level, a language requires 2 or 3 hours per day. Realistically, would you able to find 4-6 hours for 2 languages every single day?

- Please note that German is way harder than English. Certain tools are in short supply. When non-English speakers decide to learn a new language after English, they discover, much to their chagrin, that it’s not that easy to find subtitles (which are de rigueur for English films and TV shows)

- If you still cannot imagine your life without German, you can dabble with it. Take an Assimil course and go through a lesson a day, not thinking about production for a time being.

- Once you get to a high level, maintaining the language (at least passive skills) doesn’t require that much time and energy. That’s why it’s a good strategy to get one language to a higher B2/C1 level (basically, when you can read/watch/listen for fun) and then switch to another language.

I hope it helps.

[zenmonkey]

As you probably know you'll need to have a B1 level before getting to Germany to pass the B1 exam as a work requirement, then work as a nurse assistant, and you can then get the B2 locally to become a registered nurse.

You can certainly now switch and focus primarily on German to prepare to work there.

If you decide to work with one of the many agencies helping immigrant nurses get the paperwork and positions in Germany, please be very careful. There are several agencies that are not very good quality and overcharge for their services.

To reach an acceptable B1 level is probably several years of work, so starting now with your dates makes sense.

When I immigrated to Germany, I was able to move without mastery of the language because I had a job that didn't require it but it certainly would have made more sense to start earlier. There, English will be of excellent help, as many Germans speak it well. There is also a strong Portuguese community in the major cities (Frankfurt, Munich, Berlin) that will be useful to you.

You should look into 'Expats in Germany' Facebook groups and toytowngermany.com a forum-like community for ex-pats.

Best of luck! Sounds like a solid project.

Personally, if I were you, I would continue with English but only to slowly strengthen it and I'd focus 80% of my effort on learning German with a lot of daily work, I would not approach this casually. Secondly, I'd connect with the Brazilian/Portuguese community in Germany to get access to resources and success paths. But the big difference between us 1) I've strong mastery of English and I don't really know how it feels to live abroad without it, 2) I'm a serial immigrant (the 4th generation of immigrants!) and I embrace the idea of the move (I'm immigrating again this year...). Take what I say with a grain of salt.

[boon]

You could also consider learning German through English, for example by getting hold of language learning materials aimed at English speakers who wish to learn German. So then you'd be working on both languages at the same time.

Everyone's different though, and different methods work for different people.

[BeaP]

You'd really need a friend who knows you and your circumstances to give you advice. What I can do is tell you about my experience, and this might help you to contemplate things yourself.

I think a young person should focus on professional training primarily. At the age of 45 I'm preparing for a C2 Spanish exam, but I can't do another university degree, and it's a fact that I won't become a doctor or an engineer. My aspirations or dreams don't matter. That ship has sailed. For you now is the time to take the most out of your professional training. In only 7 months you've achieved a very good level of English, which shows excellent study and time management skills. You could communicate everything you wanted in a successful way.

I started to study German at high school. I stopped studying English for some years, took up German, and after passing the German exam, I continued studying English. During the German years my English improved slowly but steadily, thanks to all the input that is very easy to get from TV shows and music. I reached B2 in German in 2 years, thank to a very conservative approach. At that time English teachers were already using the communicative way of teaching, but German teachers still insisted on thorough grammar instruction, drills and translations. My strongest skill in German is speaking, because I still have the basic structures ingrained in me after all these years, and I use them automatically. I forget some words, but the structures are untouched. German is a grammar-heavy language, especially in the beginning. I can't really recommend you a book, because I know very few beginner books in German, but if I was to start it again, I'd choose one (and only one) that has this approach. I'd work through that and in the evenings I'd watch German shows on Netflix with German subtitles.

[jimmy]

You'd really need a friend who knows you and your circumstances to give you advice. What I can do is tell you about my experience, and this might help you to contemplate things yourself.

yes, this idea,I support it.